Sophie Dahl's flourless chocolate cake recipe

HardyEustace

Anyone else try this?

Tried to make it last night and it was a disaster

Had to give it almost double the cooking time and it still wasn't cooked properly.

Was still half cooked after 55 minutes. Most unimpressed.

Am I doing something wrong with it?

Anyone have any alternative recipes that work?

gerbo

Maybe post the recipe and we can all have a look?

Magic Monkey

What size cake tin did you use? Was your oven pre-heated and at the correct temperature? Flourless chocolate cake has a soft, moist texture, and may appear to be undercooked if tested with a skewer but will firm up once cooled and refrigerated. If it wobbled just in the centre when you tested it, then it's done.

HardyEustace

* Butter for greasing
* 300g broken plain chocolate
* 225g cater sugar
* 180ml boiling water
* 225g salted butter, cut into cubes
* 6 free range eggs, separated
* 1tsp instant coffee powder
* 1tbsp vanilla extract

1. Grease and line the base of a solid-bottomed 23cm/9inch round cake tin (a springform is best).
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan/gas 4.
3. In a large food processor pulse the chocolate and sugar until fine. Add the boiling water, butter, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract.
4. In a glass bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff and then fold them into the chocolate mixture.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the hot oven for about 45 - 55 minutes. The top will be cracked like a desert fault line.
6. After you take the cake out of the oven it will collapse into itself quite a bit. This is ok - its not meant to be a proud cool cake, its meant to be slightly rough around the edges and the crème fraiche and berries will hide any dips and cracks.
7. Let the cake cool, then put it in the fridge for a few hours. When you are ready to serve, remove from the tin, smother the top in crème fraiche, then raspberries, strawberries and redcurrants (or blueberries, blackcurrants and blackberries). You can also grate some more chocolate on top or dust some icing sugar.

Oven was DEFINITELY hot enough. Was roasting chicken before the cake and it had plenty of warm up time. There was nothing else in the oven to soak up the heat.

It did wobble just in the centre, but it had a very "uncooked" eggy taste when I brought it out. Plus I knifed the centre and it come out with a clear liquid.

The I used was was 9 inch spring form tin.



This is one thing I would change as I think that the sides were too high to let heat into the centre of the cake.

Magic Monkey

Another method is to simply add the chocolate, sugar, water, butter and coffee powder to a pot and melt everything over medium-low heat, but don't boil it. Then just transfer to a bowl and beat the eggs in, then the vanilla extract, and finally fold in the egg white foam.

Maybe adding the boiling water coagulated the egg yolks, or the oven was perhaps too high. How was it after a few hours in the fridge, still runny in the centre?

There's another recipe here that looks good, and the advantage being that it doesn't take as long, and baking it in a water bath will prevent the eggs from coagulating.

HardyEustace

Thanks MM. I tried it when I went home at lunch time and it was a bust. Even after a night in the fridge. Has the most vile eggy taste about it still.

I got the recipe link from here and as you can see there's varying results from it.

The cake, or what passed for a cake has gone in the bin.

Ponster

I use a flourless recipe (but that really has 1 spoon of flour) that can be found here.

It's faster, easier and has fewer ingredients and I assure you is the greatest thing ever !