Making this cake was torture.  Darkly sweet, delicious torture.

I can’t remember the last time that a chocolate cake smelled so rich, dark and divine while making the batter.  And once it went into the oven, it just smelled even better.  Like I said, torture.  And I couldn’t even have a slice when it was cooled… it had to sit overnight in the fridge before it could be released from its tin.  Still, all good things come to she who waits…

When the lovely Lorraine aka NotQuiteNigella announced her Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge, I knew I had to make something.  We haven’t had chocolate cake in what feels like a lifetime, and this was the perfect excuse.  Thanks, Lorraine!

My copy of Alice Medrich’s Chocolate and The Art of Low-Fat Desserts has been sitting on the shelf without having seen much action since last summer.  After all the buzz surrounding this book a few years ago, I had been a bit disappointed with the couple of recipes that I had tried.  But I wanted to give it another chance, so after flashing a few recipes in front of Dave, I settled on making her ‘The New Chocolate Decadence’.

Chocolate decadence aka chocolate nemesis, was the cake of the 90s.  The River Cafe’s version was infamous for not working as written in their big blue book, but sinfully good if you ever managed to get a table at the restaurant.  Almost every restaurant had their own version on the menu.  And then it fell from grace somehow and disappeared.

You know what?  I think it’s time that the chocolate nemesis had a renaissance.

As you might expect from the name and description, this is an incredibly rich cake.  I can’t quite see how the original could be any richer, but given that the standard chocolate nemesis contained double the amount of chocolate, more eggs, and an obscene amount of butter… I guess it really can get even richer!

This version was plenty rich enough for me, though, and I wear my chocoholic’s hat when I say that.  The texture of the slice pictured may look dense, but looks are deceiving as this cake is light as air and melts as soon as it hits the tongue.  I fear that my cake was overcooked slightly—alas, the thermostat is a bit dodgy now—as it cracked on top, and it wasn’t terribly gooey in the middle when I took it out of the oven.  I suspect that it would have had a more mousse-like texture with a few minutes less, but it was still wildly and extravagantly delicious!

I served the cake in small slices with some milk ice-cream which did a wonderful job of tempering the richness of the chocolate and providing balance.  As a bit of an experiment I added some glacé rhubarb which tasted divine, but wasn’t quite ballsy enough to stand up to the chocolate.  I think a Seville orange sauce would work really well—it’s a classic combination for a reason!!  (Although, I can’t help wondering what this would be like with some warm coffee-infused creme anglaise puddled round it…)

Chocolate Decadence

Serves 8-12, make 1 day before serving

Source: Chocolate and The Art of Low-Fat Desserts by Alice Medrich

• 150g dark (bittersweet) chocolate, chopped fine (at least 70% cocoa solids)
• 1 whole large egg
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg white
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 50g best quality cocoa powder
• 20g plain flour
• 180g caster sugar (divide into 130g and 50g)
• 185ml milk (original recipe uses skimmed, but I only had full-fat on hand which worked fine)

You will also need a 20cm (8″) round cake tin with a solid bottom, 1 1/2 to 2″ deep and a roasting tin at least 2″ deep and 2″ wider than the cake tin

Position rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 180C (fan oven 160).  Spray the sides of the pan with oil and line the base with parchment paper.  Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Place the chocolate in a large mixing bowl.  Combine 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk in a small bowl with the vanilla.  Place the 2 egg whites in a medium bowl with the cream of tartar.  Set all 3 bowls aside.

Sift the cocoa, flour and 150g sugar in a medium saucepan.   Whisk in enough of the milk to form a smooth paste.  Mix in remaining milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula to prevent burning until mixture begins to simmer.  Simmer very gently, stirring constantly, for 1 1/2 minutes.  Pour the hot mixture immediately over the chopped chocolate.  Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Whisk in egg and vanilla mixture.  Set aside.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar at medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually sprinkle in the remaining 50g of sugar, whisking at high speed until stiff, glossy but not dry.  Fold a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it.  Fold in remaining egg whites.  Scrape mixture into the cake tin and smooth the top.  Set cake tin in roasting tin and place on oven rack.  Pour enough boiling water into the roasting tin to come about half of the way up the side of the cake tin.  Bake for exactly 30 minutes.  The surface of the torte will spring back when very gently pressed but it will still be quite gooey inside.  Remove cake tin and water bath from oven.  Remove the cake tin from the water and cool completely on a rack.  Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate overnight before attempting to remove from tin.

Unmould by sliding a thin knife or metal spatula around the sides of the tin to release the torte.  Place a piece of wax paper on top of torte.  Invert a plate on top of the wax paper and invert torte onto plate.  Remove tin and gently peel away paper liner.  Turn torte right side up again and remove wax paper.  Cut into wedges with a sharp thin knife.  Dip the knife in hot water and wipe it dry between each slice.