Chocolate and Almond Cake

Amazingly Cook House was featured in The Guardian a couple of weeks ago, in a guide to small places to eat in Newcastle. I was incredibly pleased to be included, I couldn't stop smiling all day! It was a lovely review, you can have a look here. Someone had been and had lunch undercover the week before it was published, thankfully they had a lovely time! So The Guardian readers have been arriving in their droves since, it has been such good publicity for my little shipping container, and has meant a lot more baking, potting and pickling; long may it continue...

 

On the baking front, I've been making this cake for a while now. It's just a really good cake recipe and people need those so I thought I'd share it. My cake repertoire has come on leaps and bounds since I opened Cook House, as I'm baking something nearly every day. This is one of my favourites, as well as the Lemon and Almond Cake, and the Carrot and Orange Cake, and the... and I say I don't have a sweet tooth...

I made this cake just today at Cook House and I slightly under cooked it, which turned out to be a wonderful accident as it turns it into some kind of delicious chocolate fondant cake, soft and gooey in the middle. I had to test a slice in the morning, and again later on in the afternoon; just to be sure. It was really good on both occasions, which was a relief...

Start by slowly melting 200g of dark chocolate, at least 70% with 250g of butter. Don't heat it too quickly as the mixture will split, just slowly on a low heat, stirring occasionally until it is all combined. 

While that's melting away, separate 4 eggs. Then whisk 200g of caster sugar into the yolks until they are light and fluffy. Then add 50g of ground almonds and 50g of plain flour and mix. When the chocolate and butter mix is ready stir it in to the egg yolk mixture until it is all combined into a lovely chocolate and almond mix.

Finally whisk the egg whites until they stand up in soft peaks, you need an electric whisk, unless you're feeling like a work out... Fold one spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mix gently, followed by the rest of the egg whites, just do it slowly keeping the air in until you have a mix a bit like a chocolate mousse.

Pour the whole lot into a lined cake tin, it'll be much easier to get out if you line the whole tin with greaseproof paper. Then bake at 170 degrees C for 35 minutes. If it is very wobbly in the centre when you get it out I'd put it back in for five minutes. Or you can leave it to have a fondant type centre. Even baked for 35 to 40 minutes however this is still a gooey centred cake. It is rich and delicious, very chocolatey and good pretty much any time of day...