Flourless Chocolate Rosemary Custard Cake

Should I refer to this cake as "Spiked" or "Spiced"? Well, it's a little of both, actually. I spiked the cake with red wine and spiced it up with some herbs and spices. Maybe it sounds odd, but that is actually what makes this dessert so delicious.

I wanted to make something unique for my parents' anniversary this past weekend. I've always been intrigued by the combination of heat and chocolate. I've also been intrigued by using herbs in desserts. Taking these two ideas, I invented this cake. It is a cross between a flourless chocolate cake and a chocolate custard... so let's just go with Flourless Chocolate Custard Cake... The combination of rosemary, espresso, cayenne, and cinnamon are very sophisticated and happily surprise the pallet.

PS - the cake is super rich, so a sliver will be enough per serving.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 16oz Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 Stick of Salted Butter, ½ Stick of Unsalted Butter
• ½ cup Red Wine
• 1 tbs Ground Espresso
• 7 Eggs
• ½ cup Granulated Sugar
• Hefty pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• 2 Sprigs of Rosemary, de-stemmed & minced super fine
• Pinch of Cracked Black Pepper
• ½ tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

Chocolate Ganache Topping:

• 1 cup of Half & Half, or Whipping Cream
• 9oz Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 Sprig of Rosemary

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8inch round cake pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Warm the butter and chocolate chips on low heat in a medium sauce pan. Add the red wine, espresso, rosemary, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and cinnamon. Mix well until the chocolate and butter is melted. Turn off heat and set aside to get to room temp.

In a standing mixer (or bowl with hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until it gets frothy (about 4-5 min). Add the vanilla extract.

Slowly pour the chocolate mixture and continue mixing until well blended. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 30 minutes (or once a fork poked in the middle comes out clean).

Once done, remove the cake from the cake pan and cool to room temp.

In the mean time, let's prepare the ganache. Place the chocolate chips in a mixing bowl. Warm the half and half in a small saucepan with the rosemary sprig. Once it comes to a boil turn off heat and remove rosemary. Pour the liquid over the chocolate chips and whisk until well blended. Refrigerate for a couple hours to set.

Spread over the cake and on the sides. Decorate the cake with a small sprig of rosemary. Keep cake regrigerated.