I made Colleen Oz's cake, and it was delicious! I thought something might go or be wrong, because it was too easy - just add the ingredients in order and mix. I thought cake was supposed to be much more persnickity, shall we say, than that, with whipping air into the batter at the right time, and not whipping it at the wrong time, Anyway, I'll be adding that one to my T & T collection. The icing didn't work well, but that was my fault. I was trying to do too many things at once, and it turned out too dry. I just wasn't paying close enough attention to my measuring, and skipped the sifting, and probably over mixed it. Even with doubling, it barely spread across the middle and top of the cake. Other than that, things went fine. Thanks for the recipes! Sally

Dana of Danalicious recently posted a picture of this dessert on her blog. I thought it looked wonderful. I've been planning on baking it myself. Thanks for the reminder. Ann

Trixie, my deepest apologies. I cannot find the one I actually used. It seems I got it mixed up with the one I found here posted by Marilyn in 2006. Marilyn said she will never use another recipe for Chocolate Cake and I agree. Here is what I remember of mine, and following it is Marilyn's: Ingredients: 1 lb semi-sweet chocolate, chopped 2 sticks butter 8 whole eggs 1 cup Splenda cup strong coffee 1 cup Splenda Glaze: 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate + 3 TBS butter  melt in double boiler Preparation: 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 2. Generously grease a springform cake pan, including the sides. Line bottom with parchment paper. Line entire pan with heavy duty aluminum foil to make it waterproof. 3. Melt chocolate with butter over barely simmering water. Meanwhile, 4. Beat eggs for about 5 minutes, or until doubled in volume, then add Splenda. 5. When chocolate mixture has melted, add coffee. 6. Carefully fold in about 1/3 of the eggs. Fold until only a few streaks of the egg is showing. Then add another 1/3 using the same procedure, and finally the last third of the eggs. 7. Pour into pan and bake for about 22  25 minutes, or until the sides pull away from the pan. It will look like baked brownies. 8. Cool in the pan, then place pan in refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight. 9. 30 minutes before serving, remove from pan and invert onto plate. Spread with glaze to within ¼" of the edge. 10. Slice using a very hot but dry knife. --------------------------------------------------- Marilyn's recipe: I have a really good recipe for flourless chocolate cake but I saw this one in the new Fine Cooking magazine and had to try it because it's so much easier and quicker than mine. This was so good that I will never make my old recipe again! Flourless Chocolate Torte 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (divided) (their recipe called for bitter-sweet) 7 1/2 ounces butter cut into pieces (divided) 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (this was my addition, it just makes chocolate taste more like chocolate.) 5 large eggs 1 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon table salt 2 tablespoons water 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder Position rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 300°. Lightly butter the bottom of a 9X2-inch round cake pan and line it with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit. Lightly butter the parchment paper and dust it with a little cocoa powder, tap out and discard excess. Melt 12 ounces of the chocolate with 6 ounces (3/4 cup) of the butter over low heat while stirring with a rubber spatula until smooth, stir in espresso powder. Set aside to cool slightly. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt and water. Beat on medium high until the mixture is very foamy, pale in color and doubled in volume, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually pour in the chocolate then increase the speed to medium high and continue beating for 30 seconds. Add the cocoa powder and mix on low to medium low just until blended, another 30 seconds. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a pick inserted in the center comes out looking wet with small gooey clumps, 40 to 45 minutes. DonÂt over cook; torte will look soft and not set. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes. If necessary, gently push the edges down to form an even layer. Run a small, thin knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Cover with a cake plate and invert. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Melt remaining 4 ounces of chocolate with remaining 1 1/2 (3 tablespoons) butter over low heat, stirring until smooth. Spread the glaze evenly over the cold torte to within 1/4-inch of the edge. Refrigerate until glaze is set, 30 to 40 minutes. To serve, remove torte from refrigerator 30 minutes. Cut into 12 servings using a hot knife (dip knife in very hot water and dry). Here is a picture of it cut. Marilyn

I haven't grown or tasted Chocolate yet, although based on all the accounts I've read, I'm interested in grafting it this spring, not as a pollinator but for its own sake. One grower in Maryland that has grown upwards of 10 different persimmon varieties seems to have described it as his #1 favorite, and I've heard similar praise from the moderator of an online persimmon forum. Nurseries seem to give it very high praise as well. Although I'm always suspicious of what nurseries have to say about their trees, just as I'm suspicious of what any business says of products it's trying to sell, more than one nursery seems to give Chocolate especially high praise especially for taste, even relative to other varieties they're selling. I'm already growing about 12 different varieties of Asian persimmons (about 5 of which I've fruited, and a few others of which I've tasted from other people's trees), but so far I've focused especially on varieties with outstanding accounts of cold hardiness and longevity in marginal climates. I haven't seen anything to indicate that Chocolate is outstanding in those respects (neither for the better nor for the worse), but the taste reports alone make me really want to try it.