Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake

I'm not very strict about my Passover rules. In fact, you can see in the picture that we didn't even do matzo. To me, "unleavened bread" may as well mean whole-wheat tortillas. I have an easier time imagining Moses with something a lot like a whole-wheat tortilla than with a big box of Manischewitz matzo.

So really, there's no reason I should have avoided flour in the dessert. But who can resist the tradition of flourless chocolate cake? I find that much more enticing than the tradition of matzo. So : I served this orange-flavored flourless chocolate cake with mango and raspberry sorbets and whipped topping.

I love the flavor combination of orange and chocolate. In fact, I have a signature sundae at the local ice cream joint: a scoop of dark fudge ice cream on bottom, covered with a scoop of orange sherbet, with "swiss chocolate" (like marshmallow topping, but lightly chocolate) on top. I think if I were a starlet in LA, some restaurant I frequent would name a chocolate/orange dessert after me, or (since it's an alternate reality anyway) a cocktail-- you know how they're always named after somebody-or-other? Or like how the French have code words for flavors and flavor combinations-- if it's "florentine," you know you're dealing with spinach and probably cheese. It would be like that.

Anyway, I got this recipe off of epicurious.com, and it in turn got it from the book All the Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House, by Roland Mesnier with Christian Malard. In that book, the name of the cake is "Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake for the Reagan Family."

Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing (I'm sorry! I used butter in a meat meal!)
flour, for dusting (so ok, there was a little flour)
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 c plus 2 T sugar
zest of one large orange
4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter and flour a 10-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, then butter and flour the paper. Gently melt the chocolate over a double boiler (or a make-shift double boiler). Stir the butter into the chocolate to melt, and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk the sugar and orange zest into the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs and yolks and whisk well. Sift the cocoa powder over the chocolate mixture and whisk the batter until totally smooth. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top has formed a good crust. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a serving platter.