Flourless Chocolate Torte Recipe

Last week, my wife Jen placed an ad in our town newsletter inviting people to visit our farm and load their trucks with cow manure, which our small herd gifts us daily.

I am still fielding those emails as there are many—‘tis the season to pile your raised beds and garden plots sky-high with compost in hopes of plump Brandywine tomatoes, big bushes of Genovese basil, and rows of yellow onions come August.

The first to show up to our farm for an afternoon of shit shoveling were three older women that are close friends of ours. They live one town down from us in a luscious water-rich valley that Jen and I both pine to live in one day. We absolutely adore our farm but desperately need more water and pasture for our cows, and I secretly want to keep a herd of dairy sheep, which I don’t think is a secret any longer…

A girl can dream, right?

The five of us confidently walked down to the manure heap like we were about to strike gold, pitchforks in hand, the high-altitude sun beaming down on our pale, wintered skin and overzealous about the bounty Rosie’s cow dung would contribute to this summer.

For all of us green thumbs out there, February, March, and April are the months we dream big when it comes to our gardens—the seeds we’ll sow, the blackberry pies we’ll bake from our bounty, the pestos and tomato salads dripping with balsamic and olive oil with hunks of coarse sea salt. These are the months gardeners feel elated to shed their hibernated skin and cells, step foot in the dirt, find a place to plant the far too many starts we bought—a corner in the garden here, a pot over there, and bask in the sunlight our winter flesh will greedily soak up like a dehydrated sponge.

Come August…well, let’s just say gardeners and food cultivators are downright exhausted, cursing another day of watering because of drought, sitting on the back stoop with our rifles to scare off the gophers and ground squirrels who have destroyed our labor of love, and praying for winter when we can sit down by the fireplace, read a book and for the love of God take a break.

But it is February. And, we are all shoveling shit for the gardens we’ll put in the ground as soon as the last Spring frost hits. When late summer rolls around, we may cuss the sky and sweat buckets pulling up noxious weeds, but we won’t give up. Because our DNA won’t let us. We’re hardwired to grow food, to rummage our hands through the dirt, and to live in harmony with nature and the sustenance she provides.

There might have been an additional motivating factor driving the pep in our manure harvesting step that day…

The previous night, I baked a chocolate torte, covered it in chocolate sauce, and topped it with roasted and salted almonds. I promised to send our friends home with a generous piece of the pie, and no one refused.

After their pick-up truck was stacked high with cow dung, I gifted them a lavish hunk of chocolate torte. I know it might sound repulsive to talk of food and dung in the same sentence, but we cannot produce nourishing and nutrient-rich food without mineral-rich fertilizer—they are two peas in one pod.

Whether you’re celebrating a freshly fertilized garden, a birthday, an anniversary, or a Friday, my chocolate torte will not disappoint. It is rich, nourishing, and a chocolate lover’s dream. Like a family heirloom, this recipe is meant to be shared with others. Enjoy!

CHEF’S TIP
It’s important to first melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (never melt chocolate in a saucepan; it should always be melted in a double boiler to prevent burning—chocolate burns very easily) and stir constantly until the chocolate is melted.

Before making your torte, bring the eggs to room temperature. When you’re ready to bake it, make sure the water bath comes about halfway up along the sides of your cake pan. If you don’t have a cake pan, you can use a pie pan for this recipe.

If you want to go the extra mile with your torte…when your torte is done, melt an additional 3 ounces of chocolate in your double boiler. Spread or drizzle on top of the torte, and after you’ve added the chocolate spread, top with coarsely chopped roasted and salted almonds.

This torte goes amazingly well with a glass of raw milk or topped with vanilla-infused whipped cream.

~Heathar

HEATHAR’S CHOCOLATE TORTE RECIPE

11 ounces dark chocolate (75-80% cacao content)
1 cup butter
6 medium-to-large eggs, brought to room temperature
1/2 cup raw honey
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp heavy cream, milk, or water (this helps keep the torte moist)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Cacao powder for dusting the cake pan
3 ounces dark chocolate, melted, optional (this is if you want to drizzle chocolate on top of your torte once it’s done)
3/4 cup roasted and salted almonds, coarsely chopped, optional (sprinkle these on top of the torte IF you drizzle with melted chocolate)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 275°F.

Fill a Pyrex or other oven-safe dish 1/2-3/4 full of water. Place your 9-inch cake pan containing your torte into the water bath, so be sure it fits inside. Once it's in the water bath, the water should come halfway up the sides of the cake pan.

Grease your cake or pie pan with butter or lard, and sprinkle the cacao powder on top. Set aside until your chocolate torte filling is ready to go in the pan.

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir constantly, taking care not to burn.

Remove the bowl from the heat when the chocolate and butter are melted.

Whisk in the honey, vanilla extract, sea salt, and heavy cream (or milk or water).

Then, one by one, whisk in the eggs.

Taste test to make sure it’s sweet enough for you. Add more honey if you need it.

Pour the batter into your greased 9-inch cake pan and place it inside the water bath.

Cook for 45-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool at room temperature for at least 60 minutes.

If you decide to add the chocolate topping + almonds…

Melt the additional 3 ounces of chocolate in your double boiler and drizzle or spread it over the torte as soon as it comes out of the oven. After you’ve added the chocolate sauce, top with coarsely chopped roasted and salted almonds.

Cover and store in the refrigerator.

Need help in the kitchen and motivation around cooking amazing and nourishing meals? Join the Eat Heal Farm Kitchen Support Group. Every third Friday of the month, Heathar hosts a 60-minute live Q&A call to help you hone your cooking, food prep, and food-buying skills. Click here to learn more and join the community!

While Heathar is a chef and homesteader, she’s also a homeopathic practitioner. You can study homeopathy with Heathar and learn about her homeopathic practice on her Study Homeopathy Substack.