Squashed chocolate cake

The River Café has been a household name in London’s food scene for thirty years, and to celebrate their anniversary they have published a brand-new cookbook, River Cafe 30. Just like in their earlier books, you can expect recipes with few ingredients, zero fuss and loads of flavour. This squashed chocolate cake contains just five ingredients.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Butter and line a round cake tin measuring 30 cm in diameter and 7.5 cm deep with baking paper.

Melt the chocolate with the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water (the water must not touch the bottom of the bowl). Remove the bowl from the pan, leave the contents to cool slightly and whisk in the egg yolks. Add the sugar and cocoa and mix well.

In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold them into the chocolate mixture, a third at a time. Pour the mixture into the lined cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake has risen like a soufflé and has set slightly.

Remove the cake from the oven. Place a sheet of baking paper on the cake, put a plate on top – the plate should fit the tin exactly –, press the cake down gently and place some more weight on the plate. Leave the cake to cool for 30 minutes before removing it from the tin, then allow it to cool completely before serving.

We serve it with Zabaglione ice cream.

Title: River Cafe 30
Author: Ruth Rogers
Publisher: Kosmos Uitgevers
Price: €29,99