Today I’m sharing a delicious recipe for Flourless Chocolate Truffle Cake and an excerpt from James Beard Award-winning writer Carolyn Jung. Her new cookbook, EAST BAY COOKS, is publishing in hardcover this September 10….enjoy! Swirly cinnamon rolls, sugar-showered croissant doughnuts, and St. Honoré cakes crowned with rings of precious cream puffs. Princess cakes in palette-popping pastels. Shortbread cookies that have smitten generations. Eyes widen, lips smack, and stomachs can’t help but growl at the sweet trove inside the Old Towne Danville Bakery.

The bakery has been a cherished landmark since originally opening on a tree-lined dirt road in 1952. Over the years, it’s had more than half a dozen owners. Current proprietor Karen Cordeiro, however, may be the longest-standing one, having taken over the bakery in 2006 and then moving it to its current, larger locale. But “larger” is a relative term. While there’s more
seating here, the kitchen could fit inside a recipe box. “Three is a crowd,” Cordeiro says. “It is that small.” Remarkably, three do work together in this kitchen, somehow turning out loads of almond cookies and tropical mango bars, and upwards of four hundred custom wedding cakes annually. Some recipes have been passed down from former owners; others are the creations of Cordeiro and her staff.

An Oakland native whose family owned a deli, Cordeiro spent twenty-five years working for a local grocery store chain before she and her husband decided to buy the bakery. “I feel like I am carrying on a legacy,” she says. “When people enjoy something, I tell them many families have contributed to it. I cannot take credit for sixty-seven years of a wonderful institution, but my job is to sustain it.”

Flourless Chocolate Truffle Cake

Ingredients

2 lbs semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
10 large eggs, lightly beaten
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling
Softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, to serve (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9- or 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper.
Place a kettle of water on to boil.
Melt chocolate and butter in the top half of a double boiler (or in a metal bowl held over a saucepan of simmering water).
Remove from heat.
Add beaten eggs, a little at a time, mixing well after each addition, until smooth.
Pour mixture into the prepared cake pan.
Place pan into a roasting pan and carefully pour in hot water until it comes halfway up the cake pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until just firm to the touch and not spongy.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
Slide a knife blade around the edge of the cake, invert onto a plate, and remove pan and parchment paper.
Allow cake to cool completely.
Sprinkle confectioners’ sugar over the cake and serve immediately with whipped cream or ice cream, if using.