Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

Taken from The Little Book of Chocolat by Joanne Harris (£12.99; Doubleday)

Ingredients

• 300g dark chocolate, broken into small, even-sized pieces
• 200g butter
• 6 eggs, separated
• 200g unrefined caster sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 200ml creme fraiche
• 225g fresh raspberries

You will need:

• Butter for greasing tin

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Butter a 20cm loose-bottomed non-stick cake tin and line with baking parchment

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bain-marie. Whisk the egg whites until they are firm and stand in peaks, and then, in a separate bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar until light and creamy. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and blend. Add this to the egg whites and whisk until evenly mixed

3. Pour into the prepared cake tin and place in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the tin. (The cake may collapse and crack at this stage, but this is normal – and besides, you’re going to top it with raspberries and cream.) Leave to cool completely, then casually spread the top with crème fraîche and finish with a cluster of fresh raspberries