Healthy and Green Living

There is simply no better way to end a Valentine’s Day meal than with that everybody-loves-it, melt-in-your-mouth hands-down favorite–chocolate!

And this fabulous flourless recipe uses healthy honey rather than white sugar, so you can feel a little better about serving it. Believe me, it’s still pretty decadent, but well worth every sinfully delicious bite!

Honey, by the way, is another food with an ages-old link to love (think of “honeymoons!”), so its presence in this wonderful dessert really works!

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into bits
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/2 cup honey, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Butter a 9- or 10-inch springform pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper or waxed paper. Butter the paper and flour the entire pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with foil.

2. Preheat oven to 350F and set a rack in the center of the oven.

3. Place the butter and chocolate in a bowl and set the bowl over, but not touching, a pot of hot water set on low heat. Do not allow water to boil. Stir occasionally and check to see when it is melted. Stir to blend and remove from the heat. Cool mixture to lukewarm. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of the honey with an electric mixer in a large bowl for 3 minutes, until the mixture is very thick and pale. Fold in the lukewarm chocolate mixture and then fold in the vanilla and salt. In another large bowl, using clean, dry beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup honey, beating until medium-firm peaks form. Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture in three additions. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

4. Bake the cake 50 minutes until the top is puffed (and possibly cracked) and a tester inserted in the center comes out with some moist crumbs attached. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack. Be forewarned: the cake will fall quite a bit.

5. Using a small knife, cut around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake and then remove the sides. Place a 9-inch tart pan bottom or cardboard round atop the cake. Invert the cake onto the tart pan bottom. Peel off the parchment paper. Invert the cake back on the serving platter.

Serves 10.