Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp. butter, plus more for greasing the pan
• ¾ cup smoked chocolate, chopped
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature, separate the yolks and whites
• 1 cup sugar, divided in half
• 3 tablespoons espresso powder or instant cappuccino powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

*Myself and the Baron of Baking (my husband) had an issue that the whites would not stiffen at all. No matter what we did.  There are some reasons that this can happen.

• Bowl was wet or had debris in it before you put in the egg whites. Make sure that your bowl is clean and completely bone dry before adding the egg whites.
• Stiff peaks won't form if you got yolk in the whites, even the tiniest amount will throw everything off. Try adding ¼ tsp. of lemon juice or cream of tartar in for every 2 egg whites.
• Stiff peaks still won't form. Are you using the wrong attachment in the mixer? You need to be using the whisk attachment if you are using a big stand mixer, or a hand mixer. Don't use dough hooks, the "k" attachment or anything but the whisk attachment when making anything like meringue or whipped cream.

So I was not going to crack into another 6 eggs for their whites and try again. The Baron agreed with me. So we folded the egg-white mixture into the chocolate mixture and poured it into the springform pan. There was a little bit of leakage, which was caught by the baking tray that we used under the springform. I was surprised that the cake came out at all, but it was tasty. It did not rise at all, it was dense, but delicious. If the egg whites had come out, it would have been lighter, but just as good.

Next time I want to dress this up with perhaps a ganache, a caramel top, or maybe some sort of peppermint - thing for christmas. What would you top this cake with? Leave a comment and tell us how you would dress up this interesting cake.