Chocolate Sin

Almond Joy, a Hershey bar with nuts, a See's Candy walnut square–these are a few of my favorite chocolates. I don't have a sweet tooth. Salty foods are my weakness and most of the time I prefer my palate to be finished not with a sweet but with a salt or vinegar note.

Now there is an exception.

Two year's ago for my birthday dinner, my signifiant other and I went to an Italian restaurant. When we were done with our meal, we studied the desert menu. He loves chocolate and we saw the perfect dessert: Chocolate Sin. It sounded divine. my mouth began to water reading the description aloud, so that we could both hear and relish in what was to come. 

We went back to this restaurant for a second time, this time, we had already had dinner and were craving Chocolate Sin, so we asked if it would be alright if we just ordered dessert and a couple of drinks. This time we were actually celebrating my significant other's birthday. The gentlemen who brought us the dessert also brought the check and asked the occasion and then said, "well, you shoudda told me." He picked up the check and took it with him. "I'll be right back." We looked at each other and finished the last of our cocktails. He set the check down and bid us a good night. We looked. He had taken the dessert off the bill. "That was nice of him. We can add it to his tip." 

Then came Valentine's Day and I wanted to prepare dinner at home and also prepare a dessert. But then at the last minute, I decided I wasn't going to make dessert, even though I had found a recipe for what sounded a possible match for the Chocolate Sin. My dear signifiant other, when he came home for dinner, had gone to the restaurant to bring us home that dessert for which we fell in love. Surprisingly, it was not on the menu that evening, so he had brought something else. 

So since this past Valentine's Day, I have been waiting for the right moment to prepare the recipe I found online. The description on the menu was that it was a flour less chocolate cake served warm, with strawberries and a small dab of vanilla ice cream. 

Really, I don't know why I procrastinated. Maybe it was the amount of butter. Maybe it was all the chocolate. Maybe it was going to be too sinful!

This past weekend I told my significant other that I was just about ready to make the cake. He was eager for me to follow through. I also finished the book by Joanne Harris that was made into the movie: Chocolat. And that is what brought Chocolate Sin back to the forefront of my mind. I devoured the book, setting aside the other books I've been nibbling away at, and read it in a couple of days. I want to see the movie again. But the way Harris writes is so sumptuous and the story and characters are so real–and there is sin (according to the priest); oh yes, there is sin!. And the irony of it all.

And so, here is the link to the recipe for what I will always think of as Chocolate Sin and I will gladly enjoy every bit of it.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-14478

It turned out just as I was hoping. Served warm and just as good cold. 

The warm, thick, yet airy chocolate, melting in your mouth, then a small spoon of vanilla to compliment and balance the rich chocolate goodness, followed by a strawberry to clean the palate; pause to take in the deliciousness–warmth, coolness, creaminess, freshness–and then start all over, bite by bite, savoring each morsel. Heavenly!   

I read through some of the reviewer's tips and hints first and followed a few.

This is the easiest dessert recipe I have ever made. I decided to make it really easy and did not use the double boiler method to melt the chocolate. Instead, as a reviewer did, I placed the butter and chocolate in the pan directly. I have a nice set of teflon coated pans and didn't have any sticking problems. I used a 4 oz. bar of semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate. I didn't have a 8 inch round pan, but remembered that I had an 8 inch square pan and used that. I took the cake out of oven about 3 minutes shy of the 25. I didn't sprinkle extra coco on the cake. I prefer it plain and served as described above.

Simple

delicious

warm– 

chocolate goodness!