Bitter Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coffee Cream, served with Hot Cherries with Grappa

by Diana Henry from ‘Simple - effortless food, big flavours’

Serves 8

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

For the Cake

160g (5¾oz) butter, plus more for the tin

320g (11½oz) good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces

145g (5¼oz) caster sugar

5 large eggs, separated

40g (1½oz) ground almonds

icing sugar to dust

For the Cream

300ml (½ pint) double cream

½ tbsp instant espresso coffee dissolved in

½ tbsp boiling water

2 tbsp whiskey, or to taste

3 tbsp icing sugar, or to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4.

 Butter a 20cm (8in) springform cake tin.

 Put the chocolate, butter and sugar into a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (the water shouldn't touch the bowl). Melt the mixture, stirring a little.

 Remove the bowl, leaving it to cool for about 4 minutes. Stir in the egg yolks, one at a time.

 Beat the egg whites with electric beaters until they form medium peaks (stiff but with the peaks drooping slightly).

 Using a big metal spoon, fold the ground almonds into the chocolate mixture along with half the egg whites, then fold in the rest of the whites.

 Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes.

 Cool completely, carefully remove the ring and base and put the cake on a serving plate. It will deflate and crack as it cools.

 Whip the cream until it is just holding its shape, then drizzle in the coffee and whiskey, still whipping.

Add the icing sugar and taste for sweetness and booziness.

 Sift icing sugar over the cake and serve with the cream.

Hot Cherries with Grappa

Serves 4

Ingredients

25g unsalted butter

450g cherries, pitted (I like to tear rather than cut them to remove the stones)

100g caster sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

3-4 tbsp grappa

Method

Melt the butter in a large frying pan, then add the cherries and any juices that came out of them when you were pitting them.

 Toss them around over a medium heat, adding the sugar and stirring gently to help it dissolve. Add the lemon juice. Keep tossing the cherries and cooking until they have a thickish syrup around them.

 Add the grappa (you can now flambé the cherries if you want, but it’s not necessary) and you’re done. Take to the table and serve the hot cherries with cold vanilla ice-cream.