Clotilde this cake looks incredible! I wish wish wish I could have had a peice.
Something else for me to make once this baby is born, at the moment I'm not supposed to be eating chocolate either.
No wine, no chocolate, no caffeine, argh, it's not been easy but worth it.
=)

No chocolate??? Man, you really gotta want that kid, huh? :) Seriously, I knew about the wine, but what could be wrong about eating chocolate?

From what my friends have been telling me, my Dr. seems to be a little strict on what I can and cannot eat and drink. She doesn't want me eating chocolate because of the caffeine, although I tend to wonder just how much chocolate she thought I was eating (grin). I did drink a lot of coffee, weaning myself off of that resulted in a 3 day migraine. I wonder if I nipped a little bit of chocolate now and then would it matter. (grin) Theres much longer to go, I guess I can wait, then it will be all that much sweeter, no?

But yeah, just *how much* chocolate did you use to eat? :) It does sound a little strict, but better safe than sorry! Although it's true that a little square of really good chocolate from time to time can't be that much caffeine. And if it makes you happy, it makes the baby happy!
BTW, when are you due?

I really didn't eat all that much,but I like baking with it though! I agree with you about reallly good quality chocolate, a little square can be so divine and really all one needs for a happy mommy and baby. I'm due Jan 19 btw!
Cheers!

Cool is not the word, that's synchronicity or something.

Hey, have you seen Banlieusardises? ( http://www.banlieusardises.com/ ) Neat site, en francais, which means I understand around 1/3 of what I'm reading, and can barely get the gist most of the time. Still an interesting site.

Hi Robert,
Thanks for pointing me to Banlieusardises, it's makes for a really interesting read! And the Quebec point of view (and language) has a very distinctive flavor to me.
It's already something that you can understand a third of it! But if you happen to need help translating something, let me know! :)

Thanks to both of you for the kind words! I'll soon put up a section for my English friends, where I'll translate some favorites from les Banlieusardises. I already registered the domain name, my templates are almost ready... so stay tuned ;-)

Looks absolutely delicious!

Hi Clotilde-
I just found your blog last week and I can't seem to get enough of it!

I tried this chocolate cake this weekend and it was indeed, melt in my mouth. I'm going to bake it again for a party next week.

I was thinking about putting it in a loaf pan instead. Do you think that I'll need to vary the cooking temperature?

The chocolate cake in the loaf pan looked quite nice. BUT, it was a little too crispy on the sides and not quite cooked enough in the center. Next time I will lower the temperature a bit and let it cook a little longer.

BTW - The print function is great! Thanks.

Clotilde, I baked this cake on Valentine's day and it was great. Although after 25 minutes at 200F(made sure with my oven thermometer), the cake was quite wobbly in the center. But no matter. I refrigirated it overnight and brought it to the family gathering yesterday and got great reviews even from my brother in-law who works as a chef in Paris. On the ride home, my husband, who is not into anything chocolaty(and to think that I married him!), said that it was truly the greatest chocolate cake he'd ever had. So my compliments, Clotilde. BTW, love your blog.

Think I must have posted this in the wrong place before....but I would really like to bake this next week for my group of embroiderers. We meet once a month at each other's houses and take turns to provide the desserts (the food is as important as the embroidery). My question is whether to use unsweetened chocolate or semi sweet.

Tried this cake for a friend's bday yesterday. Very yummy and brownie-like, soft and rich.

I was using an 8" pan but had some problems with the temperature and timing though. After 25 minutes, the top was burnt but inside was completely runny, so turned temp down to 150 degrees and added 20 minutes by the end. Perhaps it's time to get a new oven...

Also, only used about 180g sugar. Wonder if the semi-sweet wasn't actually the real stuff.

Just wanted to let you know that I made this for a co-worker's birthday today and - as with everyone else - met with rave reviews all around. A wonderful, sinfully decadent, yet EASY recipe. This is a keeper. Thank you so much!

I have been trying to find a recipe that is similar to this, but I don't know what to really look for. This is like a decadence or flourless chocolate cake. I recently enjoyed a dessert that came upsided down, unmolded from a ramekin. It was similar in that the top (pre-inversion) was cooked to a brownie consistence. The difference is that it was served warm and it was not like a cake at all. It wasn't soupy like a molten cake or truffle centered mini-cake. It stood up on it's own, though it didn't seem cooked thoroughly since only the top was brownie - consistency. The texture was creamy in texture (not as in dairy cream) though, with a very chocolate flavor. I'm guessing that it had to have been cooked in the oven in a water bath. Perhaps it was a fallen souffle'? If anyone has any help to offer, I'd sincerely appreciate it.

