Chocolate raspberry pudding cake
Chocolate raspberry pudding cake
“And it’s heavenly at blood heat, when the cakiness of the chocolate sits warmly around the sour-sweet juicy raspberries embedded within, like glinting, mud-covered garnets” (Nigella, p351).
I know I mentioned in my last post that I was about to embark on a two-day cooking course, designed to help me start my own cooking club with the children after school. Well, I went last week and I have to report that I absolutely loved it. I suppose I am condemned by my nature to be forever cool and measured, but I couldn’t help being enthused and excited by the prospect of running the club. The course gave me absolutely loads of ideas and in fact I now have too many ideas and need to think about cutting down the many of them into a 6 week block. On the first day of the course we made scones and sandwich fillings. My own sandwich filler – hardly a novel and thus patentable idea, but oh well – was a particularly malevolent devilled egg mayonnaise affair. 1970s style, complete with egg mayonnaise, curry paste, spring onions and chive. Well, you have to work with what you’re given don’t you?! Our “homework” was to design and make our own two scones – one savoury and one sweet. My savoury scone was a Greek-influenced one, made with crumbled feta and pine nuts. My sweet scone was a cherry and vanilla sugar scone, sprinkled with golden granulated sugar. I am happy to report that both were gorgeously moorish, but I had a particularly soft spot for the cherry and vanilla. On the second day we made muffins. Mine were lemon and raspberry and rather similar to the ones in How to be a Domestic Goddess, but with the addition of an indecent amount of lemon yoghurt. I don’t know how successful these were, because the tops cooked quicker than the muffin mixture and in the end the tops were distinctly – ahem – *browned* (notice I resist writing “burned), whilst the rest of the class ushered out perfect specimens. In the afternoon we made curry and mine was a very successful (despite all the odds) chicken Rogan Josh. Anyway, I’m sorry to bore you – a detailed list of what someone else cooks is never going to be earth-shattering reading. I mention it to make the point that although I never tire of cooking absolutely, this course completely reawakened my always-smouldering passion for cooking and it was lovely to be given the opportunity (and the ingredients!) to cook things which are so different from that which I seem to spend my life cooking. Certainly, it felt wonderful to produce a plateful of hot, homemade scones.
Anyway, back to the food which I always cook – Nigella’s food. And I am resolutely carrying on with the chocolate section. I was thinking the other day that it may seem as though I haven’t really been enjoying this section. It is certainly true that I *loved* those gorgeous cinnamon-hot chocolate biscuits, but that I was less than enamoured with the chocolate mousse and the chocolate ice-cream. In reality, I have enjoyed every recipe that I have produced for this section, but I seem to be struggling with the ongoing problem that a lot of Nigella’s recipes are just too rich – and sometimes too sickly – for me. Indeed, the chocolate mousse was gloopily sickly and that chocolate ice-cream was so, so rich and bitter that I can’t honestly say that I would eat a bowlful and *love* it. Even whilst I write this, I can see why it is referred to as “the world’s best,” because it is a perfect example of its type. It was malevolently dark and rich, although I think it is something that I appreciated on an intellectual level, rather than a visceral one. However, I do want to remain optimistic about this section and it is important not to loose faith!
I am tackling now, the chocolate raspberry pudding cake. Is it a cake? Is it a pudding? I don’t know, but I imagine that it lies somewhere between the two, which can surely never be a unpleasurable option. I have actually had a great deal of success with the cakes in HTE. And it shouldn’t be forgotten that I have actually made a chocolate cake already on my Nigella journey. The generically named “birthday cake” in the “basics” chapter, which I made as part of the “two birthday cakes in two days” stunt last year! I remember that I absolutely adored this cake. It was very chocolaty and very rich, but it was *good* and very easy to eat, slice by thick slice. In fact, this is the reason why I went straight from “children’s chocolate mousse” to “chocolate ice-cream,” bypassing “chocolate cake – “ I have actually already made it. And then there is the genuine success that I have had with the other cakes in HTE. I *LOVED* the Clementine cake, the fairy cakes, fancy cake, madeleines, hazelnut cake, Moorish cake, almond and orange blossom cake and Victoria sponge. In fact, I don’t think that there is a cake in HTE that I haven’t loved. Let’s hope that this pudding cake will be as successful.
