Moist Chocolate and Almond Cake

Ingredients
4 oz (110 g) dark chocolate (70-75% cocoa solids), grated
4 oz (110 g) ground almonds
4 oz (110 g) butter, at room temperature
6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar
6 tablespoons milk
4 large eggs, separated
6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour, sifted

To decorate
6 oz (175 g) dark chocolate (70-75% cocoa solids), broken up
1 rounded tablespoon creme fraiche
a few toasted flaked almonds
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C).

You will also need an 8 inch (20 cm) round cake tin, greased and lined with baking parchment.

Start by creaming the butter and sugar together until they’re light, pale and fluffy. Beat the egg yolks thoroughly together and add them to the mixture, about a teaspoonful at a time, beating well after each addition. When all the yolks are in, lightly fold in the ground almonds, grated chocolate and milk, using a metal spoon.

Now in a separate, dry, clean bowl, whisk the egg whites till they reach the soft peak stage, and then fold them into the rest of the mixture gently and carefully so as not to lose all the air you have whisked in. Finally, add the flour – again, folding that in carefully with a metal spoon.

Next, spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, level it off, place it on the centre shelf in the oven, reduce the heat to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) and bake the cake for 1 hour 10 minutes-1 hour 15 minutes or until the centre is springy when lightly touched. Allow the cake to stand in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out on to a wire rack to cool.

To decorate, melt the 6 oz (175 g) dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl, which should be sitting over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. The chocolate should take about 5 minutes to become smooth and glossy. Allow it to cool for 2-3 minutes and thicken slightly and then stir the crème fraîche into the chocolate.

Split the cake in half and use half the chocolate to sandwich it together, and the other half to spread over the top, making patterns with a knife. Decorate with a few toasted almonds and store in a tin till needed.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Ingredients
For the cake:

6 oz (175 g) self-raising wholemeal flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
6 oz (175 g) very soft butter
6 oz (175 g) light soft brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 rounded tablespoon cocoa powder

For the chocolate fudge filling and topping:

4½ oz (125 g) light soft brown sugar
1 x 170 g tin evaporated milk
4½ oz (125 g) dark chocolate (50-55 per cent cocoa solids), broken into small pieces
2 oz (50 g) soft butter
2 drops vanilla extract

To decorate:
4 oz (110 g) whole almonds
cocoa powder or icing sugar, for dusting
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C).

You will also need two 7 inch (18 cm) sponge tins, 11?2 inches (4 cm) deep, lightly greased, and the bases lined with baking parchment.
First of all, weigh the flour, then take out 1 rounded tablespoon of flour and replace it with the rounded tablespoon of cocoa. The tablespoon of flour you take out won’t be needed. Now simply take a very large mixing bowl, place the flour, baking powder and cocoa in a sieve and sift it into the bowl, holding the sieve high to give it a good airing as it does down. Now all you do is simply add the remaining cake ingredients to the bowl and beat them together. What you will end up with is a mixture that drops off a spoon when you give it a tap on the side of the bowl. If the mixture seems a little too stiff, add a little water and mix again.

Now divide the mixture and spread it evenly in the prepared tins and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for about 30-35 minutes or until springy in the centre. After 30 seconds (or thereabouts), turn the cakes out on to a wire cooling rack and strip off the base papers. Leave to cool while you make the chocolate fudge filling and topping.

To do this, combine the sugar and evaporated milk in a heavy saucepan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar, stirring frequently. When the sugar has dissolved and the mixture comes to the boil, keep the heat very low and simmer for 6 minutes without stirring. Remove the pan from the heat and, using a small balloon whisk, whisk in the chocolate, followed by the butter and vanilla extract. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and, when it is cool, cover it with clingfilm and chill for about an hour to allow the mixture to thicken. Then beat again, and spread half on one sponge, placing the other one on top. Use the rest to spread over the top and sides and decorate the top with almonds, dusted with cocoa powder or icing sugar.

American Fudge Cake

Or “Death by Chocolate”, when it is topped with chocolate ice cream and lashings of whipped cream.

FOR THE CAKE

125 g (4 oz) butter
225 g (8 oz) dark soft brown sugar
2 eggs
142 ml (¼ pint) soured cream
175 g (6 oz) plain flour
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
2.5 ml (½ tsp) bicarbonate of soda
50 g (2 oz) Cadbury Bournville cocoa

FOR THE FILLING

40 ml (2 Tbs) Cadbury Bournville cocoa
125 g (4 oz) butter
150 g (5 oz) icing sugar, sieved
Vanilla essence

FOR THE FROSTING
200 g bar of Cadbury Bournville chocolate
40 ml (2 Tbs) Cadbury Bournville cocoa
142 ml (¼ pint) double cream

Two 20 cm (8-inch), shallow cake tins, greased and base-lined

For the cake, cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light in colour anti texture. Gradually beat in the eggs, and then the soured cream (the mixture looks curdled at this stage). Sieve together the dry ingredients and fold them into the mixture. Divide the mixture equally between the tins. Bake at Gas Mark 5/190ºC:/375ºF for 30 – 35 minutes, until cooked. Turn out on to a wire tray to cool.

Make the filling by mixing the cocoa with 40 ml (2 Tbs) of boiling water to a smooth paste, allow to cool. Beat together the butter, sieved icing sugar and essence, until light and fluffy. Beat in the cocoa. Slice the cake in half and then sandwich the halves together with the filling.

For the frosting, melt the chocolate carefully. Make the cocoa into a paste with water as before and mix with the chocolate. Slowly whisk the cream into the chocolate until smooth and thickened. Spread the frosting evenly over the cake with a palette knife.

Serve in slices, with whipped cream or ice-cream. If possible warm each slice in a microwave or oven, if you have made the cake in advance; it can also be served cold but is definitely more interesting hot, with the contrast of ice cream.

THIS ONE IS VERY MOIST AND EASY TO MAKE.
10 OZ PLAIN FLOUR
8OZ BROWN SUGAR
8OZ BUTTER
3 BEATEN EGGS
2OZ COCA
HALF PINT WARM MILK
1TEASPOON BICARANATE OF SODA
1 TEASPOON VANILLA ESSENCE

MELT THE BUTTER AND SUGAR IN A PAN,TAKE OF THE HEAT THEN ADD THE BEATEN EGGS,NEXT ADD THE FLOUR AND COCA STIR WELL,THEN ADD THE MILK AND BICARB,STIR WELL AND ADD VANILLA, THE MIXTURE WILL SEEM VERY RUNNY THIS IS NORMAL. PUT MIXTURE INTO LINED TIN AND BAKE FOR 40MINS GAS 4 OR 170 ELC.FOR THE TOPPING JUST MELT A BAR OF CHOCOLATE AND SPREAD IT OVER THE CAKE.