Chocolate Nemesis

I have wanted to make this recipe for a really long time now and finally got the opportunity yesterday. It comes from a  book by the owner of the renowned chocolate shop Rococo so I knew it would be a good quality recipe and totally scrummy. I am a big fan of this book as both the pictures and the recipes are divine, although many of the recipes seem to cater for a higher standard of cooking, so if you are a bit of a beginner I wouldn't recommend it. Some of the best things about this recipe is that it is one of the simple ones and requires no flour so it is quite light, although it is very rich, so only a little bit at a time is recommended - preferably with creme fraiche, or my personal favourite, clotted cream :) Before we go onto the method, just a quick note - I didn't have the right size tin (note to self: go to john lewis!!) so had to split it into two different tins which I wouldn't recommend and so didn't turn out as thick in height as I would like. It did however still taste yummy!

Ingredients

* 100g Icing sugar

* 250g Real dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped

* 150g butter, cut into small pieces + more for greasing

* 4 eggs, separated

* pinch of salt

*1 tsp cider vinegar

* creme fraiche/clotted cream to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas 4 and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin (not springform) about 5cm deep with greaseproof paper, then butter that.

Put 2/3 of the sugar in a heavy-based pan with 5 table spoons of water. Heat until the sugar has completely dissolved then, over a low heat, add the chocolate and stir until it has melted. Finally, stir in the butter. You should have a thick, glossy mixture. Remove from the heat.

Heating the sugar

 
 
 

Whisk the remaining sugar with the egg white and salt and vinegar (this helps to thicken them) until they have reached meringue/soft peak consistency. Beat the egg yolks into the lukewarm chocolate mixture and add this mixture to your meringue bit by bit, folding it in gently to not let any air out.

Bring a large kettleful of water to the boil and pour in a baking tray large enough to hold the cake tin to make a bain-marie. Pour the batter into the prepared mould and place it in the baking tray filled with hot water. It is important that the water comes up to the rim of the tin.

Bake for 30 mins, or until set, which you can test with your hand or with a skewer - it should be set like a firm jelly.

Allow to cool out of the water bath before unmoulding. Serve cold with whatever you fancy! Let me know if you tried the recipe and how it went - you could even tweet me a picture of yours! @LilMisLifestyle xxx