"A chocolate marquise is a very velvety and smooth flourless chocolate cake," Zimmerman told Insider. "Mostly you have chocolate, eggs, and butter."
"It's an opportunity to have a very delicious and decadent chocolate dessert," he added. "It's so rich you only want to have a little bit which, if you're like my family, is good cause you've probably had plenty of cookies and other treats already."
For those making a chocolate marquise at home, Zimmerman said using a water bath during the baking process is essential.
Get a pan that is larger than the one you'll be cooking the cake in and fill it up at least three-quarters of the way with hot water. Then place your cake pan inside.
"The water is going to help even out the overall temperature surrounding the cake, because ovens are notoriously uneven," Zimmerman explained. "It also prevents the cake from getting too much direct heat from the oven and evenly transfers that heat into the product, so you're cooking it more gently. It's really an essential thing to set yourself up for success."
Zimmerman also recommends cooking the cake "low and slow," as well as using a lined loaf pan.
"You're gonna want to line it with aluminum foil so you can get it out of the pan once it's chilled," he said. "Then you'll be able to peel the aluminum off the outside. If you do it just in the pan, you're gonna have a darn hard time getting it out."
Once it's time to serve, Zimmerman recommends pairing that rich chocolate with a Vietnamese coffee-flavored anglaise.
"I'm a big fan of coffee and chocolate together," he said. "Vietnamese coffee has that extra bump of buttery notes and chocolatey notes from it already, plus a little bit of this super smooth, decadent chocolate cake — that would be good for me."