Christmas Special: Two Ingredient Chocolate Cake

You guys....I have such a fab dessert for you today. It is perfect for the holidays.

I'm sure everyone is gearing up to welcome the festive season. One of the highlights of this time of year for me (aside from the obvious feasting, presents, home trip and the cool weather that comes with it) is that I'm humming "jingle bells" all day instead of the usual "the wheels on the bus go round and round" 😝

Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding have already been featured on the blog. This year I was torn between Gingersnap Cookies and Mini Fruit Tarts. Then I realized that I may not have time to do anything and so I abandoned the idea of doing a Christmas special blog post altogether. But then without warning, this chocolate cake came into my life and tweaked the course of my holiday baking.

In early November, I kept a jar of dry fruits soaking in liquor in my fridge in order to bake a Christmas cake for my colleagues and family back home. The cake was supposed to be ready by the first week of December but unfortunately my attention got diverted with my little ones taking turns contracting HFMD (which put them out of action for two weeks) and the husband having to go away for a week on a business trip soon after. I began panicking if I could make time for the Christmas cake given I had to tie up several loose ends at work, finish my Christmas gift shopping, invite a few friends over for a gathering, make a hundred lists, sort out a bunch of stuff at home and complete a mountain of packing but then in a rare (ok...not so rare) fit of insanity, I baked this two ingredient chocolate cake because it was too hard to resist 😁

On the bright side, fast forward to today, save for the packing, all my plans are done and dusted 😏 I'm going to start cramming our suitcases at lightning speed this weekend so wish me luck.

I stumbled across this recipe on Instagram from a blogger whose sugar work I really admire. It looked kinda too good to be true so I had to check it out.

This cake has two ingredients......just TWO. Say WHAAAT? 😮 No flour, no butter, no added sugar, no milk....nought/nil/nada. Just good ol' chocolate and eggs you guys. The two come together in a culinary duet to create something special. Eggs are the magic ingredient of this recipe so unless you want me to tear my hair out, please don't ask for a substitute. If you don't consume eggs or don't prefer to use them in your desserts, then this recipe simply isn't for you.

I actually cheated a bit and added a tsp of vanilla extract even though it wasn't mentioned in the original recipe. Whenever a recipe calls for egg yolks to be mixed in separately, I always add in vanilla extract along with it to prevent any 'egginess' in the finished product. I have listed vanilla extract as an optional ingredient so it's your call. 

I didn't have high expectations with regards to taste considering the recipe had only two ingredients but I was so stunned by how it turned out. I was finding it hard to tell that there wasn't any flour in the cake! Gluten-free advocates will be mighty pleased. And the cake was soft, moist and had that melt in the mouth texture to it. Most cakes have that sugary sweetness but this one doesn't. It is just mildly sweet which I think would be appealing to people who don't like their desserts cloyingly sweet. I dusted the cake generously with icing sugar because my palette felt it was needed and topped them with fresh strawberries. I think fresh raspberries would work too. Ice-cream on the side would be a nice touch too but it's not mandatory.....the cake can stand up for itself.

If you haven't got around to holiday baking yet, grab a giant bar of chocolate and eggs and get this lovely looking, guilt-free dessert on the tables in under an hour. You will shine brighter than that star sitting on top of the Christmas tree 💥

Two Ingredient Chocolate Cake

Preparation time: 10 min
Baking time: 30-40 min
Makes: A 6 or 7 inch round cake
Recipe category: Dessert/Western
Recipe level: Easy
Recipe source: Adapted from here

Ingredients:

165 g chocolate (dark, milk or a mix of both)

3 eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract, Optional

To serve:

Icing sugar, to dust

Fresh strawberries or raspberries

Vanilla bean ice-cream

For directions and process you could watch the video here

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (338 F). Line a round 6 or 7-inch baking pan with baking paper.

2. Carefully separate the three eggs into whites and yolks. Using a hand-held electric whisk or a stand mixer, whisk egg whites to form stiff, meringue-like peaks. 

If it is done right, the whites won't fall out of the bowl when you invert it upside down. 

3. Meanwhile, melt 165 g of chocolate in a double boiler. I used the 100gm milk chocolate and 65 grams dark chocolate (both Lindt). 

4. Add the three egg yolks to the chocolate along with the vanilla extract and whisk. Add the third of the of the whites and whisk until incorporated. 

5. Add the rest of the whites in two batches, folding the mixture with a spatula until well blended. 

6. Pour in the mixture into the prepared pan. Drop the pan on the bench to get rid of any bubbles. Bake for 30-40 minutes, allow to cool.

7. Dust the cake with icing sugar. Enjoy on it’s own or with fresh strawberries/raspberries or vanilla bean ice cream. 

Notes:

• Use good quality chocolate in this recipe
• You cannot replace the chocolate with cocoa powder
• Separate the egg whites very carefully ensuring no fragment of shell is mixed in the whites. Make sure the mixing bowl and whisk are clean, dry and grease-free before whisking the whites into stiff peaks
• If you double this recipe, you can use a 8-inch cake pan. However, note that the baking time will increase

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I have had a wonderful time in Singapore up until now. The next part of my holidays will be in India amidst loved ones. I can't wait!

Happy Holidays. See you next year 🙋

Cheers,
Megha