easy like sunday morning

baked goods
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.

I can’t bake bread to save my life. Won’t rise. I think it was all those years at high altitude that did me in. You think I could shake it off now that I live oh-so-sea-levelish flatlands, but no doing. (Maybe that’s not entirely fair: we’re about 600 ft above sea level, give or take a few. Maybe I'm just an idiot.)

But this I can do (and have done, recently even – there’s one last frozen piece in my freezer): A chocolate cake with a French pedigree that’s no trickier than a big ol’ brownie.

Or a piece of cake:

Mon Gâteau au Chocolat
12 oz (360 g) bittersweet chocolate (Wells recommends Lindt or Tobler – if you're stateside Ghirardelli will do the trick)
2/3 cup (150 g) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (160 g) granulated sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup (45 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
About 2 tsp powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease up a 9 ½ inch springform pan with some buttery goodness.

Pull out the double boiler and melt the chocolate, granulated sugar and butter into a globular mess that you’ll be tempted to lick off the spatula. (No double boiler? A metal boil over a boiling pot just might get you there.)

Whisk the egg yolks into the tasty chocolate mess after it’s cooled a bit.

Beat the egg whites just until they start to form peaks – go easy, don’t over beat. Add one-third of the egg-whites to the chocolate batter and mix vigorously. Then slow it down for the last two thirds -- gently fold in the whites until the mixture is well blended and no streaks of white remain.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is firm and springy, 35 to 40 minutes.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar after it’s cooled.

Adapted freely from Patricia Well’s Bistro Cooking