Moist Chocolate and Almond Cake

This is a beautifully moist cake, light in colour, but with dark speckles of melted chocolate in it.

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  serves 8-10

Ingredients
4 oz (110 g) dark chocolate (70-75% cocoa solids), grated
4 oz (110 g) ground almonds
4 oz (110 g) butter, at room temperature
6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar
6 tablespoons milk
4 large eggs, separated
6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour, sifted
To decorate:
6 oz (175 g) dark chocolate (70-75% cocoa solids), broken up
1 rounded tablespoon creme fraiche
a few toasted flaked almonds
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C).

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Equipment
You will also need an 8 inch (20 cm) round cake tin, greased and lined with baking parchment.

This recipe is taken from The Delia Collection: Baking, which was published 0n 8 September.

Method

Start by creaming the butter and sugar together until they’re light, pale and fluffy.

Beat the egg yolks thoroughly together and add them to the mixture, about a teaspoonful at a time, beating well after each addition. When all the yolks are in, lightly fold in the ground almonds, grated chocolate and milk, using a metal spoon. Now in a separate, dry, clean bowl, whisk the egg whites till they reach the soft peak stage, and then fold them into the rest of the mixture gently and carefully so as not to lose all the air you have whisked in.

Finally, add the flour – again, folding that in carefully with a metal spoon. Next, spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, level it off, place it on the centre shelf in the oven, reduce the heat to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) and bake the cake for 1 hour 10 minutes-1 hour 15 minutes or until the centre is springy when lightly touched. Allow the cake to stand in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out on to a wire rack to cool. To decorate, melt the 6 oz (175 g) dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl, which should be sitting over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.

The chocolate should take about 5 minutes to become smooth and glossy. Allow it to cool for 2-3 minutes and thicken slightly and then stir the crème fraîche into the chocolate.

Split the cake in half and use half the chocolate to sandwich it together, and the other half to spread over the top, making patterns with a knife.

Decorate with a few toasted almonds and store in a tin till needed.

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