The Perfect Small Cake for Your Valentine’s Dessert

With the snow, the short daylight hours and the negative-degree-temperatures that come along with the frigid month of February, Valentine’s Day arrives at the perfect time to treat yourself to a little indulgence — especially when it comes to all things chocolate.

Restaurants in the area are sure to be serving up special dessert menus on the night of Feb. 14, like The Edward wine bar in Sharon, which will be offering a surprise four-course chocolate and wine pairing in collaboration with Kent Coffee & Chocolate Company.  But if you can’t get enough of dessert, what could be lovelier than having an extra homemade treat waiting to finish the evening — or even to save for an extra helping of Valentine’s sweetness over the weekend. 

I recommend a European-style chocolate cake. It’s satisfyingly rich, flavorful and very filling, yet has an airier consistency than a more fudge-textured cake. My father, David Wilburn, a Falls Village resident and credit risk manager at Salisbury Bank, has been baking this chocolate-almond cake for years and for all sorts of winter occasions, from December birthdays to Christmas Eve to book club dinners. It’s both a foreign twist on an old favorite and an easy recipe to master.

Your instinct might be to pair your homemade chocolate cake with a dessert wine, but the advice I received from Jim Kennedy, manager at Salisbury Wines, was actually to go a different route. 

“While chocolate and wine seem like a natural pairing, it’s much more difficult to pair them than one might think,” Kennedy said. “When you pair, you’re not necessarily looking for similar flavors, but flavors that work well together. If you already have cherry flavors in the chocolate and you pair it with dark cherry-flavored wine, it might not necessarily work.”

So if you’re not in possession of an expert palate, go with Kennedy’s recommendation of a sparkling wine instead. “A Champagne or a Cava would work great. If you really do want dessert wine, you’ve got to go with something that has good acidity.” He suggested a Moscato D’Oro from Napa Valley, Calif. “It’s not a cloyingly sweet, syrupy Moscato. This is refreshingly sweet. You can also pick a Moscato D’Asti from Italy. That’s the best of both worlds in the sense that it’s lightly sparkling — sort of like a beer that’s been open for 10 minutes. Just the right amount of bubbles.”

European-style Flourless Chocolate Cake

Adapted from a recipe by Steve Dunn, this straightforward and scaled down version is made, naturally, to be shared by two (with a few leftover slices, mais bien sûr).

3 large eggs, separated

4 1/2 ounces of unsalted Irish butter

4 1/2 ounces of bittersweet Valrhona French chocolate

3/4 teaspoon of vanilla

5 1/4 ounces of sugar

5 1/4 ounces of almond flour

1 1/2 teaspoon of Dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Combine 4 1/2 ounces of unsalted butter with 4 1/2 ounces of bittersweet (60%) chocolate in a metal bowl over a sauce pan filled with simmering water, and leave on the stove until both the butter and chocolate have melted together. Add 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla.

While you wait, separate three large eggs. The easiest technique to separate the eggs without breaking the yolk is use your fingers. Put the egg yolks into one bowl, and the egg whites into a mixing bowl. 

European-style cakes use air to rise instead of using a more common leavening agent, like baking powder. Beat the egg whites with a whisk or using the whisk attachment on a stand mixer. Beat the egg whites until they start to thicken and turn an opaque white color. Then add half of your 5 1/4 ounces of sugar you set aside. It doesn’t have to be overly precise. Now mix on high until the combination of egg whites and sugar takes on a stiff texture with a glossy finish.

Scrape the egg white mixture into another bowl and set it aside. 

With a clean bowl, combine your egg yolks with the other half of your sugar and whisk on high in your stand mixer. The purpose  of this is to introduce air into the yolks. Stop when you have a thick, lemony-colored consistency after about three minutes.

Add the chocolate mixture to your egg yolk mixture. Mix on medium. 

Add all of the almond flour,  1 1/2 tablespoons of Dutch process cocoa powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the mixture. Mix on medium until combined. 

Now, to lighten the batter, take roughly a 1/4 of your glossy egg whites and beat into the mixture for about 30 seconds. 

Finally, gently fold in by hand the remainder of your egg whites. 

Coat the inside of a six-inch springform pan with baking spray and pour in your batter. Level the batter with a spatula.

Bake for about one hour at 325 degrees. A toothpick inserted into the center should still have a few moist crumbs. Let cool. Serve at room temperature and top with confectioners’ sugar and whipped cream with a shot of Amaretto added.