This moist, dense, rich cake contains no flour or other grains, making it appropriate for Passover. You can find kosher-for-Passover wine, vanilla, and almond extract in grocery stores this time of year or at www.kosher.com. To achieve the cake's fudgy texture, be sure to pull it from the oven when a wooden pick comes out nearly clean. You can prepare and chill the sauce a day ahead.
This is one of the best cakes I have made! The pistachio crumb "crust" is such a perfect little crunchy and salty contrast to the rich and moist cake. My book club when crazy for this cake and kept shaving off extra "slivers". For the sauce, since I am allergic to wine, I used balsamic vinegar (only 1-2 tablespoons) instead. It was tart and heavenly and definitely takes this cake to the next level.
My cake was incredibly moist, possibly a little undercooked. Not the best chocolate cake ever, but perfect for Passover. I used sliced almonds for the crust rather than the pistachios. The sauce was a huge hit, I would make it again as a topping for other desserts.
The cherry red wine sauce was delicious! I would definitely make this sauce again with a different chocolate cake or ice cream. However, the cake was dry. This may not be the right word, but even without flour the cake was dry, rather than light and fluffy.
I made this for my boyfriend's mother's passover dinner. She had invited her friends from her Wine Club, so it was appropriate. Instead of pistachios I used almond slivers. (I actually served the cake upside down because the almonds looked so pretty on the bottom!) The cake was very good, kind of like a dark-chocolate brownie. It was excellent with the sauce. I simmered the sauce for longer than what the recipe said to get it to sauce consistency. Don't skip the almond extract, it really adds to the flavor. Everyone loved the flavors of the cake and was impressed in general.
I served this Easter dinner to a table comprising Jews and Christians over three generations. Everyone raved. This was during the pistachio salmonella scare so I used regular peanuts and it was still delicious. I cooked the sauce probably double the recommended time and still never got a real "syrup" consistency, but it was delicious anyway.
