Chocolate Fudge Cake

My age-long affair with anything chocolate continues with this deep, dense and dark marvel. There’s really nothing fussy about this cake. But the end result is sure to amaze you and all.

Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Baking time: 50 minutes to an hour
Serves: 8 – 10

Ingredients:
For Cake:
225 g dark chocolate, in drops or broken into pieces
225 g butter, plus extra for greasing
325 g caster sugar
6 eggs, separated
200 g ground almonds
75 g plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
Salt, a pinch

For Icing:
275 g icing sugar
100 g cocoa powder
125 g butter
175 g caster sugar
100 ml water

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Butter the sides of a 25cm spring-form or loose-bottomed cake tin with 6cm sides and line the base with a disc of baking parchment. If you’re using a spring-form tin, make sure the base is upside down, so there’s no lip and the cake can slide off easily when cooked.
2. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Leave just until melted, stirring occasionally, then set aside. With the help of wooden spoon or electric mixer using the paddle beater, cream the butter until soft.
3. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well between each addition. Mix in the ground almonds and the melted chocolate, followed by the flour, baking powder and vanilla extract. Be gentle, do not over-beat.
4. Tip the egg whites into a separate bowl, add a pinch of salt, and beat until stiff but still smooth in appearance – Again, do not over-beat. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture and then pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
5. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean but moist. Let it stay in the tin for 20 minutes. Then loosen the edges of the cake using a small, sharp knife and remove the sides of the tin before carefully transferring to a serving plate to cool down fully.
For the icing:
6. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Place the butter, caster sugar and water in a saucepan and set over a medium heat.
7. Stir all the ingredients together until the butter is melted and the sugar has dissolved, then pour into the dry ingredients and mix together well.
8. When the cake has cooled, pour over the icing, allowing it to drizzle down the sides.

This cake is sheer indulgence on a plate! Cheating on calories is forgiven coz you are sure to go in for seconds or may be even thirds 🙂