Chocolate Decadence with Chef M. and her Flan and Phenomenal Caramel Nests - Day 36

   How daunting is it to bring your  amateur cake to dinner at a real chef's house? Extremely daunting, it's like sticking your little colored pencil sketches of house plants on the museum wall next to a Paul Klee.  Or like deciding to sing in public with Cindy Lauper.  It's dancing salsa in Puerto Rican bars with men who've been salseros their whole entire lives.  I was out of my depth, but I made this cake and took it to dinner anyway. 
   Packing in from the jeep to Chef M.'s front door, my companion and cake-carrier tripped, sliding his hand right through the Chocolate Decadence Cake.  His action gave my cake an artistic but not particularly appetizing  look.  Chef M. saved the day, for she was of course not without a dessert of her own:  a smooth, delicious flan and delicate caramel nests.  She plopped out scoops of cake from the untouched edges with a melon-baller, placed a ball of cake on each lovely round of flan, and topped every one of those with an inverted caramel nest dome. 
   There being tons of similar recipes for more or less this same cake, and there being many cakes not even close but having the same title, I am just compelled to share this recipe.  It's bits and pieces of many different versions, an almost flourless,  dense but not quite gooey,  intensely chocolate chocolate cake.

36th Day Chocolate Decadence Cake 

6 ounces bittersweet and
2 ounces unsweetened quality chocolate, melted together and cooled
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup extremely strong coffee
2 tablespoons good Mexican vanilla
6 large cage free eggs, separated
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/3cup sifted flour

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, set an insulated cookie sheet on the middle rack in the oven, and generously butter a 10 inch springform pan.  Mix chocolate, butter, coffee, and vanilla thoroughly and set aside.

Vigorously and thoroughly beat the egg yolks and both sugars together with an electric mixer. Carefully fold this into the chocolate mixture by hand with a rubber spatula. Fold in the flour.

Using a completely clean and dry electric mixer and bowl, whip the egg whites like Julia Child: fast the first few seconds, then slower and speeding up.  Stop when the eggs form stiff, shiny peaks which point down a little at the tips.*  Be careful not to over beat the eggs. Using your rubber spatula again, fold a little egg white into the batter.  Then fold in the rest. Tenderly pour into your prepared pan and set this gently into the oven atop the cookie sheet.  If your altitude is less than 6,000 feet, turn down the oven heat to 350 degrees.

Bake until the center is not so jiggly, and a cake tester comes out with only a little batter on it.  Start checking at 35 minutes.  It will most likely be ready in 45, but you don't want it to overcook and dry out.  Expect this cake to come out of the oven puffy and then fall.

Cool to room temperature and de-pan to serve same day.  If you'll serve it the next day, leave it in the pan, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store at room temp.

* Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, by Julia Child, page 100