Chocolate Fudge Cake

I was lucky enough to grow up in Aldeburgh, a small seaside town in suffolk.  This weekend was the Aldeburgh Carnival.   

The weekend is full of old fashioned fun activities: swimming races in the sea, children's running races, mini marathon, the carnival procession, it is great fun. 

The events culminate on Monday evening with the lantern procession, which is my favourite part of the weekend.

A few thousand people gather in the high street, holding chinese lanterns, there is a sea of colourful bobbing candle lights, it is simply stunning and so magical.

 The crowd of lanterns walk down the high street and then spread on to the beach to watch the fireworks.  Before, during and after the display people send floating lanterns up into the sky so there are glowing lights all over the place.  Looking on in wonder our two year old son said ‘Mummy can we stay forever’.  

Thea made us all laugh at the end of the display be shouting ‘Thank you fairies’ ... she is convinced that they make the fireworks with their fairy dust!  It really took me back to all the years we sat on the beach as children.  

This year, for the first time in a while, lots of my childhood friends have come back with their children to enjoy the magic ... to celebrate we had a dinner party for twelve on Sunday.  I cooked this wonderful cake for pudding.

I would really recomend trying it ... as with all Ottolenghi recipes it is wondeful.  Do pop a comment below if you do make it as I would love to know how you got on.  Also please give details of any wonderful events that you are taking part in this summer ... or took part in when you were children.

OTTOLENGHI’S CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE - Serves 8-10

Ingredients

240g unsalted butter cut into small cubes, 265g dark chocolate (52% cocoa solids) cut into small pieces, 95g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) cut into small pieces, 290g light muscovado sugar, 4 tablespoons water, 5 large eggs (separated), pinch of salt, cocoa powder for dusting

• Preheat your oven to 170°C.  Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.
• Place the butter and  both types of chocolate in a vary large heatproof bowl - it should be big enough to accommodate the entire mix.  Put the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan, stir to mix, then bring to the boil over a medium heat.  Pour the boiling syrup over the butter and chocolate and stir well until they are melted and you are left with a runny chocolate sauce.  Stir in the egg yolks, one at a time.  Set aside until the mixture comes to room temperature.
• Put the egg whites and salt in a large bowl and whisk to a firm, but not o dry meringue.  Using a rubber spatula or large metal spoon, gently fold the meringue into the cooled chocolate mixture a third at a time.  The whites should be fully incorporated but there is no harm if you can see small bits of meringue in the mix.
• Pour 800g (two thirds) of the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level gently with a palate knife.  Leave the rest of the batter for later.  Place the cake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until a skewer comes out almost clean.  Remove from the oven and lave to cool completely.
• Flatten the top of the cake with a palette knife.  Don’t worry about breaking the crust.  Pour the rest of the batter on top and level the surface again.  Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Thea cake should still have moist crumbs when checked with a skewer.  Lave to cool completely before removing from the tin.  Dust with coco powder and serve 

Cooking notes

When you pour the hot sugar over the chocolate I found that the sugar did not completely dissolve, it went slightly grainy until I added the yolks and gave it a good beat.  This sorted it self out in the cooking so don’t panic!

The cake will keep covered, at room temperature for 4 days.

The recipe states that this will feed 6-8 ... it is so rich that it stretched to 12 very happily.  

Adapting

I love cold chocolate so I placed the cake in the fridge after it had cooled ... it was delicious.

Comments

[James]

A great post that reminded me of my childhood in Aldeburgh

[SarahD]

I was lucky enough to sample this - it is really delicious & does serve lots of people. I'm usually the last one still eating while everyone else says a pudding is too rich, but even I was ok on one piece of this! I'll definitely be making it in future!

[Rose]

I could only imagine how fun it is living in a seaside town. I have always loved the ocean. This is a great cake to have on a beach picnic. Thanks for sharing.

[Supply Chain Recruitment]

Chocolate fudge cake is the best and one of my favorite flavor of cake, I'll be making this for sure!