RECIPE: CHOCOLATE CAKE

Easter chocolate eggs and bunnies are always a bit disappointing

when it comes to taste (unless youʼve splashed out on some fancy
one). The crushed up packaging with the bashed and bruised shards
get shoved to the back of the cupboard only to be rediscovered
months later. Fear not I have the easiest way to upcycle your cheapo
chocolates. Nothing exotic or high tech needed to create this very
simply chocolate chocolate cake. Plenty of butter, eggs, dark brown
sugar and ground almonds make for a soft tender crumb. When it
comes to baking this cake itʼs much better to veer on the side of
caution and underbake this (youʼll end up with a slight gooey centre)
then overbaking and ending up with a dry crumbly cake (although you
could crumble it up and have it on top of a scoop of vanilla ice cream
– Iʼm a firm believer thereʼs always a way of saving a dessert).
This cake is gluten free but definitely not sugar or butter free. It is
utter indulgence!
Ingredients
150g chocolate, roughly chopped
170g butter, in cubes at room temperature
170g dark brown soft sugar
100g ground almonds
20g cocoa powder
6 eggs
pinch of salt
Dusting (optional)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
One 21cm cake tin lined with baking paper
Preheat the oven to 180c (fan forced). Add the chocolate and butter
to a pot and melt gently. Stir occasionally. Take off the heat once you
the butter and chocolate have melted.
Meanwhile whisk the sugar, almonds, salt and cocoa powder together
to break any lumps. Crack the eggs into the middle and whisk until
you have a smooth paste. Pour in the melted chocolate. Stir
everything together and pour into cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes or
until the skewer comes out every so slightly wet. Remove the cake
from the oven. Leave to completely cool before dusting with cocoa
powder mixed with ground cinnamon (optional).
The cake will keep for 3-4 days. Alternatively once cool, wrap well
and freeze (take out of the freezer 24 hours before eating to defrost).

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The word ‘consultingʼ always sounds like a dream job when youʼre
working in a restaurant kitchen, slaving over a hot stove as a line or
prep cook. As a consultant, it sounds like you sweep into a kitchen
whenever you feel like it, and bake something up with the staff. But
itʼs rather challenging work.

Restaurants call in consultants when the kitchen is in dire trouble. You

walk into the kitchen and no one wants to talk to you or change
anything. (Which is why they needed to call someone for help in the
first place!) I took a job like that once, when I was between jobs as a
pastry chef, and although the kitchen staff was friendly and fairly
helpful, desserts were not a high priority to them. In fact, they were
storing the dessert sauces in the same cabinet as the chopped garlic.
Yikes.
I decided that I needed to create a cake for them that was fool-proof.
It needed to be made without any fancy techniques or ingredients,
and the cooking didnʼt have to depend on the whims on whatever
cook was called upon to make the cakes that day. And it also had to
keep well.

But most important, it had to taste great. I like chocolate cakes that
are straight-on chocolate. While I donʼt mind frosted, multi-layered
wedges of cake, this one is pure, uninhibited chocolate indulgence.
Thereʼs not much to get between you and the deep, bittersweet flavor
of dark chocolate.
I jokingly called this Chocolate Idiot Cake, since anyone can make it,
and itʼs hard to screw up. (Although I didnʼt say that to anyoneʼs face,
of course.) Later I made it when I was in the pastry department at
Chez Panisse, where a co-worked looked at them as they were
coming out of the oven and dubbed them, “Chocolate Orbit Cake,”
due to the little craters on top.
Whatever you call it, itʼs a pretty great chocolate cake that just
requires four ingredients, no special techniques, except for a few
moments of whisking, and can be refrigerated (once cool), for a
couple of days, until ready to serve.

Chocolate Idiot Cake

One 9-inch (23 cm) cake
Adapted from Ready for Dessert (Ten Speed Press)This cake is
extremely rich, and tastes like the most delicious, silkiest, most
supremely-chocolate ganache youʼve ever had. As mentioned, itʼs
equally good a few days later, and only an idiot could possibly mess it
up. Use a good chocolate — youʼll appreciate it when you taste your
first melt-in-your-mouth bite.Make sure to wrap the springform pan
very well in foil, perhaps in several layers, to prevent any water
seeping in during baking.
10 ounces (290gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate coarsely
chopped
7 ounces (200gr) butter, salted or unsalted, cut into pieces
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (200gr) sugar
unsweetened cocoa powder, for preparing the cake pan
Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC).
1. Butter a 9-inch (23cm) springform pan and dust it with cocoa
powder, tapping out any excess. Wrap the outside with aluminum foil,
in several layers if necessary (see headnote), making sure it goes all
the way up to the outer rim.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or microwave),
stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar, then whisk in
the melted chocolate mixture until smooth.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and cover the top
of the cake pan snugly with a sheet of foil. Put the springform pan
into a larger baking pan, such as a roasting pan, and add enough hot
water to the baking pan to reach halfway up to the outside of the cake
pan.
5. Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. It should feels just
set in the center, like quivering chocolate pudding. If you gently touch
the center, your finger should come away almost clean.
6. Lift the cake pan from the water bath and remove the foil. Let cake
cool completely on a cooling rack.
When cool, serve thin wedges of this very rich cake at room
temperature, with crème anglaise, ice cream, or whipped cream. It
could also be served with a drizzle of chocolate sauce.
Storage: This cake can be wrapped and chilled in the refrigerator for
3-5 days.
Note: I often get asked about how to remove a cake like this from a
springform pan. You can dip a chefʼs knife in very hot water and slide
it under the cooled cake to remove it from the bottom of the pan. But
I generally use my glass-bottomed springform pan, since I donʼt
need to wrestle the cake from the bottom of the pan for serving.