An Easter Recipe

I grew up in Montreal. It was at a time when the English speaking residents were becoming increasingly aware of the importance of speaking French. One of my friend's parents felt it was so important they hired a Nanny for the summer who was from France. They called her the "Au paire". I'm not sure how that translates into English, but I can tell you she made the world's greatest chocolate cake. Here it is 25 years later and I still have and make the recipe. With Easter just around the corner, I thought this would be an appropriate recipe to post.

The cake is not very big, but it is very rich. Don't put any frosting or icing on it, it will really be too sweet. I usually dust it lightly with icing sugar, just to make it look pretty. It is really good with a nice vanilla ice cream, just a little, or a dollop of whipped cream - what doesn't improve with a dollop of whipped cream ! ?

The Au Paire's Chocolate Cake

10 ounces of really good quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup of unsalted butter, cut up into pieces
5 eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons all purpose flour
1- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter and flour a 10" springform pan
Stir chocolate and butter together in a saucepan placed into gently simmering water. Stir constantly, careful not to burn the chocolate. Heat until all chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat, set aside. In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until mixture begins to thicken. Sift flour and baking powder over eggs and gently fold into egg mixture. Gradually fold chocolate into egg mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Cover pan with foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil after 20 minutes and continue baking 30 minutes longer or until a tester inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool cake in pan on rack. ( Cake will fall as it cools) Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Dust with icing sugar just before serving.

Serves 8 - 10 people