Something to manage our hungers

Flourless Chocolate Cake

7:14 am. I rolled out of bed, guzzled a cup of water, and started separating eggs. It was almost too early for the oven to be on, but Halloween beckoned and my office was having a little afternoon party, so I thought chocolate. And cake. And simplicity, because I had gone to yoga the night before and went to bed instead of back into the kitchen. 

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Flourless Chocolate Cake

So the eggs were cracked. Whites were whipped, chocolate and butter was melted, sugar was whisked, and soft peaks were formed and folded into a deeply rich batter destined for a warm oven. Thirty-five minutes later, out came a puffed cake with just enough time to cool before dusting it with a thick layer of powdered sugar and packaging it into a carrying case. 

I'm grateful for a cake like this. We all need one that's nothing fancy, yet beautifully tender and satisfying. Something to manage our hungers.


Don't hold back now, have
​chocolate, throw extra

kindling on, even though
skies urge cover & hoarding.
When mice pitter in

for crumbs, compliment
their small feet and fitting
ways. When your mouth

houses a curse, swallow,
think how you once
had no words at all

yet managed
your hungers.

-from The Hard Season by Kathleen Lynch


Flourless Chocolate Cake
Flourless Chocolate Cake

(For the recipe, visit Food 52.)