Living with someone with gluten intolerance usually throws a curveball when it comes to holiday baking. Valentine’s Day is one holiday was gluten intolerance actually helps in selecting the perfect melt-in-your-mouth gift. No flour needed, who can resist chocolate, whip cream, and sugar?

The recipe and detailed instructions are at the end of this post. We need unsalted butter, bittersweet chocolate, water, granulated sugar, eggs, and heavy cream. All the ingredients measured out. Ready, set, bake…

Rub cold butter on the inside surface of the 10 inches (25 cm) cake pan and place a parchment paper liner on the bottom.

Preparing a pan so that you can easily remove the cake after it is baked can be done in many ways. I like to keep the paper insert that comes in the pan when you purchase it. I glue that to a thick piece of cardboard and cut it out to use as a template for cutting parchment paper. I keep the template in the pan when its stored so I have easy access to it as well as a nice place to make notes about the pan.

In a saucepan over medium heat combine the water and 6 ounces of the sugar and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and combined. Add the butter and stir until its melted and incorporated completely. Set the pan away from the stove to cool the chocolate mixture.

In a mixer with the whisk attachment whip the eggs and 3 ounces of sugar at high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Be careful not to over whip or the mixture will be hard to work with and make your finished cake fall apart.

Gently fold the chocolate (it can be warm but not hot) into the whipped eggs and sugar. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Place the cake pan on a baking sheet with a raised edge that is deep enough to hold an inch of water. Place the pan on the oven rack in the middle of the oven and pour the water onto the sheet to create a water bath. Carefully push the rack back into the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the top of the cake is firm to the touch. Refrigerate the cooled cake for 120 minutes or overnight so that the chocolate sets so the cake can be cut.

Once the cake has set gently move the cake pan over a burner on the oven for a few seconds to loosen the cake edges from the pan. Slide a paring knife around the outside of the pan.

Invert the cake on the dish you plan on presenting the cake on (the cake cannot be moved to another plate once it’s been removed). Pull up on the sides of the pan, your cake should slide out. If not use the burner to warm it some more and try again. Peel the parchment paper off the top of the cake.

With a stand mixer and the whisk attachment whip the cream with 1 tablespoon of sugar until just under stiff peaks. Put about a third of the whipped cream in a pastry bag with a tip of your choice (the larger the tops opening the better).

Find the center of the cake by marking it into fourths with a knife. Starting at the center point pipe the whipped cream in a circle with each circle touching the last one. Add more whipped cream to the pastry bag as needed until the whole top surface of the cake is covered. Sprinkle chocolate shavings on the top of the whipped cream.

Garnish as you wish. I used a raspberry and mint leaves. When served I placed three mint leaves and a raspberry on the top ousted/crust edge and a small pool of raspberry sauce on the plate