Chocolate Cloud Cake (Gluten free!)

Ok, no more messin' around.  Let's get serious about decadent holiday food.  Bring on the holiday lights and spiked cocoa and spiced rum and mulled wine!  Do I have a drinking problem?  

This little beauty is a Nigella Lawson recipe.  And she is the best ever.  I want to be her.  She's gorgeous, she lives in London, she has a beautiful kitchen and she does everything effortlessly.  I find her show (which doesn't air much in the US because I don't even know why) to be so comforting.  It's like a slice of life that is totally not my life at all.

So, in lieu of moving to London and living Nigella's life, I've made this cake.  It's super rich and intensely chocolately.  The top will puff up and then sink down and that's tooottally ok.  Just cover it in dollops of freshly whipped cream.  

I've found that dollops of freshly whipped cream tend to be the solution to many a thing.  Or a bag of Doritos.  That's a solution too.  

Here's the recipe!  

Ingredients

9 oz bittersweet chocolate, minimum 70%
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs, 2 whole, 4 separated
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the whipped cream: 

2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, for garnish

Instructions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with baking parchment.
2.  Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or a microwave (in 30 second intervals), then add the butter and let it melt in the warm chocolate.
3.  Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 1/3 cup of the sugar, then gently add the chocolate mixture.  Add vanilla extract.
4.  In another bowl (or using a stand mixer), whisk the 4 egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the remaining sugar and whisk until the whites hold their shape but are not too stiff. 

5.  Lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg whites and stir to combine.  Then fold in the rest of the whites gently so they don't deflate.  

6.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is risen and cracked and the center is no long wobbly. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack.  The middle will sink as it cools.
Prepare the whipped cream:
Whip the cream in a stand mixer in high speed until it's soft and then add the vanilla extract.  Whip until the cream is firm but not stiff.  Fill the center of the cake with the whipped cream, easing it out gently towards the edges of the cake, and dust the top lightly with cocoa powder pushed through a tea-strainer.

Enjoy!

Recipe barely adapted from Nigella Lawson