Flourless Chocolate Blackberry Tortes

*This Flourless Chocolate Blackberry Torte is Gluten & Refined Sugar Free.

Everyone needs one dessert that they can whip up without a thought. Who’s ingredients are almost always in the pantry or fridge with flavors that can easily customized to the current season.

For me, that dessert is a flourless chocolate torte. I’ve been making this torte for about a decade and have made so many variations on it I can scarcely remember them all. I usually have chocolate, butter, eggs and preserves, so when I need a nice dessert and don’t have time to run to the store for ingredients, what to make is a no-brainer.

Last week I was doing the food styling for a wedding photo shoot demo at the Photo Native photography conference (my friend Travis was the photographer doing the shoot and he is super talented. Check out his work HERE). I had already made a batch of chocolate mousse to bring down to the shoot but I needed one more filler for the table and had no time to run to the store.

Thanks to my trusty torte recipe and a fridge that contained the necessary ingredients, I whipped a fresh, winter-y version of my favorite staple. Since I was using blackberries in the shoot, I decided to add blackberry preserves to the torte and serve them on a bed of fresh blackberry puree. I love wine colors in the winter time, so this dessert had the perfect color scheme for what I was going for.

The torte itself is incredibly rich and dense. The blackberry puree help add a fresh element that brightens it up. I added a scoop of creme fraiche ( a french cultured cream) on top of each torte to add a little more creamy lightness to the heavy chocolate cakes. If you didn’t want to use creme fraiche, coconut cream would work well too.

I use a 6 count mini cheesecake pan with removable bottoms to bake these cakes. You could also use a jumbo muffin tin or a regular muffin tin (for 12 small cakes). One of these cakes could easily serve two people. Or one if you’re a die-hard dark chocolate lover who isn’t afraid of incredibly rich desserts.

More variations on my favorite chocolate torte:

Flourless Chocolate Black Currant Torte with Chantilly Cream

Chocolate Caramel Mousse Torte

Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Flourless Chocolate Blackberry Tortes

Serves: 6 mini cakes

Ingredients

10 ounces Dark Chocolate, chopped (60-70% cacao, preferably)
14 tablespoons Butter, unsalted
4 tablespoons Blackberry Preserves (fruit only, no sugar added)
4 Eggs
3 tablespoons Maple Syrup
1 tablespoon Vanilla
2 tablespoons Coconut Oil
2 cups Fresh Blackberries
Creme Fraiche
Mint Leaves, to garnish
Cacao Powder

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 6 well mini cheesecake pan. You could also use a jumbo muffin tin.
Place 8 ounces of the chocolate, butter, and blackberry preserves in a saucepan. Melt over medium high heat, stirring well until mixture is smooth and chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla. Pour the chocolate mixture in and whisk together until smooth. Divide the mixture between the prepared pans.
Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until puffed and slightly cracked on top. Remove and let cool completely. Remove from pan and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (remove bottoms if baked in a mini cheesecake pan).
Place the remaining 2 ounces of chocolate in a small saucepan along with the coconut oil. Heat over medium/high, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Divide the mixture between the tops of the tortes, which should have caved in slightly in the middle. Pour in enough chocolate mixture to fill up the well without the chocolate running out. Placed the tortes in the fridge and chill until chocolate is firm.
Place the blackberries in a blender and puree until smooth. Run the puree through a fine mesh sieve and discard the seeds. Taste puree and stir in a little honey if it is too bitter. Place puree in an airtight container and store in the fridge.
To garnish:
Place a spoonful of creme fraiche on top of each cake along with a few fresh blackberries and a sprig of mint. Dust lightly with cacao powder.
Pour a little blackberry puree on a dessert plate and place the chocolate torte on top, but slightly offset from the puree to serve.