A Slice of Heaven

I have to confess a weakness for a good chocolate cake. There is nothing as satisfying or sinfully delicious as a slice of rich, dark baked chocolate goodness. This particular recipe is from the River Café in London, and it’s one of my favourite desserts to bake—and is also my friends’ favourite. It’s rather aptly named the Chocolate Nemesis Cake, which pretty much says it all—it’s certainly the nemesis of any waistline. I made it last weekend for a dinner party and everyone loved it, so I thought I’d share it with you, too. It doesn’t really need any embellishment, but a dollop of cream and some fresh berries never hurt. Oh, and when you’re making it, always leave that little bit extra for licking the bowl…

Chocolate Nemesis Cake Recipe

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 340g Dark Chocolate - broken into small pieces.

• 5 whole Eggs.

• 290g Caster Sugar.

• 225g Unsalted Butter - softened

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 C

2. Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. (Don't use a springform tin)

3. Beat the eggs with a third of the sugar until the volume quadruples - this will take at least 10 mins with a hand held mixer or about 4 mns with a freestanding.

4. Heat the remaining sugar in a small pan with 125ml water until the sugar has completely dissolved to a syrup.

5. Place the chocolate and butter in the hot syrup and stir to combine.

6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

7. Add the warm syrup to the eggs and continue to beat more gently until completely combined - about 20 seconds and no more!

8. Pour into the cake tin and put that into a bigger cake tin or roasting pan.

9. Fill the second tin with water so it acts like a bain-marie.

10. Bake in the oven for 30 mins or til set.

11. Leave to cool in the tin before turning out.

Recipe by Rose Gray & Ruth Rogers