Not so much a cake, more a massive chocolate truffle that you’d slice thinly and share – or not, depending on what a greedy little choco-piggy you are.

If you don’t love chocolate, then you can join the ranks of an old ex who claimed to be “violently allergic” to garlic, fresh herbs and chocolate. I always had my suspicions about him especially as he regularly ate chocolate.

Assuming that you’re not allergic to chocolate, it will be love at first bite with this devilishly dark and handsome cake. It’s easy to make and the most challenging part will be prepping your spring-form/loose based cake pan.

The usual notes at the end:

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE

(Serves 16 – it’s very rich)

Ingredients:

1 cup (240ml) of water

¾ (180ml measure) cup sugar

9oz (255g) plus 1 tablespoon of butter, chopped

18oz (512g) of best quality semi sweet chocolate chips, such as Ghirardelli

6 large eggs

For the chocolate ganache topping:

1 cup (240ml) measure of heavy whipping cream

8oz (228g) of semi sweet chocolate chips

Lightly sweetened whipped cream to serve

Action:

Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C

Butter a loose based 10 inch diameter cake pan and line the base with baking parchment. Butter the parchment. Wrap three layers of heavy duty foil around the pan up to the top of the rim. Make sure it’s nice and tight.

In a heavy pan, dissolve the sugar in the water, stirring over med heat. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.

In another saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat. Whisk in 3 cups of chocolate chips and continue to whisk until smooth. Turn off the heat, whisk in the sugar syrup until its well blended and allow it to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add them to the chocolate mixture. Whisk well until completely blended then pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Put it in a large, deep roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan.

Bake in the middle of the oven for approx 50-60 mins or until the center no longer wobbles when you gently shake the pan.

Remove it from the from the water bath, transfer to a rack and allow to cool completely in the cake pan.

For the ganache topping:

Bring the cream to a simmer in a pan over medium heat – remove from the heat, add the chocolate chips and whisk until smooth. Pour over the cooled cake in the pan and smooth over to distribute evenly. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hrs; any longer and up to 2 days, cover it with cling film.

To serve: it needs to be chilled to cut…dip a thin knife in hot water and run it around the edge of the pan to loosen it; remove from the pan then slice very thinly; serve at room temp with whipped cream.

Notes:

This will freeze.

A great secret weapon I like to use with chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, brownies, sorbet, ice cream etc., is to add oil of citrus zest. Tangerine, orange and lime zest oils are available online.

When making chocolate fudge brownies, the combination of added walnuts and tangerine zest oil is magical. My favorite brownie has toasted hazelnuts with lime zest oil and if you have an ice cream maker try making a dark chocolate lime zest sorbet…incredible!