Chocolate Mousse Cake
300g dark cooking chocolate
50 milk cooking chocolate
175g unsalted butter, softened
8 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
100g light muscovado sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla exract
pinch of salt
you will need a 23 cm springform tin and a large roasting tin.
preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
put the kettle on to boil.
line the inside of the springform tin with foil, making sure you press the foil well into the sides and bottom of the tin so that it forms a smooth surface. this will prevent water getting into the cake when it is cooked in the water bath.
melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave or double boiler, and let it cool.
in another bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugars until very thick and pale, as creamy as mayonnaise: the mixture should form and fall in ribbons when you lift up the whisk.
stir in the vanilla and salt and then the cooled chocolate mixture.
whisk the egg whites in a large bowl, until soft peaks form, then lighten the chocolate mixture with a briskly beaten-in dollop of whites before gently folding the rest of them into it. Make sure soft peaks, because if stiff peaks then cake can become dry.
pour the cake batter intot he foil-lined springform, which you have placed in a large roasting tin.
add hot water from the recently boiled kettle to come about 2 1/2 cm up the sides of the cake tin and carefully put the roasting tin with its cargo into the oven.
cook for 50 minutes - 1 hour, the inside of the cake will be damp and mousy, but the top should look cooked and dry.
let it cool completely on a cooling rack before releasing it from the tin. this calls for a little bit of patience, because you will need to peel the foil gently away from the sides. just go slowly and remember that this is a very damp cake, and you wont be able to prize it away from its foil-lined base - though its easy enough to tear off excess foil once you’ve set the cake on its plate.
dust with icing sugar if you want and serve with creme-fraiche and maybe some raspberries.