Anyone who knows me, knows that desserts and baking are not my strength. I confess I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and would always choose savoury over sweet, however a honking great slab (notice I say ‘slab’ and not a girly ‘slice’) of devilishly good chocolate cake can always change my mind. Dark chocolate Moelleux cake is similar to a chocolate fondant cake, with a melting middle, but slightly less liquid than your average fondant, as well using only a little flour. Its dark, its sinful and every mouth is sheer unadulterated pleasure, you know you shouldn’t, but you just can’t help yourself and with a recipe this easy, you really shouldn’t fight the urge to indulge yourself. In my humble opinion, this cake is best made 24 hours before you will serve it, but I don’t know many people who could wait that long before devouring it.

(Serves 8)

Ingredients

6 medium size eggs

250g of caster sugar

250g of good quality salted butter (with a little extra for greasing your ovenware)

250g of 70% cocoa chocolate

2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour (with a little extra for dusting your ovenware)

1 tablespoon of best quality vanilla essence

3 tablespoons of water

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Melt your chocolate, butter and water in a glass bowl over a hot pan of boiling water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not make actual contact with the hot water, as this will scold the chocolate mixture. Once your chocolate and butter mixture has melted, set aside and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Once cool, add your vanilla essence, flour and sugar and mix well until smooth. Then one by one, add your eggs, making sure each one is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next one. Once all 6 eggs have been added and mixed in, your mixture should be nice, thick and glossy.

Using a large brownie pan, cake tin or oven proof dish of your choice, grease it with some of your butter and then dust it with a little plain flour too, ensuring it gets a thorough coating. Then pour your mixture into your chosen buttered oven dish and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes.

Once done, allow to cool completely before turning it out onto a plate. Seriously, don’t be tempted to touch it before it cools, as it will literally fall apart. If you can wait until the following day, it really would be best. But if you can’t (and who would blame you) I would serve up a modest portion of the chocolate cake, as it is very rich indeed, with a side of good quality vanilla ice cream. Then sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Its not just chocolate cake, it is chocolate heaven.