Nigella's Christmas-Spiced Chocolate Cake

I love chocolate and I love spices, so what's not to love about this cake?  And of course it's from one of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks Nigella Christmas so a winner for me!  Do I have all her books?  Mm, I think so.  I love her prose voice, though I was amazed to find that one of my (male) friends dislikes her heartily (from seeing her on the telly I guess).  He thinks she's a bit snooty.  But he's jealous of her charm, I reckon :=)

Some of my fave Nigella tricks are: using scissors for cutting herbs, melting chocolate in the microwave, baking rather than frying, and ... well, there are heaps more.  I have made so many recipes from Feast for instance, and they have always worked.  And this one is a beauty!  I tried a small piece, but couldn't stay away and kept grabbing another wee piece and another ...  

caramelised almonds on top!

Gives you 10-12 slices:

ingredients:

For the Cake:

150g./5+ oz dark chocolate, chopped

150g./5+ oz butter, at room temp.

6 large eggs

250g./9 oz caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g./3.5 oz almond meal/ground almonds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of ground cloves

zest of an orange or similar fruit (we don't have her suggested clementine/satsuma stuff here in Aus, plus it's Summer here!)

4 tsp instant espresso powder (I used Lavazza Prontissimo Espresso)

For the Topping:

juice of the zested fruit

15g./1 (U.K.) Tbs butter

1 Tbs caster sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

50g./1.8 oz flaked almonds

Top with: 300 mL/10 oz of double cream, or whipped cream, to which you add 2-3 Tbs of your fave liqueur, stirred in

Method:

Have everything at room temp. before you start making the cake (says Nigella)

Whack on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Grab your 23 cm./9 inch springform tin, butter the sides, and line the bottom with baking paper

The chocolate and butter go into a heatproof bowl in the microwave - watch carefully so it doesn't burn - try 30 second bursts till melted

Let it cool for a few minutes, while you beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla till thick, pale and mousse-like - till doubled or even tripled

Now fold in the almond meal, spices, zest and espresso powder - gently!

And then fold in the chocolate/butter mixture (also gently) into the batter

Pour/spoon into your cake tin, and bake for 35-40 minutes - you want a firm top, and a slightly! gooey interior

Sit the tin on a cake rack, with a tea towel over it, and let it cool right down

In the meantime, you make the topping by putting the juice, butter, sugar and cinnamon into a small non-stick frying pan, melt together, and let sizzle for a minute or two, before adding the almonds

Nigella says to tip the pan to keep it moving, so that you end up with the liquid gone and you have shiny, thinly-coated, fragrant nuts

Let 'em cool, put the cake on a serving platter, and spread the flavoured cream over the cake.  I stirred some roast coffee spiced-rum into double cream, whacked it into the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up ('cos this is Queensland, and it's hot and it's humid), then I spread it all over the cake, and topped with the orangey, spicy nuts

Mr P. buttered and lined this tin for me, as I don't have a 23cm springform pan

ingredients gathered

beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together

gather your dry ingredients 

fold everything in - gently!

pour the batter into the cake tin

it's baked!

make your nuts!

my nuts are done

wanna try a piece? :=)

(Joining in with Jo from the Brookford Kitchen Diaries (BKD) Cookbook Club this month!)

c. Sherry M.