[Photo: Kathy YL Chan]

This is for those times when you just want straight-up decadence that doesn't require sitting in a nice restaurant. When you want one treat all to yourself. Here, it's large muffin-sized cake baked into individual rounds, a sunken middle complete with a crackly sugar-dusted crust and a moist, almost pudding-like interior. The Flourless Chocolate Cake ($6) at Balthazar Bakery may not be as proper as their canelé or classic French pastries, but it is perfect in its own little way, dark chocolate through and through. Perhaps on the sweet side, but it satisfies cravings at room temperature and morphs into another creature completely when warmed and topped off with a pour of cream.

Balthazar Bakery

80 Spring Street, New York NY 10012 (map)
212-941-0364
balthazarbakery.com

About the author: Originally from Honolulu, Kathy YL Chan blogs at Kathy YL Chan, where she chronicles her eats and travels adventures between Hawai'i, New York and beyond. She firmly believes that there is always room for dessert.