cake!

the flourless chocolate cake i made for dessert on friday night was awesome, if i do say so myself : ) bummer that we ate it so quickly i didn't get a chance to take a picture.
i've made this cake a gazillion times and it has always turned out perfectly, every time. i've doubled it, tripled it, halved it, 1.5'ed it, and cupcaked it, and it has always been fantastic. i got the recipe from the fabulously pink ms. gusset, who posted it to my red kitchen list many moons ago, who got it from jill dupleix, who got it from elizabeth david. and now you've got it from me. if you don't already have it. sharing is good!

awesome chocolate cake

250g dark bitter choccy (at least 70% cocoa), broken into small pieces
150g unsalted butter
150g castor sugar
100g ground almonds - here in CH we don't really get the very finely milled blanched almond meal. more popular (and nicer, i think) is the coarser meal made with whole unhulled almonds. it seems to give the cake a better texture, rather than the uniform smoothness of the fine meal.
5 good eggs, separated

- heat oven to 180°c
- melt butter, sugar and choccy in a bowl sitting over a pot of simmering water (to ensure the choccy doesn't get burnt).
- when it's all melted into a deliciously liquid muddy swirl, remove from heat and mix in almonds.
- beat in egg yolks one by one. don't worry if the mix thickens and you are left with some watery chocolate liquid underneath the rest of the mix. it all works out beautifully in the end, i promise.
- beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. take a couple of spoonfuls and mix thru the choccy mixture to lighten it. then fold thru the rest of the whites. you should have a beautifully glossy and voluminous brown mixture. take a moment to smell it - mmmm, good.

- pour it into a lined (either with paper, or buttered and floured - i prefer to paper mine) springform baking tin. i use an 18cm one, because i like my cakes to be small but high (i love that look). more usual is a 20cm one, but use what you will, it will all be delicious. perhaps the larger one gives the illusion of more slices??

- bake for 40 - 50 mins. it is likely this cake will fail the skewer test even at the 50 min mark, but don't worry. it's meant to be moist and dense, so even if you undercook it it will still be devoured in seconds.

- i like to dust the top with icing sugar, but i sometimes leave it in all its cracked, sunken beauty. double cream is a necessity when serving. berries are a worthwhile accompaniment, too.

Comments

[Alice Adams]

Ciao Banana,

I think you found it in the same place I did, I actually took it from Terry Durack who borrowed ti from Jill, who took it from Elizabeth whole stole it from the french. I have been googling this recipe and you are the only one who uses exactly the recipe I use. It is a wonderful cake, I make it about 4 different ways and I also have wonderful photos. Email me if you want a copy of the snaps.

Alice