Flourless Chocolate Cake

I have so many funny food stories, and they're from every possible crazy angle you can imagine!  I just have to share!  This one is about flourless chocolate cake, but I'll get to that in a minute.  A favorite time, with favorite people was the few years surveying for archaeological sites on Camp Pendleton. We got in the habit of potlucks on Fridays.  I'd bring food, a folding picnic table, and pretty Provencal tablecloths.  Everybody would bring something, and we'd enjoy our spread under an ancient sycamore...feeling like a photo from Sunset magazine.  Since I needed to be in communication with range control, I carried a radio that broadcast all conversation.  We heard a report that "picnic-ers" had strayed off the freeway and were eating under a tree...it took us a little while to realize they were talking about us; we heard that the commanding General wanted to join us for lunch; we heard that range control was out of coffee supplies---the next day, I made a gift of everything "coffee" I could think of, and while they sniffed at the vanilla cream (ma'am, we drink our coffee black!) they'd consumed it all by the next day!

Andy and Taline worked really well together.  They argued, they fought, they competed, but they kicked butt in quality of work.  They worked as a team when we had large crews or small, no matter what.  Often their arguments would carry over to lunch, so we would all be engaged then, in considering an issue they'd chewed on all morning.  It could be any crazy thing, from solutions to world hunger...ways the Turks could make amends to the Armenians...which fast food burger is the best...are whales as smart as humans!    We all benefited very much though, from one particular argument.  Andy had stated that he hated Key Lime Pie.  Taline wouldn't hear of it.  She baked a pie that night and brought it to work. 

We all LOVED that pie, but Andy was not convinced.  She made another, and brought it to work.  FOUR pies later, Andy admitted that he actually loved Key Lime Pie and that he had exploited Taline's feisty humor to make us six pies!  She was understandably mad; we were all grateful to Andy!  All this baking kind of triggered a craze in Taline for awhile.  She couldn't stop!  We enjoyed wondrous things from her kitchen, everyday for weeks. 

I recently recalled a favorite of mine, when I needed to make a chocolate-y birthday cake for a dinner party.  I'd never had a flourless chocolate cake till Taline introduced us, so my memories of that first experience---on the side of the road, in the shade of a rock outcrop, with the magic scent of sheep droppings and a sweeping view of the blue Pacific...are in sharp contrast to my present surroundings and the lovely party where I served Taline's flourless chocolate cake. 

This is an easy recipe, you can whip it up in an evening after a hard day at work, even when you've got to be up early to hike for eight hours!

Taline's Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
I don't have a reference for this recipe...Taline dictated and
I scribbled it into my field notes.

12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 sticks of butter, cut into smaller pieces
6 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur (Frangelico)
1 cup finely ground hazelnuts
1 tsp salt

Center a rack in the oven and turn to 350 degrees
Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment
Seal the outside of the pan with three layers of foil

Combine the chocolate and butter in a metal bowl, and whisk over a pan of hot water on the stove
Whisk until melted and smooth
Remove from the stove

Whisk eggs, brown sugar, and liqueur to blend
Whisk chocolate mixture in, being careful not to scramble the eggs
Stir in ground hazelnuts and salt
Pour batter into prepared springform pan
Place pan in a roasting pan, and pour boiling water to halfway up sides of springform
Place all in the oven, and tent the cake loosely with foil
Bake until cake is set in the center, about 1 1/2 hours
Remove from oven, and remove all foil
Cool the cake on a rack in the springform pan
Chill cake for 3 hours before serving