I've had a desire for chocolate lately.

Charlie

DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE QUAI D'ORSAY

Source: Food and Wine, February 1979


12 oz. semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tbs. milk
10 tbs. unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
7 egg yolks
1/2 cup flour
butter and flour for the cake pan
8 egg whites

GLAZE

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped


Place 12 oz. of chopped chocolate and the milk in a heavy saucepan and stir
over low heat until melted. Remove from heat. In a second pan, stir the
butter and sugar together over low heat until sugar had dissolved. Blend
with the chocolate. With whisk or electric mixer, add the eggs yolks one or
two at a time mixing well after each addition. Mix in the flour gradually.
Once the flour has been incorporated, stop beating.

Preheat oven to 400F. Butter and flour a 9 or 10-inch layer-cake pan shaking
out excess flour. Beat egg whites until firm but not dry. Add about 1
quarter of the beaten whites to the chocolate mixture and beat well to
lighten the combination. Gently pour the chocolate mixture over the
remaining whites and fold together carefully. Pour the mixture gently into
the cake pan. It should be about three-quarters full.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the
pan and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5
minutes in the pan.

While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze. Melt the 6 oz. of chopped
chocolate over medium heat in a pan set in a larger pan of hot water (be
careful not to drip any water into the chocolate). Remove from heat and stir
until completely smooth.

When the cake has cooled for 5 minutes, turn it out onto a plate. Spread the
melted chocolate over the top surface, spreading from center to sides.
(Glaze sides too if desired.) You can trace a pattern into the glaze with a
knife tip if you like. Refrigerate cake until the glaze has set.