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Luxury Chocolate Cake

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Luxury Chocolate Cake

A very special chocolate cake, flavoured with Tia Maria coffee liqueur. Serve with tea or coffee or as a dessert.

Preparation time:
2 minutes to 3 minutes
Cooking time:
40 minutes to 45 minutes
Total time:
2 hours 40 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes 60 minutes 60 minutes 60 minutes 45 minutes
Serves:
 10

Ingredients

  • Optional holly leaves:
  • 50g Waitrose White Chocolate
  • 50g Waitrose Plain Continental Chocolate
  • The ganache:
  • 3tbsp Tia Maria
  • 25g caster sugar
  • 250ml double cream
  • 2 medium egg yolks
  • 225g Waitrose Plain Continentan Chocolate
  • The sponge:
  • 175g Waitrose Plain Continental Chocolate
  • 6tbsp Tia Maria
  • 6 medium eggs, separated and 2 medium egg yolks
  • 175g Olivio spread
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 75g Waitrose Self Raising Flour, sifted
  • 75g ground almonds
  • The white icing:
  • 200g Waitrose white chocolate
  • 675g icing sugar
  • 25g butter, melted
  • 5tbsp milk

Method

  1. Grease and line a 23cm deep, loose-bottomed cake tin with greaseproof paper.
  2. Melt the chocolate with the Tia Maria in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
  3. Cream the Olivio with the sugar until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the egg yolks. Cool the melted chocolate slightly and beat into the egg mixture.
  4. Fold in the flour and almonds. Whisk the egg whites and fold into the sponge mixture with a metal spoon.
  5. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C, gas mark 4, for 40-45 minutes. (To make sure the cake is cooked insert a small knife or metal skewer into the centre of the cake - if it comes out clean it is cooked). Leave the cake to cool before removing from the tin.
  6. To make the ganache, melt the chocolate with half of the cream in a small bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar and add to the chocolate mixture. Add the remaining cream, and allow to cool.
  7. Cut the cake carefully into 3 even horizontal slices. Brush one side of each slice with 1tbsp Tia Maria and spread with the ganache. Layer together.
  8. To make the white icing, mix together all the ingredients, except the chocolate, until smooth and spreadable, adding a little more milk if it is too thick. Spread over the top and sides of the cake, making sure it is completely covered.
  9. Coarsely grate the chocolate and place in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up. Coat the cake with the grated chocolate.
  10. To make the holly leaf decorations, line a baking tray with waxed paper. Melt the plain and white chocolate separately and pour into two piping bags. Pipe the plain chocolate onto the waxed paper to make the outlines of sixteen holly leaves and leave to set. Fill in the shapes with the white chocolate and, while it is still runny, pipe on more of the plain chocolate to create the veins of the leaves. Leave to set and then decorate the cake.

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3 stars out of 5

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Nutritional Info

Typical values per serving:
Energy 950.0kcal
Fat 51.0g

Click here for more information about health and nutrition


This recipe was first published on Waitrose.com in December 1998