29 Mar Add a little South American to your Easter – Recipe: Casa Martinez (Flourless Chocolate Cake)

Easter in South America, known as Santa Semana, is a very big deal. Most countries on the continent are predominantly Catholic, so it’s a great time to travel if you want to get caught up in the spirit of the season. Festivals are so prolific at this time of year that you would be hard-pressed to avoid street parades filled with music, dancing, flowers and brightly coloured traditional costumes. (This is why our annual Taste of South America food tour starts in Rio de Janiero on Easter Sunday.)

The joyousness of these celebrations is just one of the things we love about this part of the world. We also love the food it has brought to the rest of world! In celebration of Easter, we are inspired to new heights of chocolate indulgence – that wonderful contribution of South America to the world. This is an old tradition!

This delicious flourless chocolate cake brings out the deep chocolate characters of the beautiful dark couverture chocolate. And since there’s no flour, our gluten-free friends can share in the celebration!

What are your families’ Easter traditions? Do you go on holidays to the same place? Stage an Easter egg hunt? Do you dye eggs like in the Greek tradition? We would love to hear what you get up to at this very special time of year…

Method

1. Preheat your oven to at 160C.
2. In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate, butter and brown sugar, stirring occasionally.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the white sugar and eggs until fluffy.
4. Add the melted chocolate mix slowly while folding into the egg mixture.
5. Pour the batter into a 25cm springform pan. Bake for 35 minutes. To test for doneness, a wooden toothpick or skewer inserted into the middle should come out with a smear of ‘pudding’ but not too wet.
6. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Note: This cake cracks in the middle when it cools, and has very soft pudding consistency inside. Garnish it with shaved chocolate, whipped cream or Mexican chocolate ice cream.

Serves 8