Yummmm!

This is such a simple chocolate cake to make – Issie made the ones in the photo. 5 minutes prep really the only time consuming bit is the time in the oven!

Issie has made these as cup-cakes but I often make it as a full sized cake, then slice it and add in some whipped cream and top with strawberries or raspberries. If you make it as a cake, then it is best baked at about 160C for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. The mixture is quite wet which is why it needs to bake for so long. I have done it in a ring mold too – that seems to make the back more even as the heat gets to the whole cake at the same time and it reduces how long it needs to be in the oven. It looks really spectacular if you drench it with the ganache and then once that has set, pile stiffly whipped cream in the hole in the middle and pile raspberries on top of that.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

200g butter

200g dark chocolate, broken into bits

200g sugar

200g self-raising flour

4 large eggs, beaten

For the apricot glaze:

1 tablespoon apricot jam

2 tablespoons water

For the ganache:

3 tablespoons of single cream

100g milk chocolate, broken into bits

1. Put the butter and chocolate into a large glass bowl and pop in the microwave for 30 seconds and then stir. Repeat this until the chocolate has melted – the mix shouldn’t be hot, just slightly warm. Don’t be tempted to do it for a whole minute at a time as without the stirring, you may find some bits of chocolate will burn.
2. Once the chocolate has melted stir in the sugar and then whisk in the eggs.
3. Add the flour and whisk in thoroughly.
4. Using an ice-cream scoop put one level scoop each into muffin cases in a muffin tin and bake for 30 minutes on 160C. Test with a cocktail stick to make sure they are cooked through.
5. Remove from the oven and cool.
6. Whilst the cupcakes cool, melt the apricot jam in the water.
7. In a small saucepan over a low heat, melt the milk chocolate into the cream until the chocolate has all combined with the cream and then remove from the heat.
8. Once they have cooled, using a breadknife level off the top of the cupcakes.
9. Brush each one with the apricot glaze (this stops the crumbs mixing in with the ganache).
10. Using a teaspoon, ladle over enough ganache to cover the top of each cake and then leave to set.