A Cake to Die For

Well, not really, although Joel may disagree. I baked it a few weeks ago, and Joel has repeatedly mentioned it since then. He asked me if I could make it every Saturday. In all seriousness it's an amazing dessert and very easy to make.

So here's the recipe (courtesy of Williams Sonoma "Food Made Fast: Baking" a book I highly recommend)
Dark Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter
8 oz. Bittersweet or semisweet (plain) chocolate, chopped. (I used semisweet)
1 oz. Unsweetened chocolate, chopped.
6 eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 Tbsps. Cognac, rum, or brewed double-strength coffee (I used Captain Morgan spiced rum)
6 Tpsbs Flour, sifted (or not sifted if you're lazy like I was)
2 Tbsp Powdered sugar

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter and the two chocolates, stirring to blend. Remove from the heat. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the eggs with the salt until thick and pale in color. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar and brown sugar until the mixture is light and doubled in volume, about 5 minutes. Beat in the cognac (or rum). Using a rubber spatula, stir in the melted chocolate mixture and then the flour. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until the top is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Remove the pan sides and let the cake cool to room temperature. Dust the top with powdered sugar shaken through a sieve, cut into wedges, serve with a raspberry sauce.

For the raspberry sauce I pureed about 12 oz. of raspberries (I bought them frozen and thawed them), added some water so they were a little more liquidy and strained them through a mesh sieve to get a good deal of the seeds out. I also added a touch of fresh lemon juice, although I don't think you could tell the difference, a dash of vanilla extract, and sugar to taste.