Thank you for posting the recipe. I made it for my co-worker's farewell party and it was well recieved.

I have just found your site and have picked this cake as Cake #1 for my twin's first birthday....will move about this site to find Cake #2....any suggestions? What a lovely food freak haven you have created. Congratulations.

I just tried this cake and it was very wobbly in the middle after 25 mins. So my husband left it for another 10 mins. The sides were quite cooked, but the middle was still wobbly. Anyway, I took the cake out of the oven and let it cool a bit, I then transferred it onto a wire rack - but when I did, some middle bits fell out! So I scooped up the cake and put it back into the pan... I will refrigerate it tonight and see if that improves the cake and will report back tomorrow. The bits I tasted seemed pretty yummy though. Fingers crossed!

Hello Clotilde,

Just wanted to let you know that I have tried your recipe and it was as good as it looked on your photo. Good thing the recipe did not include frosting or I'm sure I would have bungled it.

Thanks.

Clotilde, I just found your site a few weeks ago and tried this cake last week as part of a series of experiments to find a good cake for my son's birthday. Needless to say, this was far too good (and chocolatey!) to give to a 1 yr old, but me and my husband loved it. Turned out a bit gooier than in the photo, but that really didn't matter once I'd tasted it.
Thanks

The cake sounds like it will be wonderful, but I need to know what grams equal to in ounces. I don't have a clue about grams. As soon as I get that part figured out, I will be making that wonderful cake. thanks.

Where can I find some more of your great recipes?

The cake sounds like it will be wonderful, but I need to know what grams equal to in ounces. I don't have a clue about grams. As soon as I get that part figured out, I will be making that wonderful cake. thanks.

Where can I find some more of your great recipes?

Hi Clotilde!
Eagerly, I made Nathalie's Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chocolate Cake last weekend, following the English translation of Trish Deseine's book ("I Want Chocolate"). Disaster! I couldn't turn it out (maybe because it wasn't set enough in the middle?), and ended up with a porridge of fudge on a platter. How could I mess up such an easy recipe? My only guess is that the cake was underdone (even though it had well-formed edges and a trembling center just as Deseine instructs). Still, I'm determined to make this recipe work! So here are my questions, if you'd be so kind:

1. Deseine doesn't mention anything about greasing the pan beforehand, or about using parchment paper--so I didn't. But you do: was that your idea, or is my translation of the book different from what the French version tells you to do?

2. If the cake IS trembling in the middle when you remove it, how can you turn it out of the pan? My book says to do it quickly after removing it from the oven, but you say to let it cool a bit. The latter makes more sense, but again, this makes me mistrust the translated copy.

3. My book instructs you to bake at 375F for only 22 minutes. I notice your blog recipe (I imagine that one comes out of the French translation) recommends 400F at 25 min! Big difference! Perhaps this explains it! Does it mean my book's conversion is wrong? If so, can I trust the other recipes?

Finally, thank you for your recommendations and your delightful blog: every sentence you write makes me hungry. And I made your chocolate and zucchini cake for Thanksgiving, with tremendous success (does that mean there's hope for me?).

Hungrily yours,
Julia

Clotilde,

Made this last night. It was wonderful. Converting to US and ounces, used 7 oz chocolate (70%) and butter. Used scant 9 oz sugar. 8" pan with parchment, buttered. 400 degrees, 25 minutes....did not even question it and it was perfect last night with lightly sweetened whipped cream and even better this morning. Initially the center was still very loose...wonderfully chocolate flavor and texture. This morning it had become more solid... My husband ate it for breakfast.

I have a dinner party at my home in a month and have been experimenting with chocolate recipes. Thank you for this. Thinking about adding chambord...any thoughts?

Help!!! I am making this cake for Easter ( 3days) what type of chocolate do I use....Semi sweet or unsweetened? Could someone who made this cake please let me know.....Thanks!!! L

My cake is currently in the oven. I needed something quick, and my local shop had ran out of baking poweder.

Things seem to be going well, but I did have to make a few substitutions, and I am slightly worried that my mixture seems rather....runny.

(Milk chocolate+coco instead of dark chocolate)

8 minutes left, and I might have to leave her in a little longer..

