Happy Quarantines

Whether you are single or in a relationship you are not going to be out on Valentine’s Day this year. So i have come up with a special chocolate cake recipe that you can lovingly feed too, (and lick off perhaps,) that special someone. Not in a relationship and stuck at home alone? Bake it anyway and it will provide consolation and endorphins without any of the mess. Here goes…

Preparation time: about 10 minutes

Baking time: Between 35 - 45 minutes. (Depending on the baking tin.) 

Ingredients:

- 200 grams butter (vegetable margarine also works and even shortens the baking time a little) 
- 200 grams of dark chocolate (70% or more, anything less makes it too sweet, trust me!)
- 4 medium eggs from happy chickens
- 80 grams of fine white sugar
- 80 grams of brown sugar 
-  1-2 pinches of salt 
-  1 pinch of bourbon vanilla 
- 1 good shot of Kirsch (it tastes almost as good without) 
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coffee 
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. 
- 2 teaspoons baking powder 
- 200 grams of ground almonds (or hazelnuts) 
- powdered sugar for decoration 
- whipped cream for the ultimate taste experience 

So here goes…

Break or chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with the butter in a hot water bath (be careful, the water in the pot underneath should not boil, just be nice and hot!), stirring the mixture every now and then. Once the chocolate and butter are nicely melted and mixed, allow the mixture to cool a little.

While you are getting nice and mucky, preheat the oven - 180 degrees with heat from the top and the bottom are ideal. Then grease a baking dish  (i prefer round spring form baking pans but a square one will do as well.) and dust with a little cocoa powder.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the light and dark sugar, the vanilla powder, the coffee powder and the salt until they are nice and fluffy. 

Now mix in the ground almonds, the baking powder, the cocoa and the nice, shiny, liquid chocolate/butter mixture and finally add the shot of kirsch. Don’t stir for too long or too vigorously as this can give the cake a slightly rubbery texture. 

It should look something like this:

You can now pour the finished cake mixture into the well-greased baking pan, put it in the oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes. Depending on the baking pan, it may take a little longer so test that the cake is properly cooked with the «chopstick test». This works as follows: Either use a knitting needle, or if you don't have one at hand, carefully insert a chopstick into the centre of the cake and slowly pull it out again. If dough still sticks to the needle/stick, the cake can stay in the oven for a few minutes longer.

If nothing sticks to the pin, you can turn off the oven and leave the cake in it for another 5 minutes. After that, you can take it out and let it cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before cutting.

Done - wait for it to cool and slurp it off your lover's body. Happy Valentine. 

If you can't eat the cake in one go chuck it in the fridge. After one or two days it still tastes wonderful - some say more wonderful.