Chocolate Gateau

More than any other culinary activity I engage in, baking brings more compliments and smiles to the people in my home. One of the advantages of my traveling is the ability to pick up ingredients that can enhance my creations and give them that added edge that normally I might not have. Anytime I set a foot on French ground, I am stocking up on my baking essentials and goods. This is all the chocolate remaining in my pantry, so my chocolate gateau is not made too many times during the year. I do come home with a number of bars, but I love passing them out to my friends.....they enjoy that also! How I wish my blogger friends lived closer so I could share with you! I will share this very easy.... moist, and oh so rich chocolate gateau that my good friend and chef in France taught in one of her classes. It is best described as extremely dense and fudgy. This is a very common dessert cake and I know many of you have it filed in your recipe section.

Chocolate Gateau

1 Bar-200 grams chocolate
This was not unsweetened. A bakers bar can be substituted, the 6 0z. 170 gram size.

1 & 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature.

1 2/3 cups of ground almonds. I buy the preground bag from Trader Joes or from you -know- where....You can always grind some in your processor!

2/3 cups of sugar, more if you think it needs to be sweeter. 4 separated egg yolks. Save the whites.
One teaspoon of vanilla.

Oven, 350 degrees. Use a spring form pan, medium size that has the bottom lined with parchment. Melt the chocolate, bain marie method. Turn off heat. Let chocolate remain in pan. It will still be easy to pour into mixture.

Mix the sugar, butter until creamy. Add the almonds, melted choc0late and egg yolks. Add vanilla.

With mixer, beat egg whites until they peak and fold into creamy almond mixture. Pour in pan and bake 40 minutes or until the top has crusted slightly and starts to crack. Let cool before removing from pan. I just slide a small knife along the side to loosen any stubborn cake.

You do not need to add icing. It is your preference. This is really delicious with vanilla icecream. My icing was 5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate and 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Melt the same way as above.The icing just flows over the cake! This is so easy and you probably have all the ingredients right under your nose! Happy Cooking