Nigella seems to really like the pairing of chocolate and raspberries. In HTBADG, there is a recipe for chocolate raspberry tarts, which do look absolutely lovely – albeit rather fiddly to actually make. In Forever Summer there is that absolutely spectacular looking chocolate raspberry pavlova and in Feast, there is the chocolate raspberry heart cake for Valentines Day. Of course, this doesn’t mean anything in regards to what *this* recipe will be like, but I like the fact that this is a flavour combination which Nigella really likes, and it does make sense if you think about it. The sharp-sweet darkly red fruit both sweeten and lighten the rich darkness of a good chocolate. Fruit and chocolate is a very traditional combination and is certainly one that I use a lot in cooking. One of the first meals that I cooked for Chris when we first got together – if, indeed, it counts as cooking – had a dessert of strawberries dipped in melted chocolate. If I remember correctly, the main course was spaghetti with crème fraiche and smoked salmon. The menu seems clumsily and very obviously designed to seduce doesn’t it?!
And I am also looking forward to this recipe for reasons other than the chocolate-raspberry combination. For one thing, I do really like raspberries as a fruit. They are one of my favourite and I often buy a tub from our local farm shop, where they are so juicy and sweet as to be unrecognisably different from any shop-brought offering. I am also interested in seeing what the addition of black coffee in the cake batter is like. It is strange, because I like the chocolate-raspberry flavour combination and I also like the coffee-chocolate combination, but whether I will like the chocolate-raspberry-coffee combination remains to be seen.
In terms of what to serve this with, Nigella says to provide yet more raspberries and I have brought a punnet of raspberries from the local farm shops to eat alongside. It is too expensive to use 250g of these babies in the cake, but I thought they would best be appreciated alongside, where they can really be tasted and their quality easily noticed. Nigella instructs to serve double cream, Greek yoghurt or crème fraiche alongside, and I opted for the latter because I like offsetting what is bound to be rich and sweet, with something sharper. In terms of the main course, then, this pudding cake seems like something very comforting, but also special – more elegant than the norm, and I wanted a main course to echo that. I choose special sausages and mashed potato with gravy, as I felt that there are few meals more comforting, but with a few modifications, there are few meals more elegant. Specifically, I am making the sage, onion and cider gravy from Fiona Beckett’s “Meat and Two Veg” (and I adore this book by the way. Already, for this blog I have made the sweet potato wedges which were a real success and I have also made the fillet steak with pan-fried asparagus and mushrooms, steak Diane and lamb with honey and mint, not for this blog, but nonetheless with great success). I am using our butcher’s pork and apple sausages and making mash my usual way – lots of cream and milk, lots of butter, lots of grated nutmeg and lots of freshly-ground salt and pepper. Comfort food, Masterchef-style!
And of course, I am keeping quantities the same as they are in HTE. Even if I could make half a cake, would I really want to?
Anyway, back to the food which I always cook – Nigella’s food. And I am resolutely carrying on with the chocolate section. I was thinking the other day that it may seem as though I haven’t really been enjoying this section. It is certainly true that I *loved* those gorgeous cinnamon-hot chocolate biscuits, but that I was less than enamoured with the chocolate mousse and the chocolate ice-cream. In reality, I have enjoyed every recipe that I have produced for this section, but I seem to be struggling with the ongoing problem that a lot of Nigella’s recipes are just too rich – and sometimes too sickly – for me. Indeed, the chocolate mousse was gloopily sickly and that chocolate ice-cream was so, so rich and bitter that I can’t honestly say that I would eat a bowlful and *love* it. Even whilst I write this, I can see why it is referred to as “the world’s best,” because it is a perfect example of its type. It was malevolently dark and rich, although I think it is something that I appreciated on an intellectual level, rather than a visceral one. However, I do want to remain optimistic about this section and it is important not to loose faith!
