orichalcum

My family's traditional Passover flourless chocolate cake (updated with some suggestions from Godiva, like the raspberry coulis):



Ingredients
Chocolate cake:
12 oz dark semi-sweet chocolate - chocolate chips work great.
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules ("instant espresso" also works well.)
3/4 cup boiling water
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Raspberry coulis:
1 bag (12 ounces) frozen unsweetened raspberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raspberry liqueur (Strictly optional; I've never used this myself, as I don't have Chambord lying around.)

Garnish:
3 cups sweetened whipped cream
Fresh raspberries

Make the cake:
1. Butter bottom and side of 9-inch springform pan. Line with parchment or waxed paper. N.B.: The waxed paper produces large amounts of mess and annoyance at the end; it may be possible to do without it, but I haven't risked that yet. If you don't have a springiform pan, use any regular cake pan of roughly the right size. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place chocolate, sugar and coffee in food processor bowl or blender. Cover and process until finely ground. With motor running, pour boiling water through feed tube. Process 10 to 15 seconds or until mixture is smooth. Add butter and process for 5 seconds. Add eggs and vanilla and process for about 5 seconds or until mixture is smooth and creamy. Spread mixture in prepared pan.
3. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until edge of cake is puffy and center is just set. Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until ready to serve - this isn't strictly necessary, but improves the texture.

Make the raspberry coulis:
Combine frozen raspberries and sugar in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved and berries are soft. Do not let mixture boil. Strain berries through a fine-meshed sieve into bowl. Stir in raspberry liqueur. Cover and refrigerate.

Decorate the cake:
1. Loosen cake from pan, using a knife. Remove the side of springform pan. Invert cake onto a serving plate. Peel off paper.
2. Spread sweetened whipped cream over top of cake. Fill pastry bag fitted with a star tip with remaining whipped cream. Pipe rosettes over top of cake. (The rosettes are also optional. The cake looks prettier when covered with wax paper, certainly. It will fall - this is fine.)

3. To serve, drizzle some of raspberry coulis onto each dessert plate. Slice cake into wedges. Place a wedge on each plate and garnish with raspberries.


Moroccan Haroset Balls With Dates, Raisins And Nuts

These are really yummy snacks, regardless of your ethnic/religious background.

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 cups pitted dates
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon sweet red passover wine -- (up to 2)

Process the dates, raisins, and walnuts in a food processor until the mixture
is finely chopped and begins to stick together. Add enough wine to make a
sticky mass. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Drop slightly rounded
measuring teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a lined sheet. Roll each mound with
moistened palms into hazelnut-size balls. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or
until firm.

Yield: about 60 pieces