Death By Chocolate

Happy Easter! I hope everyone has enjoyed the lovely long bank holiday weekend and those of you who gave something up for lent, well done! I hope it all tastes extra good now. As you know I gave up chocolate and so my recipes were chocolate-free too, but no more! Another recipe taken from my Great British Book of Baking, this is the chocolatey-est thing I’ve ever made with a total of 500g chocolate in it and 100ml double cream for added heart-attack factor, the very aptly named, Death by Chocolate. Then of course because it’s Easter I put some mini eggs on top.

This is an interesting recipe in that it uses no flour at all. The only dry ingredient is sugar as you melt the chocolate. I must say it does require rather a lot of patience for each stage of the process. Melting the chocolate and butter over hot water in a pan can be a little time consuming but it is important not to rush it or let the water boil as that will spoil the chocolate. This is definitely not a recipe to make if you do not have an electric mixer of some kind. In the recipe it says that it takes about 5 minutes on the highest speed to turn the eggs and sugar into a thick mousse. Well I can only imagine that this was in an amazing free standing mixer because it took me about 20minutes to reach the desired consistency with my handheld one. And finally, when mixing the chocolate into the eggy mousse you need to be careful to make sure all the chocolate is incorporated while also not disturbing the mousse it took so long to achieve!

It is advised that you use good quality chocolate as this is essentially the main ingredient and there is no cocoa or anything to mask the taste. I used Green and Black’s dark cooking chocolate for mine and it’s rich but delicious! The recipe says 35-45 minutes in the oven but I only left mine in for 30minutes as it was cooked enough then. After leaving it for about 25 minutes to cool completely I then prepared the chocolate ‘icing’. I use the term icing lightly as really it is just melted chocolate with cream in it. The recipe says to pour the mixture over and let it drip down the sides which suggests it’s very messy but the mixture is quite thick so doesn’t really fall unless you push it.

To finish it off and give it an Easter touch I put a circle of mini eggs all round the edge. Chocolate overdose? You’d think so but actually the cake is so light (as there is no flour in it) that it’s not too intense and it’s more the icing that gives the indulgent flavour. If you’re a chocoholic you’ll absolutely love it!

Here is the recipe by Linda Collister:

For the sponge:

300g good quality dark chocolate

150g unsalted butter, diced

5 medium eggs at room temperature

½ tsp vanilla extract

100g caster sugar

For the topping:

200g good quality dark chocolate

100ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and baseline a 22cm springclip tin (I used a 23cm one as that’s the only size I have!)

Break up the chocolate for the sponge and put it in a heatproof bowl with the butter. Set over a pan of steaming hot but not boiling water and leave to melt, stirring frequently. [Don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water as this will cause the chocolate to get too hot and spoil.] Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and set to one side

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, add the vanilla and whisk for a few seconds just to break up. Add the sugar and whisk on full power until pale, very thick and mousse-like and about 5 times the original volume. This will take about 5 minutes (or 20 if you’re me!) To test if the mixture is ready, lift out the whisk and if a thick, ribbon-like trail of mixture falls back into the bowl and is still visible after 5 seconds you can stop whisking

Pour the chocolate mixture on to the egg mousse and very gently, but thoroughly, fold the two together using a large metal spoon. Take your time, and make sure there are no pockets of chocolate at the bottom of the bowl

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-45 minutes until just firm to the touch - the centre should still be slightly moist under the crust, as the cake will continue cooking after it comes out of the oven

Stand the tin on a wire cooling rack and run a round bladed knife around the inside to loosen the sponge. Leave until completely cold before removing from the tin. The cake will rise to the top of the tin during baking but will sink on cooling

Invert the cake onto a serving plate - it is easier to ice the flat base. To make the topping, finely chop the chocolate and put it into a large heatproof bowl with the cream. Set over a pan of hot but not boiling water as before. Leave for a minute until the chocolate is half melted, then remove the bowl from the pan and beat the chocolate until glossy

Pour the topping evenly over the cake and let it trickle down the sides; you can help it a little, tough if you work it too much you will lose the sine. Leave until firm before serving