I am tackling now, the chocolate raspberry pudding cake. Is it a cake? Is it a pudding? I don’t know, but I imagine that it lies somewhere between the two, which can surely never be a unpleasurable option. I have actually had a great deal of success with the cakes in HTE. And it shouldn’t be forgotten that I have actually made a chocolate cake already on my Nigella journey. The generically named “birthday cake” in the “basics” chapter, which I made as part of the “two birthday cakes in two days” stunt last year! I remember that I absolutely adored this cake. It was very chocolaty and very rich, but it was *good* and very easy to eat, slice by thick slice. In fact, this is the reason why I went straight from “children’s chocolate mousse” to “chocolate ice-cream,” bypassing “chocolate cake – “ I have actually already made it. And then there is the genuine success that I have had with the other cakes in HTE. I *LOVED* the Clementine cake, the fairy cakes, fancy cake, madeleines, hazelnut cake, Moorish cake, almond and orange blossom cake and Victoria sponge. In fact, I don’t think that there is a cake in HTE that I haven’t loved. Let’s hope that this pudding cake will be as successful.
Nigella seems to really like the pairing of chocolate and raspberries. In HTBADG, there is a recipe for chocolate raspberry tarts, which do look absolutely lovely – albeit rather fiddly to actually make. In Forever Summer there is that absolutely spectacular looking chocolate raspberry pavlova and in Feast, there is the chocolate raspberry heart cake for Valentines Day. Of course, this doesn’t mean anything in regards to what *this* recipe will be like, but I like the fact that this is a flavour combination which Nigella really likes, and it does make sense if you think about it. The sharp-sweet darkly red fruit both sweeten and lighten the rich darkness of a good chocolate. Fruit and chocolate is a very traditional combination and is certainly one that I use a lot in cooking. One of the first meals that I cooked for Chris when we first got together – if, indeed, it counts as cooking – had a dessert of strawberries dipped in melted chocolate. If I remember correctly, the main course was spaghetti with crème fraiche and smoked salmon. The menu seems clumsily and very obviously designed to seduce doesn’t it?!
And I am also looking forward to this recipe for reasons other than the chocolate-raspberry combination. For one thing, I do really like raspberries as a fruit. They are one of my favourite and I often buy a tub from our local farm shop, where they are so juicy and sweet as to be unrecognisably different from any shop-brought offering. I am also interested in seeing what the addition of black coffee in the cake batter is like. It is strange, because I like the chocolate-raspberry flavour combination and I also like the coffee-chocolate combination, but whether I will like the chocolate-raspberry-coffee combination remains to be seen.
In terms of what to serve this with, Nigella says to provide yet more raspberries and I have brought a punnet of raspberries from the local farm shops to eat alongside. It is too expensive to use 250g of these babies in the cake, but I thought they would best be appreciated alongside, where they can really be tasted and their quality easily noticed. Nigella instructs to serve double cream, Greek yoghurt or crème fraiche alongside, and I opted for the latter because I like offsetting what is bound to be rich and sweet, with something sharper. In terms of the main course, then, this pudding cake seems like something very comforting, but also special – more elegant than the norm, and I wanted a main course to echo that. I choose special sausages and mashed potato with gravy, as I felt that there are few meals more comforting, but with a few modifications, there are few meals more elegant. Specifically, I am making the sage, onion and cider gravy from Fiona Beckett’s “Meat and Two Veg” (and I adore this book by the way. Already, for this blog I have made the sweet potato wedges which were a real success and I have also made the fillet steak with pan-fried asparagus and mushrooms, steak Diane and lamb with honey and mint, not for this blog, but nonetheless with great success). I am using our butcher’s pork and apple sausages and making mash my usual way – lots of cream and milk, lots of butter, lots of grated nutmeg and lots of freshly-ground salt and pepper. Comfort food, Masterchef-style!
And of course, I am keeping quantities the same as they are in HTE. Even if I could make half a cake, would I really want to?
Ingredients: Everything can be purchased easily for this cake. I think it is important to use good cocoa, and to this end, I used my usual Green & Blacks. The chocolate I used was Lindt dark chocolate. Usually, I would try to locate Valrhona, and now that I know where I can get it from, this was of course an option, but I have used it a lot lately and wanted to try a different make of chocolate. As I say, the raspberries I used in the cake were supermarket, organic punnets, but I brought some better specimens to serve alongside. When I first read through this recipe, I was worried about locating crème de framboise – frankly, I didn’t even know what it was. I soon found out, however, that it is a very light and fragrant raspberry liqueur and it is so easy to buy that I even found some in the Morrisons down the road from my school, at £3.69 a bottle. And I actually really like it. It is very fragrant, aromatic and fruity and I can only imagine that it would be heavenly over vanilla ice-cream. Bliss!
