Seriously rich....

So, the lottery winners Dave Dawes and Angela Dawes are making twenty of their friends instant millionaires after their recent £101million win. Perhaps with their entry into the high life, they'd be interested in this little beauty of a cake.

As someone who is not overly enthusiastic about chocolate puddings, this might seem like an odd choice for me. But then again, I believe if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well - and this cake definitely does that! It's superbly rich, chocolatey and moist. And best of all, it contains no flour, which made it perfect as a birthday cake for my mother, who's a coeliac, and not really a pudding person, so doesn't tend to get very excited about cake. However, I just knew that this would be worthy of excitement from even the most cynical cakeophobe.

The recipe is amended from a BBC Good Food recipe, with Baileys substituted for Cointreau.

Seriously Rich Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

100g butter

140g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

6 large eggs, separated

140g ground almonds

1 tblsp Baileys

85g caster sugar

Icing sugar, ground almonds and edible gold glitter to decorate

Clotted cream, to serve

Method:

Grease and line the base of a 9in springform cake tin. Melt together the chocolate and butter in a bain marie, stirring until smooth. Leave for about 5 minutes to cool slightly.
Stir in the egg yolks, ground almonds, and Baileys. Whist the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form. Then, adding the sugar a little at a time, continue whisking to stiff peaks. Stir 2 tablespoons of the whites into the chocolate mixture, then carefully fold in the remainder until no traces of white are left. 
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake at 170 degrees Celcius for 30-35 minutes until the mixture has risen and is just firm to the touch.
Allow to cool in the tin. If the cake sinks slightly or cracks, it will still be fine. If you are not planning to serve the cake immediately, leave it in the tin and cover in a double layer of cling film until ready to serve (up to three days). According to the BBC website, the cake freezes well for up to one month.
To serve, remove the cake from the tin and peel away the lining paper. Sift the icing sugar liberally over the top and sprinkle with edible gold glitter for a touch of glamour. Although the original recipe recommends serving with crème fraîche, I found that the bitterness was just too much for the smooth decadence of the cake, and would suggest that a good dollop of clotted cream would be your best bet!