Everyone needs a super simple chocolate cake recipe cake up their sleeve for good days, bad days, entertaining, or just cos. This one is dense, fudgy and rich, without being overwhelming. The espresso and Toberlone are fun little additions to highlight the cacao-ness of it all, but you can easily replace them if you like.
Dress is up any way you like, but I will vouch for it standing alone in its glory, simply dusted in cacao powder and served with cream. The Toblerone came about because I ran out of dark chocolate to make up the quantities, but honestly, the milk chocolate and nougat lightens up the intensity of the cacao and dark chocolate. Just a tad. Maybe not at all. But it’s good to be flexible with what you have, no? This one is also gluten free, making it handy for entertaining.
Ingredients
180g dark chocolate, chopped
60g Toblerone, chopped
180g unsalted butter, cubed
40g cacao (not cocoa) powder, sifted
50ml espresso (you can also substitute for the same volume of strong instant coffee. If you don’t want to use coffee, you could try swapping it with olive oil, orange juice or strong green tea).
6 eggs, separated
1 pinch caster sugar
10ml white vinegar
100g brown sugar
30g caster sugar
200g hazelnut meal
Method
Preheat your oven to 180c. Oil and line a 25cm springform tin and et aside. Place a clean, heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water (be sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl) and add the chopped chocolate and butter. Stir to combine as they melt, and gradually mix in the cacao powder until combined. Add the coffee, combine well and set aside.
In a stand mixer or using an electric hand mixer, add the egg whites, a generous pinch of caster sugar and the vinegar. Whisk until soft peaks form, then place into a clean mixing bowl and set aside. Place the 100g brown sugar and 30g caster sugar in the mixer with the yolks and whisk until pale.
Once the chocolate has cooled a bit, gradually fold in the egg yolk mixture in batches, until combined. Do the same with the hazelnut meal. Finally, lightly fold in the egg whites until just combined. You don’t want to work it too hard, otherwise you’ll knock out all the air you’ve worked hard to put in there. Add a good pinch of sea salt and briefly fold it in.
Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until the centre is still fudgy in the centre, but the outside feels just set. Set aside for 15-20 minutes, then release from the tin, inverted and set aside to cool.
Once cool, dust with cacao powder and serve with some whipped cream and a little lemon zest.
