HANDS UP! Who really likes Christmas pudding?
We love the glamour, the flaming brandy, the steaming custard…but who really likes the currants?
Its not everybody’s favourite and, lets face it, after nibbles, drinks, soup, turkey, stuffing, sprouts and roast parsnips, they’re a recipe for indigestion.
Give me chocolate truffle cake any day. Not a stodgy, floury cup of tea chocolate cake but an after dinner sophisticated fondant chocolate torte; bitter, smooth, unctuous with a sharp orange syrup or a contrasting dollop of creme fraiche or even some ultimate orange mascarpone cream.
It is Christmas after all!
GORGEOUS CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE
320g bitter dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids)
250g unsalted butter
pinch of salt
120 ml cold water
280g caster sugar
5 large free-range eggs
23cm/9 inch baking tin
Large deep baking tray
This cake is baked slowly in a water bath in a low oven. Before starting make sure the baking tin fits easily into the tray and both sit easily on the lowest shelf of the oven.
Line and grease the baking tin
Pre-heat oven 130 C /Gas 1
Break the chocolate into a bowl.
Add the butter and pinch of salt.
Melt them, either in a microwave (1 minute at medium then 20 second bursts) or in the bowl balanced over a pot of simmering water. (Don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl).
Once melted, stir in the cold water and set aside.
Whisk the eggs and sugar briskly together until they have doubled in size and are rich and creamy. This can take up to 15 minutes.
Lower the whisking to slow and gradually add the chocolate mixture to make a light batter.
Pour the batter into the baking tin that is already resting in the baking tray.
Ease onto the lowest shelf of the oven and then carefully fill the tray half full of boiling water.
The cake bakes slowly for 80-90 minutes.
It is cooked when it has shrunk slightly from the sides and the top feels firm when you press it.
Don’t worry if it is slightly sunk in the middle. Its texture is soft and delicious.
Leave cake to cool in the tin before tipping onto a plate.
It lasts 3-4 days.
To glam it up dust with dark chocolate powder or white icing sugar.
It is especially good with slices of fresh orange.
Chilled Marsala Mascarpone Cream
200g Mascarpone
100g crème fraiche
2 tablespoons Marsala or Cointreau
Grated rind of an orange
Squeeze of orange juice to taste
Gently whisk the creams together and stir in the liqueur, grated rind and orange juice
Serve chilled from the fridge
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here