Flourless Chocolate Cakes with Toasted Marshmallow

These decadent cakes are naturally gluten free and absolutely gorgeous! The perfect dessert for a date night, birthday or for Valentine's Day.

Many years ago, when I was writing my first blog, I met an absolutely amazing group of ladies, while competing in a Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe contest. We fast became great friends, by supporting and encouraging each other. Our group consisted of small business owners, bloggers, farming/homesteaders, but the one thing that brought us all together was food! One thing we loved to do was get together and cook. Whether is was us Central Ontario gals, or the West coast ladies, anytime we could make plans to get together, you could bet food would be involved. During a West Coast gathering, the ladies decided to do a Chopped style dinner. To include those of us who couldn't attend, we would each choose an ingredient and the West coasters had to choose at least 3 from the list, to include in our dish. I lucked out and was chosen for the dessert round, whose ingredients were- marshmallow fluff, maraschino cherries, chocolate, rum, eggs and cream. No problem right??

I decided to go with something naturally gluten free, since one of our members has Celiac. I wanted everyone to be able to make this, if they chose to do so. So, my first thought was a flourless chocolate cake, which I made into smaller single servings. These ingredients were perfect for what I had in mind and the result was out of this world!!! These were rich, tender, creamy and SO decadent. Some of the feed back I received was- sensual, sinful and I think the words 'food porn' were also thrown in there. 

These cakes would be the perfect ending to an at home date night, or for Valentine's Day. Heck I'd even loved these as my birthday dessert, instead of a huge cake. No matter what the celebration, treat your loved ones and guest to these gorgeous, decadent, show stopping cakes!

 Flourless Chocolate Cakes with Toasted Marshmallow

6 oz bitter sweet chocolate, chopped (6 squares)
1/3 C butter
3 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tbs vanilla rum (or coconut rum)
1 Tbs hot water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C maraschino cherries, finely chopped
3 eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
4 oz 70% dark chocolate
1/4 C light cream
1 jar marshmallow fluff
5 maraschino cherries with stems (dipped in melted chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 5 ramekins and set aside.

For cake, place chocolate and butter in large glass bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on high 1 – 1 1/2 minutes or until mostly melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Set aside.

Place cocoa powder in a small bowl. Stir in rum, hot water and vanilla to form a smooth paste; set aside. Place sugar and egg yolks in a mixing bowl; beat on medium-high speed until doubled in volume. Pour in chocolate mixture; beat on medium-high speed until well blended. Add cocoa mixture; mix on medium-low speed just until blended.

 In a separate bowl and using clean beaters, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks form. Gently fold half of the egg white mixture into chocolate mixture just until blended. Repeat with remaining egg white mixture and cherries. Carefully spoon into ramekins; spread to edges using the back of a teaspoon. Bake 15-17 minutes or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken. {Center will firm as it cools. Do not over bake.} Remove from oven to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Gently run a small knife around edges, to loosen edges of cake from ramekins. Remove cakes from ramekins and place bottom side up, onto serving plates.

 In a small saucepan heat 1/4 C light cream, until tiny bubbles start to form around the edges of the pot. Pour half over 4 oz of dark chocolate and let sit a few minutes. Stir to combine melted chocolate with cream, adding more warm cream if needed, to form a nice sauce, slightly thinner than you would like (chocolate sauce will thicken when it cools).

Preheat broiler. Top cakes with a large spoonful of marshmallow fluff and place under broiler (quite close) until tops begin to brown slightly. (alternately, you can use a small blow torch to toast the marshmallow) Remove and drizzle cakes with chocolate sauce. Garnish with a chocolate dipped maraschino cherry.

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