Pesach flummoxed my mother. She'd never learned the 'right' way to do it, and so relied on an outdated and somewhat ridiculous copy of the Kosher Cookbook for Sabbath and Holidays. I remember a Pesach cake she made falling to the floor and crumbling into a million pieces. Like sand. When it happened, she threw the knife across the room. It hit the breakfront, left a dent. Grabbed her Tictacs - remember those? it was the 80s and she'd recently stopped smoking - and ran out, slamming the front door.
She came back, of course. And the cake would've been bad anyway. But she never tried to make another Pesadich dessert again. So when I got older, I did. Felt the shame/necessity of making up where my mother hadn't been able to do enough. The cake is sufficiently tasty to prepare even when it isn't Pesach. Or for people who say 'Passover' instead of 'Pesach' and who wouldn't give a crap if you served them leaven. Most important, it works for your fundamentalist mother-in-law, assuming your kitchen is properly kashered, of course.
In France, they call it fondant. We'll call it flourless chocolate cake.
Recipe after the jump.
