Dense Chocolate Devil Cake

This cake is gorgeously dark, dense, aromatic and sinfully delicious. Which is why I renamed it ‘Dense Chocolate Devil Cake’. I baked this cake for my mumma’s birthday and everyone simply fell in love with it.
It turns out even better if you invest in a good quality 70-80% dark chocolate.

I’ve borrowed this recipe from Nigella Lawson, “The Domestic Goddess” and my culinary Guru.
This cake is sure to make you go bonkers. But you have to try it to believe it.

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

225 g soft unsalted butter
375 g dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g best dark chocolate, melted
200 g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/gas5. Grease and line a 23x13x7cm cm (9x5x3in) loaf tin.
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well.
3. Next fold in the melted and cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but do not overbeat.
4. You want the ingredients combined, you don’t want a light airy mass. Gently add the flour, to which you’ve added the bicarb, alternately spoon by spoon, with 250 ml of boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter.
5. Pour into the lined loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 170C/gas mark 3 and cook for another 15 minutes. The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won’t come out completely clean.
6. Place the loaf tin on a rack and leave to get completely cold before turning it out. It improves if left for a day or so before eating. This cake will probably sink in the middle because of its denseness.

P.S. :
I have tweaked the recipe a bit to get my cake just right.

• I bake in the normal cake tin instead of a loaf tin. Be sure to line the tin well.
• I substituted 50g of the flour with 50g of cocoa powder for a more chocolatey taste.
• I also reduced the sugar down to 325g and used half dark, half light muscovado sugar (brown sugar) to lighten the taste.
• Instead of boiling plain water, I boiled it along with espresso coffee
• And finally, I got the best results by baking for 50-55 mins at a constant 175c, rather than using the two temps suggested in the original recipe.

Happy baking 🙂