This recipe comes from Marco Pappalardo, owner of Il Regno Seffa, a fabulous shop in Bologna where I’ve bought fresh pasta and dolce treats. It is a dessert typical of the city of Ferrara. The intense chocolate flavor is moist inside, has few ingredients, and is easy to make. Perfect when served with a whiskey-flavored whipped cream, a scoop of coffee ice cream, or even a dollop of rich Mascarpone cheese.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- ½ cup butter
- 5 eggs, room temperature, separated
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup ‘00” flour or all-purpose flour Powdered sugar
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Butter the sides of a 9-inch spring form pan and place a buttered piece of parchment paper in the bottom. Set aside.
Dissolve the chocolate in a double boiler, stirring constantly.
When the chocolate is melted, stir in the butter until well incorporated. Let the mixture cool slightly.
Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and beat to the soft peaks stage with an electric hand beater. Add half of the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and continue beating until the whites are glistened and fluffy. Set aside.
Put the egg yolks in another bowl with the remaining sugar and beat until a light golden mixture is formed. Add the cooled chocolate and mixture while beating on low speed until well combined.
With a spatula, fold ⅓ of the whipped egg whites into the mixture to lighten the batter. Continue folding the remaining egg whites, gently mixing from bottom to top. While folding, add the flour, a tablespoon at a time, until a uniform mixture is obtained. Pour the batter into the spring form pan and bake for 12 to 14 minutes.
NOTE: The timing is very delicate. Start checking the time after 14 minutes. The center should be slightly soft.
Allow to cool, remove from pan, and dust with powdered sugar.
Serves 6 to 8
