Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

So I mentioned a cookbook a while ago, and just realized I hadn't gotten around to posting any of the recipes that we enjoyed yet. With that said, enjoy this lovely chocolate cake. We've made it three or four times now, and it's definitely a favorite. It's also a lot simpler than it looks.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Serves 8

Original recipe from The Low-Carb Gourmet by Brigit Binns

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, in small pieces (I recommend Ghiradelli chocolate chips—they’re less expensive then the bars, and require less prep work)
½ cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, cut into 8 chunks (for American butter, that’s a stick of butter cut along the tablespoon lines—very handy)
4 large eggs, chilled

Special Equipment:
8 or 9 inch round cake pan (see notes)
Parchment paper.
Double boiler or metal mixing bowl
Roasting or baking pan large enough to fit your cake pan in flat
Electric mixer, hand mixer, or a whisk and a lot of energy

Place oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 325 F. Grease an 8 (also works in a 9, but makes a much thinner cake) inch cake pan with butter. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper (do not use waxed paper. Seriously.) Fill a small saucepan or a kettle with water, and put it on a back burner. This will be boiling water for the bain-maire, a water bath that will keep your cake moist and cooking evenly in the oven.
You will also need the bottom of your double boiler or another saucepan over which you can set a metal mixing bowl, half full of simmering water.
Melt the chocolate using the top of the double boiler or your metal mixing bowl. Make sure the water doesn’t cover the bottom of your melting vessel. Avoid getting water in your chocolate. Stir your chocolate until it’s smoothly melted. Add the butter and stir until the mixture is homogenous. Remove from heat.
Place the eggs in a large bowl and beat at high speed until doubled in volume. With electric mixers, this takes about five minutes. Do NOT do this step ahead to save time. We found the chocolate mixture needs at least five minutes to cool. It negatively influences the texture of the cake if you add the eggs while the chocolate is too hot.
Fold the egg in by thirds, mixing each time until just combined.
Scoop the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Place the cake in your roasting pan. Put the roasting pan on the rack with the rack at full extension. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes halfway up your cake pan. (or until your cake pan starts bobbing *cough*) Bake for 25-28 minutes. It will not look done, but don’t cook it longer than this. If you have an instant-read thermometer, it should read 150 F. The edges will be slightly dry and bubbled-looking, but the middle will still look batter-ish. Do not be deceived! This cake declines rapidly when left in the oven longer than 28 minutes. It still tastes good, but the texture, again, will be wrong.
Now is when you find your creative solution to not burning your fingers whilst taking the cake pan out of the bain-maire and putting it onto a rack. I recommend two pairs of tongs, two forks, or anything else that keeps you and your moisture-wicking oven mitts away from the boiling water. You can also use a turkey baster to bring the water to a less perilous level. Once you have accomplished the placement of your cake onto the cooling rack, leave it there until it’s room temperature.
Cover and refrigerate your cake for as long as you can. Let it come to room temperature before serving. When you are ready to serve it, invert the cake onto waxed or parchment paper, peel off the parchment from the bottom, and invert again onto its intended serving platter.

Raspberry Sauce
8 oz raspberries (you may use frozen, but at least a carton of fresh is nice for garnish)
2 tablespoons Splenda (or a packet of stevia, or sweetener of your choice)
1 tablespoon lemon juice, or to taste
1 tablespoon Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Special equipment
A blender
A fine mesh sieve (tea strainers work well)

Puree your raspberries, making sure to leave some berries for garnish. Add sweetener, lemon juice, and Cointreau. Then pour your lovely sauce through the sieve to de-seed it. It’s worth it, I promise! This is best accomplished by pressure from a spoon or a pestle, which gets as much pulp through the screen as possible. The raspberry seeds left over are tasty—try them before you throw them away.

Slice your cake onto plates, drizzle with raspberry sauce, and garnish with fresh raspberries and leftover chocolate chips.