I love a good flourless chocolate cake and have developed quite a few of them over the years, all slightly different in texture and taste. As the name suggests, this version is more mousse-like. Airy and light with warming spices and macerated oranges, it’s a great one for the festive season
Make ahead
Make the cake and the oranges up to 2 days in advance
Serves
10-12
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
275g dark chocolate, plus extra for grating
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4 eggs, separated 100g caster (superfine) sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
15g unsweetened cocoa powder
For the oranges
2 oranges
40g caster (superfine) sugar
50ml Grand Marnier or triple sec (optional)
1 small cinnamon stick
1 star anise
Directions
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Grease a 20-cm loose-bottomed, deep round cake pan and line with baking paper.
Add the butter, chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg to a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt gently. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar, the orange zest and cocoa powder. Whisk until the eggs are thick and pale, about 2–3 minutes. Pour the cooled chocolate into the yolks and mix until smooth.
Add the egg whites to another clean, grease-free bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk until frothy then, with the mixer or electric whisk still running, add in the remaining sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Once you’ve added in all the sugar, fold about a quarter of the whites into the chocolate mixture. The first batch of egg whites is to loosen the mixture so you don’t need to be too careful about knocking out air
Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites. Then pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 40–45 minutes until the cake looks risen and the edges are set. There should still be a little wobble in the middle.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.
To prepare the oranges, slice the top and bottom off of each one. Sit them upright and use a small, sharp knife to slice away the skin and pith, following the curve of the fruit. Cut between the membranes to remove the segments.
Toss the orange segments with the sugar, Grand Marnier, if using, cinnamon stick and star anise. Let it macerate in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.
Serve slices of cake with the orange segments and some of the syrup, along with some crème fraîche and gratings of dark chocolate.
Recipe extracted from I’ll Bring Dessert by Benjamina Ebuehi, published by Quadrille. Available in stores nationally
