I've been broke lately. So broke, in fact, that eating out has become a thing of the past (at least for this month). The phrase: "Eat to live, don't live to eat", one I've always loathed or scoffed at, has become my new mantra. I hate this mantra! Food is my life, my happiness, my essence. I was just beginning to forget how wonderful and joyful it once made me feel and then…

My friend Ana turned 30.

As I had no money to buy her a present, I offered to make her a cake. She told me she wanted something chocolate but no frosting. She doesn't like frosting, "It just gets in the way," she said. So I set off to create the Best (and most cost efficient) Chocolate, No Frosting Cake I could muster. Nigella Lawson published a brilliant flourless chocolate cake recipe in the New York Times Magazine several years ago as a Passover dessert. It was The hit of our seder when I made it then and I remembered it had only a few ingredients. It would be perfect.

But I couldn't find the recipe anywhere. It's not in "Domestic Goddess", I couldn't find it in the NY Times archive, it was a phantom. I finally dug it up on a random Google search (about five pages in) and any fellow hunters will find it below. For Ana's birthday, I decorated the sunken top with fresh raspberries (at her request and surprisingly tasty despite the winter month) and heaping dollops of whipped cream.

As I looked around at the faces of my friends digging their forks into the dense, fallen chocolate cake soothed by a mound of cool, vanilla laced whipped cream and the burst of a fresh berry, I was reminded of two things:
1. You can feed yourself divinely even on the cheap.
2. No matter how bad things get, cake will always make it better.

To Ana, Nigella and anyone who refuses to eat Ramen.

p.s. Please pardon our matching striped shirts in the photo. That was NOT intentional.

Nigella Lawson’s Flourless Chocolate Cake
Serves 8-12

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs: 2 whole, 4 separated
3/4 cup superfine sugar
grated zest of 1 orange (optional)
Whipping cream (optional)
Fresh Raspberries (optional)
9 inch springform cake pan

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. Line the bottom of the cake pan with baking parchment. Cut away any excess paper otherwise it'll smoke in the oven and the smell is gross.

3. Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or a microwave, add orange zest and then let the butter melt in the warm chocolate.
4. Separate eggs into two bowls.
5. Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 1/3 cup of the sugar, then gently add the chocolate mixture, tempering first (tempering means you add a little of the warm mixture to the cooler mixture to raise its temperature and prevent it from curdling as you add the rest of the warm mixture).
6. In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the remaining sugar.
7. Lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg whites, and then fold in the rest of the whites.
8. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cake is risen and cracked and the center is no longer wobbly.
9. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack; the middle will sink as it cools.
10. When you are ready to eat, place the still pan-bound cake on a cake stand or plate for serving and carefully remove the cake from its pan.
11. Don't worry about cracks or rough edges: it's the crater look we're going for here.
12. (If using) Whip the cream with some vanilla and sugar, whisking until the cream is firm but not stiff.
13. The way I did it was to top the cake with fresh raspberries and heaping dollops of whipped cream. You could also fill the crater of the cake with the whipped cream, easing it out gently towards the edges of the cake, or dust the top lightly with cocoa powder or powdered sugar.
14. Enjoy!