Devil's Cake
A rich, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate dessert cake.
Ingredients
Pure chocolate or bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
180g (6 oz)
Unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
180g (6 oz)
Vanilla extract
2 tsp
Eggs (whites and yolks separated)
4
Granulated sugar
140g (4.5 oz)
Chopped almonds
60g (2 oz)
All-purpose flour (sifted)
30g (1 oz)
Salt
1/8 tsp
Cream of tartar
1/8 tsp
Cocoa powder (for decoration)
Powdered sugar (for decoration)
Chocolate leaves (for decoration, see page 43)
Instructions
1
Step 1
Melt the chocolate together with the butter (see page 34), then stir in the vanilla extract.
2
Step 2
Beat the egg yolks with 90g (3 oz) of sugar until thick and pale, then fold in the warm chocolate mixture, followed in turn by the almonds, flour, and salt.
3
Step 3
Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form (wet foam). Add the remaining sugar and continue beating until the foam becomes stiff.
4
Step 4
Using a large metal spoon, first fold a heaping spoonful of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate to lighten it. Then fold in the remaining egg whites until fully combined.
5
Step 5
Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a moist crumb texture. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack, pressing the top flat before unmolding.
6
Step 6
Decoration: First sift a layer of cocoa powder over the cake, then place chocolate leaves on top of the cocoa. Sprinkle a layer of powdered sugar around the leaves. Lift the leaves away and reposition them on the top of the cake, overlapping with the cut-out powdered sugar leaf shapes below so a patterned design is revealed.
