It has been a long week. The boys have been home from school for Spring Break, Jason has the car at work, so we have been homebound in not so nice weather. I know, I know, it is Washington, and it rains here. I get it. The boys and I have been getting out of the house and taking a quick trip to the park to avoid the cabin fever. Though when you are there for just 10 minutes and see the rain clouds rolling in, it isn’t much of a break. A touch of fresh air? Yes. A cure for cabin fever? not so much.
But yesterday was not a day for complaining. Jason would have laughed at me if I had complained about my day indoors, a full night’s sleep, and fun times with the boys (even if it was indoors). You see….Jason had to get up a 02:20am, be at work by 03:00am, and then do a ruck march of 12 miles. A ruck march meaning full uniform, a backpack with 35lbs of gear, his heavy helmet, canteen, and weapon. 12 MILES….in three hours. I cannot fathom how awful that would be. This is another reason why I could NEVER be in the Army. I would probably tell my 1SG to pound sand, and that would not be good. It has been a long time since Jason has had to do such a march….it is usually done by infantry units. Jason being a tanker they don’t march, they drive tanks! But the new unit he is in IS an infantry unit with Strykers attached. So what the infantry guys do, he and his platoon do. Luckily he completed it with little damage. His feet are in good shape, but his legs and back are awfully tired. He was definitely moving a little slower last night!
So….I decided he (we) deserved a little treat last night for after the boys went to bed. Yesterday I had made a jar of Salted Vanilla Caramel Sauce (For Caramel Day!). And even though we were tempted to eat the sauce out of said jar with just a couple of spoons….it made more sense to drizzle this amazing sauce over something chocolaty. Like these, Mini Flourless Chocolate Cakes.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Makes 2 mini cakes in 4 inch springform pans
2 1/2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
4 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate – chopped
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 large Egg (at room temp)
1 large Egg Yolk (at room temp)
3 Tbsp Sugar
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 deg. Butter your springform pans. Line the bottom of the pans with parchment circles and butter them too! Then flour your greased pans.
Place the butter and chocolate in a medium sized microwave bowl and microwave for about 1 minute until melted. Stir until smooth and shiny. Add vanilla and set aside to cool a bit.
Put egg, yolk, and sugar into a medium sized bowl and with a hand mixer, whip until tripled in volume (about 4 – 5 minutes).
Fold 1/4 of the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture until combined. Then gently fold all of the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.
Bake the cakes for 20 minutes, til a toothpick comes out clean and the cakes have kind of pulled away from the sides of the pan. The cakes will have puffed up while baking, and then settle while they cool – creating a rich cake with a light crust on top. mmmmmm
Let the cakes cool in their pan for about 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges of the cake and release them from the springform pan. GENTLY lift up the cake and peel off the parchment paper.
Serve them warm or at room temperature (after the boys are in bed). Top with ice cream, or whipped cream, and Salted Caramel Sauce!
It was a great treat to make the end of a not so fantastic day…well…fantastic.
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