Price: The butter, liqueur, muscovado sugar, chocolate, eggs and raspberries totalled £16.66. This wasn’t a cheap enterprise by any means. The raspberries and the chocolate were probably the most expensive buys. And there were quite a few things that I didn’t need, namely self-raising flour, cocoa powder, caster sugar and coffee.
(The creme de framboise)
Method: This is really easy to make, and in fact Nigella makes a big deal about how it is almost more difficult to write the recipe than make the cake. Well, hardly, but it *is* easy to make and in fact, I had more trouble working out when to make the cake in relation to the main course, given that it is “heavenly” after about an hour from the oven. In the end, I decided to make the entire cake and start on the sausages, mash and gravy after the cake was out of the oven. And this did work very well. About an hour had passed – what with making the sausages, mash and gravy and eating it – before we were ready to tackle the cake.
So, as I say, the cake was really easy to make. In fact, it is more hassle to prepare the tin – and you do this, by the way, by lining the bottom of a 23cm springform cake pan .Although I, not reading the recipe properly, lined the sides as well, but this is scarcely a problem - It is just a case of stirring wet ingredients (butter, liqueur, sugars, coffee and chocolate melted in a saucepan. And these ingredients melt perfectly. With just a little light stirring, they emulsify into a thick, velvety and glossy sauce.) into dry – which are just sifted self-raising flour and cocoa. The sheer amount of ingredients, coupled with the glossy thickness of the sauce, means that you will need a fair amount of elbow grease to stir, and unless you do a really good job, you probably will encounter dusty ribbons of flour throughout the mixture. So, get into the correct mindset and work those upper arms, sister! Luckily, once you have stirred the wet ingredients into the dry, the 2 eggs which need to be beaten in, do so very easily and are incorporated quickly. It is then a case of pouring some of the mixture – 2cm in fact - into the prepared tin and covering with 250g of raspberries. I will give you a really good tip here. Invest in a ruler to keep in your kitchen drawer. I cannot count the number of times that recipes seem to give instructions in lengths or widths. Roll pastry to 5mm thickness; cut out circles 6cm in diameter etc. If you have *no*eye for lengths – like me – then it is such a good idea to buy a cheap ruler from any stationary shop (and in fact, I actually nicked mine from school. Call it a perk of the job!) and I am not exaggerating when I say that the acquisition has totally changed my culinary life. So, once you have covered your pan with 2cm of mixture, pour on the rest and stash the cake pan in the oven. Nigella says to bake it for 40-45 minutes. I checked mine after 35 minutes and was very alarmed to see that the top of the cake looking *very* brown. Because I used dark, dark chocolate I was expecting a dark cake, but because the top was also firm and somewhat cracked, I thought that it warranted instant removal. I didn’t bother with the skewer test, because Nigella explicitly writes not to – we *want* it gungy apparently. I will go into this more later, but I found the texture way too wet for my liking and I am sure this is to do with the shortened cooking time. Because we have a fan oven, I am sure that this accounted for the darkened top and I honestly think that in future, I would cover the top loosely with foil after 35 minutes to stop it browning and leave the cake in the oven for the extra 10 minutes, to firm up the middle somewhat.
Anyway, once out of the oven, I left it for 15 minutes as instructed and then turned it out onto a serving plate. Just before we were ready to eat it, I turned some fresh raspberries into a bowl, spooned some crème fraiche into another and carried out one of Nigella’s trademark culinary techniques of pushing some icing sugar through a tea-strainer. Ta-dah!