Just tried the recipe and it tastes fabulous! The middle was jiggly when I took it out but, as the recipe said it would be that way, I took it out anyway -- exactly 25 minutes baking time. A little trouble getting the sides to unstick but they did and I was able to turn it out without incident. I served it to my brother tonight and he gave me a standing ovation. The middle was a bit runny but I just smiled, rolled my eyes, and said "It's supposed to be like that". Haha! Nobody argued ;-)

Love the sound of your melt in the mouth chocolate cake but could you translate into cups instead of grams??? Many thanks

Dear Carol,

There are plenty of online conversion charts and calculators (e.g., follow the "URL"). But here is a selection from one site of the most basic conversions:

U.S. / Metric
1/4 cup / 60 milliliters
1/2 cup / 120 milliliters
1 cup / 230 milliliters
1 1/4 cups / 300 milliliters
1 1/2 cups / 360 milliliters
2 cups / 460 milliliters
2 1/2 cups / 600 milliliters
3 cups / 700 milliliters
4 cups (1 quart) / .95 liter
1.06 quarts / 1 liter
4 quarts (1 gallon) /3.8 liters

U.S. / Metric
1/4 ounce / 7 grams
1/2 ounce / 14 grams
1 ounce / 28 grams
1 1/4 ounces / 35 grams
1 1/2 ounces / 40 grams
2 1/2 ounces / 70 grams
4 ounces / 112 grams
5 ounces / 140 grams
8 ounces / 228 grams
10 ounces / 280 grams
15 ounces / 425 grams
16 ounces (1 pound) / 454 grams

I hope that this helps.
I rely on my dual Metric/Imperial measuring spoons and cups that I brought from Canada. Paderno makes them and you can buy them online:

https://www.padinox.ca/shop/Shopping.nsf/utens_meas?OpenPage

I loved the website and the recipes! i'm going to try this chocolate cake for a gathering... Hope it'll be as successful as it seems!

Hi Clotilde,
I was wondering: if I bake the cake in a water bath, will it make a difference to the texture of the cake?

Clotilde, this cake is divine. I had one little problem, though. The first time I made it, despite using a buttered, non-stick pan, the cake still broke into pieces when I tried to turn it out. SO, I started over using a spring-form pan. That one was perfect! I guess it is just such a tender cake that it needed a little extra support. And the one that fell to pieces? Well, that one was eaten immediately with our fingers off of the countertop. Yum! Another note: This cake improves with age. After about 3 or 4 days, if there is any left, it tastes even better. Thank you for the recipe!

Hello, That recipe was wonderful everyone loveded the cake thank you very much.

Hi Clotilde,
as a chocolate lover, I'm gonna try this recipe and I'm sure it'll turn out fantastic! But I have a question: Have you ever tried separating egg yolks and whites, then beating them separately and folding it all together like you would for a souffle? I imagine it would probably work and make it lighter and less dense. Let me know if anyone's tried it and how it came out. Thanks!

I'm making this cake today for a good friend's baby shower tomorrow. You know it's a good recipe when people continue to comment for close to three years! Thanks for sharing this one in particular, Clotilde!

ohhh I just made the cake as cupcakes! absolutely divine! I ate it straight out of the oven with some double cream... magnificent! chocolately, gooey, melting and creamy!

Well, hello everyone! i happened across this brilliant site last week.. and seeing as i was having a get together on saturday decided to try this recipe... i did everything like you said Clotilde...couldn't wait to taste it as soon as it was done (greedy me!).. it was kinddaf spongy...but i decided to put it in the fridge like you said.. and MY-OH-MY! was it delicious the next day! it was gone before i could even get a piece for myself :o( am definitely gonna make this again and experiment with different kinds of chocolates! :o) Thanx Clotilde!

a great cake, and a raging success at my office too. i managed to transport it by bike, but fortunately no one minded the aesthetics. many thanks for the recipe.

heya,

my boyfriend's birthday is on saturday and i want to make cupcakes with this recipe. you said it's better the next day but can i do it tonight (thursday) and serve it saturday or would it be too stale?

thanks

hi madam cotilde ! this webpage is so INCREDIBLE !!!!! After three years, people are still complimenting your lovable choco cake. Kudos to you. Im a 20 yo guy, not that im advertising myself tho' (:P), just want to warn in advance of my lack of cooking sense and skills. I am thinking of making a choco frosting for this cake. What do you think? From what i read, the cake is already soft and creamy inside, would a frosting makes it too creamy and thus taste strange? yeah, im such a rookie. Im just trying to impress my bf, tho.

oh wow! I made this last nite, am amazed how easy they are to make. I stuck them into a muffin tray. made just enough for a dozen servings. And they came out perfect! Thanks for the brilliant recipe. You have just made everyones' day in the office :-)

Hi!!

