Ina Garten has elevated a basic flourless chocolate cake recipe to create a decadent and fudgy treat. Her secret is the use of crème de cassis, which adds a delicious flavor that’s also incorporated into the cake’s ganache frosting.
Ina Garten made her chocolate cassis cake recipe with Giada De Laurentiis
Garten demonstrated how to make her flourless chocolate cassis cake on an episode of Barefoot Contessa, with a little help from fellow Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis.
Garten melted butter and bittersweet chocolate and De Laurentiis added cocoa powder, crème de cassis, and vanilla. Garten explained how the liqueur is “just so good with the raspberries and the strawberries and the chocolate — it’s a great combination.”
“I find that with raspberries, it really brings out the raspberry flavor,” she added. “And since we’re serving the cake with raspberries and crème de cassis, it’s so good.”
In the mixer, Garten combined the eggs, sugar, and salt and whisked it until it was “pale yellow.” Garten explained, “It’s really an important part of it. This is actually a flourless cake and it has no leavening. You need all the air in the eggs.”
She poured in the chocolate then folded it carefully into the egg mixture.
Garten poured the batter into a greased springform pan with a piece of parchment placed on the bottom. “There’s no point in making the cake if you can’t get it out,” she said. Garten baked the cake for 35 to 40 minutes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.
The flourless chocolate cake ganache topping and fresh fruit make it extra decadent
Garten made the ganache topping by combining chocolate, heavy cream, vanilla, and cassis in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it until the chocolate melted. “It’s so important for the chocolate not to over-melt because then it starts to separate. It’s just awful,” she shared.
She poured the ganache in the middle of the cake and spread it to the edges, allowing some of it to drip down the sides of the cake. Garten tossed raspberries and strawberries with sugar and cassis to serve alongside the cake.
“It just makes the berries taste berrier,” she said of the cassis blackcurrant liqueur.
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The chocolate cassis cake is a fudgy delight
If you’re wondering what the cake tastes like, De Laurentiis summed it up perfectly. “It’s fudgy like a brownie,” the Food Network star said of the cake’s texture. “It’s kind of a mix between a truffle and a brownie.”
The cake earns rave reviews on the Food Network website. “Love, love, LOVE!,” one fan wrote. “Made this for a dinner party and everyone went crazy for this dessert — gave out the recipe so many times.”
The commenter went on to explain that the cake “will be a little wobbly when you pull it out, but the top should be cooked and it will continue to cook the rest of the way as it gradually cools.”
They turned it “upside-down” because the cake sunk in the middle, so it would have a flat top for frosting. “I served it with fresh raspberries on top and vanilla ice cream on the side. Total SHOW STOPPER! Ina never disappoints,” they added.
You can find the full recipe on the Food Network website.
