Chocolate and almond cake

This is a Delia recipe is actually called ‘moist chocolate and almond cake’. I can’t help that feel ‘moist’ is superfluous in a cake’s title because who wants to bake a dry cake?

Anyway, pedantry aside, I had a hankering for a chocolate cake this week; it had to be sinful enough so I my need for naughtiness was sated, but not so rich that I couldn’t eat lots of it! This recipe fitted the bill perfectly.

I recommend serving the cake with cream as the cream really brought out the richness of the chocolate and added some lightness. I used Chantilly cream which is a sweetened vanilla cream:

The almond adds flavour and richness to the texture. I don’t think you’d actually know the almond was there – it keeps in the background but does good work! You can see flecks of chocolate and almond in this photo; I’d cut the cake through to turn it into a sandwich cake:

First layer of chocolate ganache going on:

I was a little disappointed that the chocolate didn’t make the cake batter turn dark brown – maybe it would work better if it was melted rather than grated? To combat this I replace 15g of the flour with cocoa powder and that created the darker batter I was hoping for. Here’s the cake unadorned:

Cut and ready to take into work tomorrow – it’s one way to win over your work colleagues!

Ingredients

For the cake:

110g unsalted butter
175g golden caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
110g dark chocolate, grated (I blitzed mine in the food processor)
110g ground almonds
6 tablespoons milk (whole or semi skimmed)
175g self raising flour (I used 160g self raising flour and 15g cocoa powder)

For the topping:

175g dark chocolate
1 tablespoon double cream
Optional: Toasted flaked almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 220˚c/fan oven 200˚c/425˚f/gas mark 7

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Don’t skimp on this stage as it’s the key to success!

Add the egg yolks a tablespoon or so at a time and beat well to ensure the mixture doesn’t curdle.

Lightly fold in the ground almonds, the milk and the grated chocolate. This is always easiest to do with a metal spoon as you get a nice cutting edge to fold the mix.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they are at the soft peak stage.

Fold the whites into the chocolate mix – it’s best to start with just a spoon of egg white as this will slacken the mix and make folding in the rest easier.

Fold in the flour.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Place in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 170˚c/fan oven 150˚c/325˚f/gas mark 3 – bake for approximately 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean (for this kind of cake the skewer can have a little on it just not raw batter). Mine took exactly this time.

Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack until the tin is cool enough to handle. Remove the tin and leave the cake to cool completely on the wire rack.

At the point you can store the cake in an airtight container until needed – it will keep 2-3 days without any problem as the almonds make it mega moist.

Now make the topping and filling: break the chocolate up and place in a bowl above a pan of simmering water. Or microwave it – I’ve started doing this and find it just as good.

When the chocolate has melted and is smooth and glossy leave it to cool for a couple of minutes.

Stir in the double cream.

Cut the cake into two and use half the chocolate/cream mix to sandwich it together. Spread the rest over the top.

If required, scatter some toasted flaked almonds on top.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.