Flourless Chocolate Pecan Cake

I have read so many recipes for flourless cakes, and see pictures of these rich fudgy cakes without flour, but just hadn't been able to bring myself to invest the time or ingredients. That all changed recently. I was watching an episode of Pati's Mexican Table and she made Nana Jose's Flourless Chocolate Cake. It had been in her husbands family for years. So, not just a recent trending fad, but a tried and true family recipe. Ok, I was getting more interested. And, it had Pecans! When in South Carolina, my friend Missy sent home lots of Pecans from their tree's, so I have been wanting to try more pecan recipes.

This recipe could not be easier!  Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler, and then the rest is done in the blender. Seriously, can it get any easier than that? Into the oven, it went. I was still really nervous that this whole thing was not going to go well, but when I pulled it out of the oven, everything was still good. I let it rest for a couple hours, and served it for dessert that night.

Rich, fudgy, everything I hoped it would be. Truckin' Man loved it, too. Rich enough that he even wanted smaller slices than normal.  He didn't even guess anything was different about this cake, until I told him. The next day, I took some into work for the crew to try. My friend that is on a gluten free diet loved it. I was happy that she was finally able to enjoy some of my baking!

Flourless Chocolate Pecan Cake (source: Pati's Mexican Table)

1/4 cup unsalted butter 

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate 
1 cup pecans 
6 large eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt
Confectioners sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray, then line bottom with parchment paper.  

Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring occasionally. Once melted, set aside to cool. 

Add pecans to blender, chop until pecans are very fine. To the pecans, add eggs, vanilla, sugar, salt and cooled chocolate.  Blend until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes.  Cake is done with a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a moist crumb. 

Cool for 20-30 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen the cake. Remove side of pan and serve on bottom of pan. Or, if you want to serve on a plate, place serving plate upside down over cake; turn plate and cake over. Remove bottom of springform pan. Dust top of cake with Confectioners sugar. 

Enjoy!

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