Big Society Cake

Hi all,

I've got ten minutes while I wait for a friend to stop round, so I figure I may as well share the recipe for Big Society Cake. If you haven't read my post on the Big Society, please read it here

Why do I call this Big Society Cake?

Well, thereby hangs a tale. The recipe originally comes from an excellent BBC television show, The Delicious Miss Dahl, which was presented by the daughter of another one of my literary heroes.

The recipe as written was pretty good, but my girlfriend took it and improved it no end by using her initiative. Hence, state provides a decent minimum standard, entrepreneurial individuals improve on that provision - Big Society Cake.

Of course, if we provided everyone with this sort of recipe, an Obesity crisis would ruin the UK - much like Big Society, you cannot live by this cake alone!

Big Society Cake

Invented Sophie Dahl, modified by KD Reid, named & reported by WB Foxton.


Preparation time: less than 30 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins to 1 hour
Makes 1 cake

Unusual Required Tools:

2 9" circular baking tins, some sort of blender/whisk thing.

Ingredients

For the cake:

300g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
225g caster sugar
175ml boiling water
225g unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
6 free-range eggs, separated
1 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling & topping:

A tub of crème fraîche
A medium punnet of Strawberrys
A couple of handfuls of Blueberries

How to Cook:

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

For the cake, grease the base of both baking tins with butter. A thin coating will do.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and add the sugar. Add the boiling water until the sugar and chocolate have formed into a delicious brown ooze. Then blend in the butter, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract. You really need to blend them well - until they have really combined.

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed, then, using a metal spoon, gently fold into the chocolate mixture. You use a metal spoon because wooden spoons absorb the moisture too much.

Pour 1/2 the mixture into each prepared cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the tin, then transfer to the fridge for 2-3 hours.

To serve, one of the cakes from its tin and place on a serving plate.

Then spread half the crème fraîche on top, then add enough thinly sliced strawberries to largely cover the top of the cake. This cake will form the base of the finished creation.

Carefully remove the other cake from its tin, and place it on top of the lower layer. This is the dangerous bit, requiring the dexterity of Indiana Jones disarming a Mayan trap. The cake has a lovely dense texture (because it lacks flour) but is not the strongest baked good you'll ever see.

However, bitter experience tells me it is delicious even if dropped or broken!

Then use the other half of the crème fraîche to top the cake, and decorate it with halved strawberries and handfuls of Blueberries.

I actually made one of these for my work colleagues this week, but sadly, they ate it before I could take a photograph! Much like the idea of the Big Society, it will have to remain a promise rather than something you can immediately visualise.

Hope you enjoy it!

Willard

Some subsequent notes & corrections from the lady herself:

As you're stealing my recipe I think its only fair that I get to make a couple of corrections. Firstly, you need to grease the sides of the tin not just the base.

Secondly, you add all the ingredients bar the eggs to the chocolate sugar and water then blend it, add the egg yolks blend more, then fold in the whisked egg whites. And finally, don't leave the cake to cool in the tin put it on a wire rack, or a plate.

Oh and don't transfer it to the fridge if you're serving straight away. That's only if you make it the night before.