Chocolate squidge

     Mr. C. chose a favourite chocolate cake for his birthday, a recipe from Claudia Roden's A New Book of Middle Eastern Food. It's Sephardic Jewish in origin, and is best slightly undercooked in order to provide the right degree of squidginess in the middle.

Melt 8oz. best quality bitter chocolate, add 2 tblsps. milk, and beat into 6 egg yolks, 4oz. ground almonds and 6 tblsps. caster sugar. Beat the 6 egg whites until stiff and fold into the chocolate mixture. Pour into a greased/lined tin (preferably springform, about 9", but use a smaller one for a thicker, even squidgier cake) and bake at Gas 4/180C/350F/bottom of the Aga baking oven. Here Ms. Roden and I part company: her instructions say 45 mins. to 1 hour, I give mine 20-25 mins. - it's just a matter of personal taste.



It may not be the prettiest of cakes but it tastes wonderful!

 

Comments

[a simple yarn]

Ah, you had me at the word, 'chocolate'...

[Nancy]

Yesssss, chocolate - that's the word. Question: are your "ground almonds" the same as I'm thinking "almond butter"??? Or, would it be _finely_chopped_ almonds? Inquiring minds want to know...

[Carol]

A man after my own heart - squidgy chocolate cake. Yum and more yum. Thanks for the recipe. Couldn't help but see Nancy's comment above - but please tell her that almond butter is definately not the same as ground almonds. If she is the US, ground almonds are not sold here - except at UK/European import stores or at a Trader Joes if there is one near to her. She will have to make her own as there is nothing even remotely similar for sale in a regular food store.

[Harriet]

Fabulous. I will definitely try this one next time.