(The dry ingredients - self-raising flour and cocoa powder)
(The wet ingredients - butter, sugars, chocolate, coffee and liqueur)
(The wet ingredients melted into a thick, glossy sauce)
Result: If you have any of Nigella’s books, you will know that the chocolate raspberry tarts in HTBADG are pretty, the chocolate raspberry pav is bulgingly gorgeous and the chocolate raspberry heart can only be described as beautiful. This cake, although equally homespun, was not as pretty. It is actually a very sturdy and large cake. It sat there on the serving plate, bulging hugely and stolidly. The top of the cake wasn’t very beautiful by any stretch of the imagination. Okay, the icing sugar did somewhat detract attention, but the top was very dark (and see above) and cracked around the edges. Okay, I know that I don’t work for Jane Asher and I also know that presentation shouldn’t be the aim of the home baker, but I do relish that feeling of smug satisfaction, specific to churning out some beauteous offering or another. I did think that this was rather lacking in the looks department, but I also felt that when it was sliced, it did somehow overcome this. When the sliced cake was in the bowl, and the deeply wet and moist interior could be observed clumping cakeily around the dark red raspberries and the whole slice was dotted with raspberries and swathed in crème fraiche, it did look a little more appetising. And I will also say now, that I really like the look of the whole raspberries in the moist, damp, chocolaty batter. They looked like partially un-earthed jewels and were certainly so different from any usual cakey offering, that they made me instantly want to try a slice.
So, onto the texture. In my opinion, the texture of this cake was the main problem. You will read that I half attribute this to the recipe, but also half to our fan oven. Anyway, Nigella describes this as a pudding cake and writes that the texture is almost akin to a mousse without the fluffiness. Now, the main problem was that I took the cake out of the oven too early, and so, right in the middle, the cake was more liquid than solid. Now this was the fault of the oven, and I have written how I would rectify this in future, but the edges encroaching into the middle were surely cooked as Nigella intended, and so I do feel as though I can write confidently about this. The texture was, as Nigella describes, somewhere between a pudding and a cake. I wouldn’t liken it so much to a mousse. Rather, it reminded me of a much, much moister chocolate brownie with extra goo. The cake was very wet, moist and damp with a very sticky, chocolaty texture. If you have ever made one of Nigella’s many flourless, damp cakes (the Clementine cake from HTE, the lemon and almond cake from HTBADG, the apple and almond cake in Feast for example), think of the texture of those cakes and then imagine it even damper, stickier and moister and you have the texture of this cake. Now, although I love a really good eggy, flourless cake, I did find the texture of this just *too* wet and *too* sticky, which in my opinion, made it verge on the claggy and the palate-coatingly sickly. I do, however, understand that this is a matter of personal taste. Some people like that ultra-moist and sticky texture and others prefer a drier crumb. I always thought that I belonged to the first party, but this was too wet for me. Nigella writes that leftover cake can be brought back to the “right” texture with the oven or microwave, but I found that I actually preferred the texture of the fridge-cold cake. It was firmer and drier and more cakeier than pudding. It was still moist, mind you, but it was more akin to the texture of the Clementine cake in its natural form, for example.
Now, for the taste of the cake. Well, I do find that texture and taste go hand in hand. And if you do find the texture a little claggy and palate-coatingly sticky and likely to make your teeth stick together, then this does impact negatively upon the taste of the cake. Well, I found this cake to be *very* chocolaty and *very* *very* rich. The chocolate could really be tasted in this cake. And it was super-rich. I think that the combination of the 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate in the cake and the sheer amount of butter and sugar, made this very, very chocolaty. It was like that chocolate ice-cream really, because it was so chocolaty it was almost like doing a pure liquid shot of the stuff! I hope you won’t balk when I also describe the taste as a little bitter. Now, I do think that very dark chocolate has a propensity towards the bitter anyway, but this coupled with the strong black coffee (I used what we had in the house, Columbian), made the taste almost *too* chocolaty and *too* bitter. In my opinion, a tiny sliver of this is all that’s needed. Any more, and I imagine you would start to feel sick (and I didn’t need to imagine, because I sliced myself a generous portion and regretted it after about 5 minutes). Without sounding miserable, I couldn’t really taste the raspberry liqueur in the batter, but I do suspect that this addition lightened and sweetened the natural juiciness of the raspberries in the batter. I don’t want to give the impression of myself as some miserly, austere Dickensian character, limiting myself to bread and gruel. I adore food and live to eat, but I really did think that this was too much. It was the culinary equivalent to an American prime-time entertainment show. It was rich; it was gooeily chocolaty and darkly bitter and just too much. I must, however, write that I really liked the addition of raspberries in the cake batter. Not only did they look lovely, but I also thought that they really added a lot to the taste of the cake. Their juicy sweetness really lightened the dense, dark sticky texture of the cake and were like succulent little gems – just lovely. In fact, they have completely inspired me to use whole, raw fruit in cake again. I don’t want to give the impression that I hated this cake. One tiny slice of the cake was lovely and in this way, I felt that I could appreciate the taste and texture. And, as I say, I really liked the addition of fresh raspberries – a genius touch. I don’t think, however, that I could have stomached more. In fact, I don’t think that even *the* most die-hard chocoholic could have stomached more than a chunky slice – surely!
