Flourless chocolate cake

[terrie]

Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into pieces
8 ounces semisweet choclate chips (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
6 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Butter sides of a 10-inch diameter springform pan. Line the bottom with waxed paper (Note: If it touches the edge of the pan, it will roll up and be baked into the rim of the cake, so make sure it's small enough to lie flat in the pan). Mix sugar and cocoa powder in a large (And I do mean large) bowl. Add eggs and whisk until well blended. In a heavy sauce pan, stir chocolate chips and butter over low heat until melted. Whisk hot mixture into batter. Pour into pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on rack. Run a knife around the edges to loosen cake. Release pan sides.

Caramel sauce:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter (I used salted and it turned out fine, though)

Stir sugar, water, and lemon juice in heavy medium sauce pan over low heat until sugar dissolves. (I never got it to dissolve completely, but it should be fairly liquidy). Increase heat; boil without stirring until syrup is a deep amber, about seven minutes (that is, the color of beer. Go any darker and it'll burn). Remove from heat. Add cream (mixture will bubble like crazy). Return to low heat, stir until all the caramel is dissolved. Add butter. Whisk until smooth.

To serve, pour warm sauce over wedges of the cake. Can also include vanilla icecream, if you want.