Wealden Times | Recipe | Sunken chocolate cake with cappuccino mascarpone

This cake is also wonderful with a good quality vanilla ice cream scattered with crushed chocolate coffee beans

Serves: 6-8

3 tbsp espresso coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee with 2 tbsp boiling water)
25g (1oz) chocolate coffee beans, crushed

For the cake, break up the chocolate and put it in a small pan with the butter. Heat until melted.
Put the egg yolks and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until pale and very thick.
Whisk in the melted chocolate.
Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff. Stir a quarter into the chocolate mixture then fold that into the remaining whites and the ground almonds.
Spoon into a buttered and base lined 23cm round cake tin and bake in the baking oven or on a rack on the bottom of the roasting oven with the cold tray above it or in a conventional oven on 180C/fan oven 170/Gas Mark 6 for 40-45 mins until well risen and just set. The cake should still be soft in the middle.
While the cake is cooking mix the mascarpone with the sugar, coffee and beans. Chill.
Cool the cake in the tin for 5 mins then turn out onto a wire rack. It will sink dramatically. Dust with cocoa powder and serve warm or cold with a spoonful of the mascarpone.