Happy Birthday Lucas!

It was Lucas' birthday on Wednesday. My baby turned two, he is growing up so quickly. It seems like yesterday when I was craving pickles and ice cream and now he's two years old. Time flies.

He can't talk all that much but he sure knows how to say "chocolate cake" loud and clear. His love for chocolate is no surprise to me, what can you expect? He is the son of a chocoholic, it's in his blood. 

This year, we are hoping to take him for a picnic on Sunday to celebrate, that is if the weather cooperates. We are planning a gathering with the family and I still haven't figured out what kind of sandwiches to make. Good thing I still have some time to come up with a plan. 

The cake I made for him was a flour-less chocolate cake with baked chocolate meringue on top. It had a little crunchy exterior and a marshmallow-ish consistency in the inside. It came out quite nice and most importantly, he loved it.

Happy birthday my love!  

Ingredients:

For the cake:

8oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 sticks of butter, cut in small pieces,

 plus more for the pan

5 large eggs, separated

1/2 cups of sugar

2 Tablespoons of  cocoa powder

For the chocolate meringue 

4 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

3 tbs cornstarch, sifted 

1 tbs cocoa powder, sifted 

3/4 cup powder sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. 

Butter  and dust with cocoa powder an 8-inch spring form pan, set aside. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, make sure the bowl is not touching the water, stir until smooth. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl. Gradually add the egg mixture into the slightly cool chocolate whisking until well blend. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Whisk 1/4 of  the whites into chocolate mixture, gently fold remaining whites into the chocolate with a spatula. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. 

While the cake is baking, make the meringue.In a clean bowl, combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla. Beat until the whites form soft peaks. Slowly add sugar (one tbsp at a time) beat until stiff peaks form, and mixture becomes glossy. Fold in cocoa powder and cornstarch. Pull the cake out of the oven and evenly spread the meringue on top of the cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes more or until lightly brown on top and when toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let it cool completely before cutting.