Flourless Chocolate Torte with German Chocolate Ganache

I was recently at a huge barn sale and found a BRAND NEW Pampered Chef tart pan! Or torte pan to some (I won’t get into technical stuff, it’s a PAN). Whether you’re a tart fan, torte fan or even quiche fan, that was a good find! Of course I had to make something in it to justify the $2 (wink wink). I was playing around with a few recipes until I got the consistency just right. Flourless cakes and tortes can get dense and end up grainy real fast if the combination isn’t just right.

The ganache called for heavy cream, which of course I don’t have on hand. I improvised with half and half and German chocolate. The end result was perfect!

CAKE INGREDIENTS

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup salted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp espresso powder

3 large eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

GANACHE

1/4 cup half and half

3 oz German’s Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar (48% cacao)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease a tart pan, springform pan or 9″ round pan. All of these should work just fine. Heat the chocolate and butter together using the (bain-marie method). Fill a pot with hot water, place a metal bowl into the water and bring to a boil—heating the chocolate indirectly from the double boiler method. This works best to avoid burning the chocolate. If you heat it up with direct heat, it will burn and you will have to throw it away. Trust me. No one dislikes throwing perfectly good chocolate away more than me. NO ONE!
2. Add the sugar, salt and espresso powder. I use my reserved Starbucks espresso that I use in my lattes. You can omit this ingredient, but it definitely intensifies the chocolate flavor!
3. Add the eggs and beat briefly until smooth.
4. Add the cocoa powder and combine.
5. Spoon batter into prepared pan of your choice.
6. Bake the cake for about 20-25 minutes. Don’t over bake. The edges will burn quickly if you don’t keep an eye on it!
7. For the ganache, bring the half-and-half to a rolling boil. Add chocolate and stir continuously until slightly thickened and completely melted. I let is sit in the pan for a bit to allow it to thicken before pouring over the torte. I also set this outside to harden a bit before serving.

This recipe is amazing and tastes delicious! If you love chocolate, you will love this recipe! If you don’t, I’m sorry. That makes me sad. I’m going to go weep into a pan chocolate ganache….

Base torte recipe adapted by: King Arthur Flour