French Cake

We’ve just been at my Mum’s in the south of France for two weeks, she doesn’t really eat chocolate anymore or make cakes and had a huge stash of dark chocolate that obviously needed to be used up. She also has this fantastic book: Chocolate by Christine McFadden and Christine France which I managed to squeeze into my rucksack and will enjoy working through the recipes.

This one was rather simple, just lots of chocolate and eggs and appropriately called ‘French Chocolate Cake’. It’s basically very dark and rich, you only need a small slice.

250g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
225g unsalted butter
90g granulated sugar
2 tbsp brandy or orange flavoured liqueur
5 eggs
1 tbsp plain flour
icing sugar for dusting

Oven at 180 degrees, grease and base line then grease again, a 23cm x 5 cm spring-form tin. Wrap the sides with tin foil to prevent water from seeping through.

In a pan over a low heat, melt chocolate, butter and sugar, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, stir in the liqueur or brandy.

In a large bowl beat the eggs lightly fro 1 minute, beat in the flour then slowly add the chocolate mixture. Pour into the tin.

Place the tin in a large roasting tin and add enough boiling water to come 2cm up the sides on the cake tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edge of the cake is set but the centre is still soft.

Cool in the tin on a wire rack, it may sink but will become a classic slim shape as it cools. Once you’ve turned it out of the tin make sure it’s completely cooled then decorate by cutting strips of grease proof paper and placing randomly on the cake then dusting with icing sugar then carefully remove the paper – my new favourite way of making a cake look great!