Cho co l at e po m egran at e cl o u d cak e
This cake has a rich ancestry. A creation of the late Richard Sax, it was then Nigella-fied, becoming
quite a hit on the other side of the Atlantic. Originally flavoured with Cointreau and orange zest, here
it’s wearing a pomegranate fascinator instead. It’s a good cake – light but chocolatey, while still
somehow pleasing people who aren’t mad for chocolate. Easy to get together quite quickly if you have
an electric mixer, counter-intuitively it also keeps quite well for a day or so in the fridge. I bet it would
also be nice with coffee cream, or a layer of raspberry coulis between the cake and the cream. Or,
because I can’t think of any dessert that wouldn’t be improved by the addition of apricot, a layer of
tart apricot compote. This is one of my go-to cakes these days, mostly because even when I am all
sugared out, I still have mental space for the pomegranate cloud.
Makes 1 x 23 cm (9 in) cake
250 g (9 oz) dark
(70% cocoa) chocolate
125 g (4½ oz) unsalted butter
6 large eggs
175 g (6 oz) caster
(superfine) sugar
300 ml (10½ fl oz) thick (double) cream
2 teaspoons icing (confectioners’) sugar
seeds from ½ pomegranate and grated chocolate,
to decorate
edible dried rose petals –optional
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line the base of a 23 cm (9 in) springform tin.
Grate or chop the chocolate. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over gentle heat, then
remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate – don’t
stir it too much; if there are any stubborn unmelted bits of chocolate after
a few minutes, briefly return the pan to the heat. Once the mixture is smooth and glossy, set
aside to cool slightly.
Separate 4 of the eggs and set the whites aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the yolks and
the other 2 whole eggs with 75 g (2½ oz) of the caster sugar until really creamy – this may
take 3–4 minutes on high speed. Gently fold in the melted butter and chocolate.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until they’re just frothy, then slowly add the
remaining 100 g (3½ oz) of caster sugar while whisking. (Obviously, an electric whisk is
almost essential here. Or a tag-team of whisking assistants.) Keep whisking until the
mixture holds soft peaks.
Add a big spoonful of the whisked egg whites to the chocolate mixture to loosen it, then
carefully fold in the rest, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible. Pour into the
prepared tin and bake for about 35 minutes. With this cake, it’s better to err on the side of
undercooking than overcooking: it should have risen, and then collapsed, and be no longer
wobbly around the edges. Don’t bother with a skewer, because if it comes out clean, you
have overcooked the thing!
Special Delivery by by Annabel Crabb & Wendy Sharpe (Murdoch Books, £17.99).
Photography by Rob Palmer.