Bittersweet Chocolate Cake

Photo: flickr user foooooey

Ingredients

14 ounces semi sweet chocolate (the darkest you can find)

3 tablespoons cold water

12 eggs, separated

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 pound plus 4 tablespoons sweet butter, softened

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour, sifted

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and sugar a 10" springform pan and tap out any extra sugar. Grate or break chocolate into small pieces. Place in top part of double boiler with the cold water. Melt over simmering water, whisking until smooth. Let chocolate cool slightly.

Beat egg yolks with granulated sugar until they are thick and pale yellow and form a ribbon when they fall from the beater. Fold in warm chocolate. Stir in the very soft butter and then fold in sifted flour. Mix thoroughly but gently.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Stir a large spoonful of the chocolate mixture into the beaten egg whites. Mix well. Pour this mixture into chocolate mixture, fold together gently, incorporating whites completely. Be very careful at this stage not to overmix.

Turn batter into springform pan. Set on middle rack of oven and bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on rack for 15 minutes, then remove outer ring. Allow cake to cool completely before removing bottom of pan. Refrigerate; serve cold.