Chocolate Cherry Cordial Flourless Chocolate Cake

This makes a gorgeous, very fancy flourless chocolate cake—certainly fit for a special occasion and yet it is not very much work.  It is an easy flourless cake topped with a cherry pastry filling and drizzled with a chocolate amaretto sauce.  (Amaretto is a flavor commonly used in cherry chocolate cordials.)

One flourless chocolate cake, cooled
1 cup cherry pastry filling (see notes)
powdered sugar for dusting
chocolate amaretto sauce (recipe follows)
whipped cream

Top the chocolate cake with the cherry pastry filling.  To serve, cut the cake into slices and place on dessert plates.  Dust each slice with powdered sugar.  Drizzle with the chocolate amaretto sauce.  Top with whipped cream and serve immediately. 

Baker’s note:  Pastry filling is more intensely flavored and a finer texture than is pie filling.  In a pie, there is more filling than crust and the filling must be pleasing by itself.  In a pastry, there is more of balance between filling and pastry and hence the filling has more flavor. 

Chocolate Amaretto Sauce

3/4 cup heavy cream
9 ounces dark chocolate wafers
1 teaspoon amaretto flavor
3 tablespoons butter

Bring the cream to a boil. In a medium bowl, pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted. Stir in the flavor and butter. Let the sauce cool enough for serving.  If the sauce becomes too thick, reheat the sauce or stir in more cream.