I admit it – I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day. The sugar coated sweetness of cupids and hearts just isn’t my thing and my husband and I happily do not celebrate it. So why make a girlie love-y post centered around it? Well, for one thing, there is chocolate. You shouldn’t need another reason. I also wanted to practice more piping chocolate, so I decided the best way to do that was to heart it up and go for it.

This recipe is from my grandmother for her rich and creamy chocolate decadence. This is so rich in fact she would cut 12-16 slices out of it instead of the typical 8-10 slices. Even better it only takes 5 ingredients (7 once I played around with it a few times) and you probably keep most of them on hand. You can make this gluten-free by using almond flour. I have not tried this yet but will next time I make it.

You melt chocolate and butter together and then combine them with eggs. You whip it for 5 minutes, add the flour and sugar and you are done with the batter. I chose to add a little salt and vanilla to it after trying it a few times. It really deepens the chocolate flavor.

This is one of those recipes you need a special piece of “equipment” and in this case it is a spring form pan that costs about $12. I got this set a few years ago and used the 9 inch size. This dessert only bakes for 15 minutes and then goes into the fridge to finish setting. If you try to remove it from the pan and transfer it to a plate before it is totally cooled you will get the result pictured below. Don’t do that. I dropped it on the counter when I noticed it was cracking and promptly went outside to tell my exhausted-from-shoveling husband how disappointed I was (because he really cared after an hour of shoveling with the neighbors). I don’t know why I was in such a hurry to get it sliced – it is not like I am going anywhere anytime soon! In any case please wait. You will not regret it. When it is time to cut dip a butter knife in hot water, wipe dry and then slice. Continue for each slice to get smooth, even slices (if you didn’t drop it like me…).

I’ll admit, this doesn’t look like something I’d be thrilled to eat. But I promise it looks amazing if you don’t drop it and have terrible lighting.

For the hearts and words I just melted white chocolate in the microwave and placed in into a disposable pastry bag with a small round tip. I am terrible at making hearts so I printed some from an image search to trace by placing it under a sheet of parchment paper. I tried to get fancy with the scrolls but kept messing them up (hence my need to practice) so I ended up using the main shape and just winged it with the text. White chocolate hardens very quickly so after about 5 minutes in the fridge they were ready to go.

PS – you will notice the recipe for the raspberry sauce below as well but no picture. I forgot to get the raspberries and there is currently 18 inches of snow on the ground so needless to say there is no sauce. I have made it more than a dozen times and it really is the perfect complement to the decadence. It helps cut through the richness and brightens the dark flavor.

This is an easy dessert to make for your love or anyone who loves chocolate. Post questions and comments below and let me know how yours turned out!

Chocolate Decadence
16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2/3 cup butter
5 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Raspberry Sauce
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
-Line the bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper, set aside.
-Bring chocolate and butter in top of double boiler and bring water to a boil, lower heat and cook until  chocolate and butter melt. Or melt in 30 second increments in the microwave.
-Add approximately 1/3 cup of chocolate mixture to eggs while whipping. Gradually add remaining chocolate mixture to eggs beating at medium speed of an electric mixer for 10 minutes.
-Add sugar, flour, salt and vanilla just until mixed in.
-Pour into prepared pan.
-Bake for 15 minutes.  (Cake will not be set in center-this is expected! Do not pass 15 minutes.)
-Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
-Spoon about 3 tablespoons Raspberry Sauce onto each dessert plate; place a wedge of chocolate dessert on Raspberry Sauce, garnish if desired.

Raspberry Sauce
1 cups fresh raspberries
1 cups water
1/8 cup sugar
1 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoons water
-Place first 3 ingredients in sauce pan and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.
-Put Raspberry mixture through a food mill or sieve and discard seeds.
-Return to saucepan, set aside.
-Combine cornstarch and 1 tablespoons water in a small bowl, stirring until smooth.
-Add cornstarch to Raspberry mixture. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil.
-Cook one additional minute, stirring constantly.
-Remove from heat and cool completely.

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