If a flourless chocolate cake couldn’t be decadent enough, add a little booze and some ganache for the ultimate chocolate cake. Whoa.. Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Liquor Ganache, where have you been my whole life?
Tis the season’s for birthday’s! It seems that most of my friends and family are either Aquarius people, Taurus people and Leo people. Go figure, but it’s fun to bake birthday cakes for folks, so here it goes. My Dad’s birthday is this weekend and so is Valentine’s day so this flourless chocolate cake with chocolate liquor fits perfectly for both occasions! So super rich and decadent that you only need a tiny slice and quite honestly “flour” is so over rated anyway. Ha. I am not on the gluten free band wagon but for those of you who suffer, this is a great way to have your cake and eat it too… Give it a try, it’s really pretty easy to make and it involves a microwave. Who doesn’t like that?So speaking of birthday’s, my 45th was this past weekend. This birthday kinda threw me for a loop. The first birthday that actually “bothered” me. After I got over it and realized that I have a pretty darn amazing life and really have nothing in the world to complain about, I decided to have the most awesome four day weekend. Yep, four days of super fun. I did go skiing. Not quite sure why I was so nervous but the day was perfect. Clear skies, warm temperatures (in the 40’s on the mountain), soft snow and a friend who likes to go as fast as me. There is something to be said for “lapping” the Super B chairlift at Copper Mountain. I love Copper because the mountain is set up in a way that the “expert” area is one side and on top, “intermediate” skiers stay in the middle and “beginner’s are on the other side. It’s nice to have the separation. We finished up the day hanging with our dogs, a few good beers and hot tubing at my friends condo (she actually lives at the mountain, so jealous)…
Day two.. I worked in the morning and then a night out with the girls. Three of us from my tennis team have birthday’s within a couple of weeks of each other, so we had had a perfect reason to make it one heck of a fun night. Dinner and drinks at the View House. Such a fun place with a great vibe and really great views of the mountains and the skyline (thus the name). You really can’t beat it and in a great Denver Tech location. We then headed over to Baker Street for more drinks, a local band and some dancing. It ended up being a late night and we didn’t have to call Uber, so that was a good thing! LOL!
Day three… my punishment. Ha, not really but rather my “accomplishment”. I joined in with a group of friends to hike the Manitou Incline. What you may ask? Pure hell.. No, not really but rather a 2000 foot climb in one short mile and then a three and half mile hike down. At the steepest point you are walking up a 68 degree angle! Pure craziness and pure joy when you finish. I finished in a respectable hour and eight minutes. Next time, I will get more than four hours of sleep… Oh, yes! There will be a “next” time for this and Manitou Springs is such a cute town to boot!
Finally day four. I went up to Evergreen to spend a nice relaxing day with my parents and our dogs that happened to include another hike. Yep, I’m a glutton for punishment and my butt certainly is feeling it by now. We ventured over to Three Sisters park which is part of the Jefferson County open space trail system. It’s such a pretty hike and suitable for just about any level of hiker. I will say, there is nothing better to do in Colorado than to go skiing and hiking in February when the temperatures have been in the 70’s. It’s quite remarkable but just a quiet reminder that it is still winter and our snowiest months are March and April. I’m sure we will get hit like the East Coast and I am still secretly hoping that it will happen. Heck we really need the moisture and my house is dusty. It’s time for sure!
Make sure you check out all the pictures! Oh! Enjoy the Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Liquor! It’s really quite yummy… if I do say so myself.. XOXO
- 10 ounces 60% Cocao chocolate
- 11/2 sticks butter
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 4 tablespoons chocolate liquor (I used [url href=”http://us.thebar.com/en/brands/godiva” target=”_blank” title=”Godiva Liquor”]Godiva[/url] brand)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- [b][br]For The Ganache[br][/b]
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons chocolate liquor
- 10 ounces 60% Cocao chocolate
- In a large microwave safe bowl add the chocolate, butter, orange rind, salt and chocolate liquor. Place in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes or until melted. Stir to incorporate. Set aside to cool.
- In a stand mixer (or by hand) add the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Mix on high for 10 minutes until really thick and airy. (This is important so the cake doesn’t “fall”).
- Slowly add the chocolate mixture until incorporated.
- Prepare a 10 inch spring form pan or cake pan. Liberally spray with cooking spray and line with parchment paper if you have it available. Pour the batter into the pan and place in a 350 degree preheated oven.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan and resting on a wire rack. Let cake cool completely.
- [b][br] For the Ganache[br][/b]
- In a microwave safe bowl add the chocolate, heavy cream and chocolate liquor. Place in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes until melted. Stir until incorporated.
- Place the cake which is on the wire rack on top of a cookie sheet. Pour the ganache on top of the cake and spread evenly on top and down the sides.
- Put in the refrigerator to cool and until the ganache hardens.
- Serve with fresh raspberries.
Off the “A” chair and my second run of the year. Yeah my thighs hurt in a good way and “Yeah” the sky was navy blue on Thursday! Typical “blue bird” day in Colorado.
Me and my pal Susan. We always have the greatest time together. Thanks to our late BFF Darsey for the introduction. My life has never been the same since!
And another reason that I LOVE Copper Mountain… you can bring your dogs to the bars… Here, Hans, Charlie and Willow are enjoying the sun too!
First beer after my skiing hiatus… Awesome. The amber 90 Shilling was my first craft beer that I drank when I arrived in Colorado 25 years ago. Still my favorite beer for so many reasons…
The group of insane individuals who un-knowingly got to spend my b-day with me. We drank beers when we finished. That’s all… Work hard, play harder, kinda our motto in CO.
Seriously 2000 feet elevation climb in one short mile. Killer work out. I’m lucky that I’m not dead. Well not really cause I’m ok in shape but running on four hours of sleep after a night of shenanigans and dancing with the gals, it should have killed me.
Last two steps… Whew! That felt good. Yep! That’s what I was telling myself! Check out how steep it was and the view! Seriously? Got Vertigo?
The Manitou Incline sits right below Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, so majestic…
A beautiful hike within 45 minutes of Denver. Three sisters in the rocks. Just stunning!
A super pretty view through the forest! The light was perfect! I took this picture with the iPhone 6… Actually all of these pictures were taken with the phone… Go figure..
Seriously, Perry is now 15 weeks old and 30+ pounds… My friend’s daughter is almost 2 years old and weighs 24 pounds soaking wet…