Chocolate Walnut Cake

I'm always looking for desserts to bring to potlucks or dinner parties that are not decadent and fat-laden. I don't know, maybe I've been watching too much "Food, Inc." or "Super Size Me" lately, but I'm kind of obsessed with how rotten the American diet has become. And I don't exclude myself from that statement -- I can snack all day and never eat a proper meal. So, when I'm asked to contribute something to a meal, I want to make it healthy and tasty. (God, I sound like Nancy Drew or something!)

Here's a recipe I adapted from a Weight Watcher's recipe of the same name. It has only FOUR ingredients!

Ingredients:

9 large eggs, separated

1 cup sugar, divided

5 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted (I used 4 oz semi-sweet and 1 oz unsweetened just because that's what I had in the house!)

1 cup walnuts, ground to a powder (just use your food processor or blender)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Beat eggs yolks and 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Pour in warm chocolate (not hot or you'll cook the eggs) and 1/2 of ground nuts. Mix well.

3. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Beat some more until egg whites are glossy and hold their shape.

4. Mix a heaping cup of egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Then, fold chocolate mixture into egg whites (do NOT use the blender, do this by hand with a spatula.)

5. Spoon batter into an angel food pan and bake for about 75 minutes. (Test with a toothpick)

6. Remove from oven invert cake pan on rack to cool (if your angel food pan doesn't have feet, invert over a bottle.) Cool thoroughly before loosening with a knife to remove cake from pan. (If you do this before the cake is completely cool, it will break apart!)

7. You might want to serve this with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, or a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.

However, without any toppings, this makes sixteen teeny tiny pieces at 4 Weight Watchers points per piece.