Serves 10
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
200g good-quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
2 tbsp strong filter coffee, or 1 tbsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 2 tbsp hot water (or you could replace this with finely chopped chilli/a little ground cardamom/finely grated orange zest)
50g plain flour
50g ground almonds
5 eggs
75g light soft brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tbsp sifted cocoa powder, for dusting
Equipment
20cm springform cake tin, lightly greased and lined with baking parchment
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Have ready a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter, chocolate and coffee into a smallish heatproof bowl and set over the pan, making sure that the base is not touching the water. Leave until melted, but don’t let the mixture get too hot. Remove from the heat and stir until well combined.
2. Meanwhile, sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the ground almonds; set aside.
3. Separate the eggs into two large bowls. Add the brown sugar to the egg yolks and beat, using a hand-held electric whisk, until thoroughly combined and creamy. Now carefully fold in the melted chocolate mix, making sure that it is evenly combined; the chocolate has a tendency to sink to the bottom of the bowl, so dig down deep.
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4. Whisk the egg whites and caster sugar together to soft peaks. Carefully fold the flour and almond mix into the chocolate mixture, followed by the egg whites and sugar.
5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out a little sticky. The aim is to slightly undercook the cake so it will be soft and a little sunken in the middle. Leave to cool in the tin.
6. Before serving, remove from the tin and dust with the cocoa. The cake is lovely eaten warm with a little cream. It will keep for 5 days in an airtight tin in a cool place.
Recipe taken from Cakes — River Cottage Handbook No 8 by Pam Corbin with introduction by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, published by Bloomsbury on Monday, March 14 at £14.99. It is available for £13.49 at timesbooks.co.uk
Text © Pam Corbin 2011