Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 90 minutes
Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, more for greasing pan
unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup blanched hazelnuts or almonds, lightly toasted
12 ounces high quality semisweet chocolate (NOT chocolate chips!)
1/2 cup honey
10 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Butter a 10-by-3-inch round cake pan. Line bottom with parchment, then butter parchment. Dust with unsweetened cocoa powder and shake out excess.
- Grind nuts to a powder in a food processor. Set aside.
- Break up chocolate into small heatproof bowl. Set bowl over pan of boiling water that you've taken off the heat and let melt, then cool slightly.
- While chocolate cools, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until soft. Gradually add honey; beat until smooth. Add egg yolks two at a time, beating until mixed after each addition. Stir in melted chocolate and nuts. (The mixture will look curdled.)
- In another bowl, beat egg whites with salt until whites barely stand up when the beater is raised. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture in three batches. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350. Bake for 50 minutes more, until a cake tester comes out almost clean - don't overbake. Remove and let cool. Remove from pan.
- Frost if desired, but I never do!
Yield: 16 servings.