I just tried this recipe - this one's definitely a keeper! i only had a brownie pan on hand so i baked it at 170 degrees C for about 18 minutes. What i got was brownie-cake like and incredibly chewy and gooey in the centre. it wasn't wobbly when i took it out though and the crust was crispy and good. served it with vanilla ice cream....yummmy

i love your blog!

Hi Clotilde,

I love the look of this recipe and would love to make it for a dinner party I'm having next week. The only problem is that one of my guests is coelliac and cannot eat anything with gluten in it, so I will not be able to add flour. Can anyone advise me on what I could subsitute? I live in a very remote area and therefore substitutes are not easily available. Thank you very much.

This cake is amazing! to me cake isn't worth eating unless it's dense and moist like this one! I now make when ever I have a birthday cake to make and everyone always loves it. I've tried adding other things to it and it's worked fabulously some hightlights were...
-Adding a little orange rind (so good!) with optional liqueur.
-Adding some coffee.
-Adding very finely chopped glaced ginger with a little ground ginger (sounds odd but my Dad loves chocolate ginger so I made it for him... he thought it was one of the best things he's ever tasted- and he's tasted a lot!).
But then again this recepie makes such a good chocolate cake you don't NEED to add anything... just if you want some to make it a little different.
Thanks for the recipie!

Made it twice:
1) with chocolate 60 % and
2) with chocolate 78 %
I must say I prefer the last- the sugar /dark chocolate balance seem better,....
But then
I´m really not a very "sweets/sugar" person.- prefer my chocolate rather dark.
My daughter loved both versions- had the last 1 with whipped cream and raspberry... wonderful.

As for the conversion for us good ole Americans, here goes:

2 sticks butter
7 ounces chocolate
1 1/4 c sugar

Just made this for Easter tomorrow. I've had this dish several times via a friend. I find it a bit heavy on the sugar for the my tastes, so added only 1 1/8 c sugar, and will see how that works out.

I have tried to make this cake last night (my first time to make a cake!), it was really easy and the result was great! The only problem is i got a little bit burn...

I would like to ask a silly question, if I want to make a smaller one, would that affect the taste of the cake if I half all the ingredients?

i'll be trying the cake tomorrow! hoping ill be able to find that right chocolate for the recipe!

This cake is absolutely delicious. One issue, though-- my cake climbed the walls of the pan as it baked. The sides almost rose out of the pan! Could it be the fact that I used extra large eggs, or that I beat the batter too much, turning it almost into a collapsed souffle cake?

I just made the cake and now i am tasting it; delicious!! :)
have saved the recipe so i will always be able to find it back again.

*love your site and your writing*

Really looking forward to trying this scrummy cake - sounds dreamy! might try adding some toasted hazelnuts!!

I made this cake last night. People at work loved it.
Mine was a bit of a mish-mash when I made it, as usual. I ran out of cooking choc so used a few Hotel Chocolat batons and a tsp of cocoa. I used 220g of golden caster sugar. I added 1 capful of almond extract.
Is the flour meant to be self-raising. It's what I used and like Susan it almost came out of the tin. Plus the centre split from the edge.Some of the flour hadn't dissloved either, is that bad?
Luckily the tin was very deep.
Mine also burned. Maybe because I have a fan oven.
Mine stayed together, thanks to the springform tin.
The result was great though. A friend said it was my 2nd best cake. I think the almond gives it a little extra.
Put your slice in the microwave for 20 seconds. Oh my god!!! It's like Marks and Spencers melt-in-the-middle pudding.

Someone at work thought this was so nice that they're going to have it for Christmas instead of Xmas Pudding

when using a fan oven, you should subtract 10% so bake at 180 celcius, instead of 200.....

Hi Clotilde,
Thank you for your wonderful and inspiring site. Would you recommend NOT making this cake to be served the same day? I understand that cakes are best prepared the day before but I need something for this evening and the birthday girl is a huge chocolate fan. I am definitely open to suggestions.
Cheers,
Amy

Is the flour supposed to be plain or self-raising?

Cannot wait to try this! Question: would it be okay to use brown sugar, or is it best to stick with white? Thanks. :-)

I just made the cake, only I screwed up the gram to ounce conversion, and instead of 7 oz of butter and chocolate, I put in .7 of a pound of each. And still it is amazing! The crust is unbelievable, and the center is soft. Absolutely wonderful. Because of my mistake there was too much batter for one pan, so I made two thin cakes. Yesterday was May Day here in Minneapolis and we traditionally have waffles with whipped cream and strawberries before heading off to be in the parade - I garnished the waffles with thin chocolate triangles (the cake) and everyone loved it! (Also - browned the butter that went in the waffles - best breakfast ever!) Thanks.
Sue