fancy dessert

last night i made sunday dinner for my little brother and sister, mallory's friend, melissa, and klayton, and it was so good!!! i got the recipes i used from tyler florence on the food network and it was seriously one of the best meals i have made! i made tyler's "dad's meatloaf with tomato pepper relish" and for dessert we had flourless chocolate cake with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream! i felt so fancy! anyway, i wanted to share the cake/coulis recipe in case any of you have a shnazzy thing coming up and are sick of your old stand-bys. let me know what you think!!

Flourless Chocolate Cake
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 stick unsalted butter
9 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Put the chocolate and butter into the top of a double boiler (or in a heatproof bowl) and heat over (but not touching) about 1-inch of simmering water until melted. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl until light yellow in color. Whisk a little of the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs - this will keep the eggs from scrambling from the heat of the chocolate; then whisk in the rest of the chocolate mixture.
Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is set, the top starts to crack and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it, 20 to 25 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan.

you can serve this cake warm or at room tempurature. dust the top with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream or make up my fabulous coulis, drizzle it over each slice of cake and serve with ice cream and garnish with fresh mint!

Raspberry Coulis
2 cups raspberries (about 12 ounces), rinsed
3/4 cup Simple Syrup, recipe follows
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
Bring the raspberries, syrup, and lemon juice to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan over low heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the berries are very soft, about 8 minutes.
Sprinkle the cornstarch over 2 teaspoons cold water and stir to dissolve. Pour into the simmering raspberry mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; discard the seeds. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Freeze any leftover coulis in a plastic container for up to 1 month.
Yield: 2 cups

Simple Syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Pour the syrup into a container and refrigerate until completely cold, about 45 minutes. The syrup can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Yield: about 3/4 cup syrup

i would have posted my own picture of our cake last night, but it disappeared too quickly! sorry! :)