Because of the above, I do think that what you choose to serve this cake with becomes very important. I couldn’t have eaten my slice without the many fresh raspberries that I tumbled over it. Not only did they perfectly compliment the raspberries in the cake itself, but they also did a lot to counteract that rib-sticking dense batter. And I must say now that the crème fraiche accompaniment is a *must!* I couldn’t *imagine* eating this with double cream. It would be way too sickly. The sharp sourness of the crème fraiche worked in a complimentary manner to the mellow richness of the cake. I would have thought that Greek yoghurt would have done a similar job.
I should also say that the rest of the meal was stunning! The sausages and mash were lovely. The mashed potato was typically wonderful; thick, creamy and gorgeous. I was very pleased with Fiona Beckett’s gravy. The gravy was really lovely. The cider could really be tasted, as could the velvety sage – yum! It was rather too thick for my liking, even with the additional boiling water I added on reheating. However, I think this must be to do with the ferocity of our new oven, and I guess that this will just take some getting used to.
So, overall, I didn’t hate this cake. I really don’t want to give that impression. Okay, I found the texture too wet and gooey and the cake itself too rich, chocolaty and bitter, but as I say, I loved the raspberries and a small sliver with some added raspberries and crème fraiche is certainly tolerable. What am I saying? Such a slice is more than tolerable – it is a treat!
So, onto the texture. In my opinion, the texture of this cake was the main problem. You will read that I half attribute this to the recipe, but also half to our fan oven. Anyway, Nigella describes this as a pudding cake and writes that the texture is almost akin to a mousse without the fluffiness. Now, the main problem was that I took the cake out of the oven too early, and so, right in the middle, the cake was more liquid than solid. Now this was the fault of the oven, and I have written how I would rectify this in future, but the edges encroaching into the middle were surely cooked as Nigella intended, and so I do feel as though I can write confidently about this. The texture was, as Nigella describes, somewhere between a pudding and a cake. I wouldn’t liken it so much to a mousse. Rather, it reminded me of a much, much moister chocolate brownie with extra goo. The cake was very wet, moist and damp with a very sticky, chocolaty texture. If you have ever made one of Nigella’s many flourless, damp cakes (the Clementine cake from HTE, the lemon and almond cake from HTBADG, the apple and almond cake in Feast for example), think of the texture of those cakes and then imagine it even damper, stickier and moister and you have the texture of this cake. Now, although I love a really good eggy, flourless cake, I did find the texture of this just *too* wet and *too* sticky, which in my opinion, made it verge on the claggy and the palate-coatingly sickly. I do, however, understand that this is a matter of personal taste. Some people like that ultra-moist and sticky texture and others prefer a drier crumb. I always thought that I belonged to the first party, but this was too wet for me. Nigella writes that leftover cake can be brought back to the “right” texture with the oven or microwave, but I found that I actually preferred the texture of the fridge-cold cake. It was firmer and drier and more cakeier than pudding. It was still moist, mind you, but it was more akin to the texture of the Clementine cake in its natural form, for example.
Now, for the taste of the cake. Well, I do find that texture and taste go hand in hand. And if you do find the texture a little claggy and palate-coatingly sticky and likely to make your teeth stick together, then this does impact negatively upon the taste of the cake. Well, I found this cake to be *very* chocolaty and *very* *very* rich. The chocolate could really be tasted in this cake. And it was super-rich. I think that the combination of the 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate in the cake and the sheer amount of butter and sugar, made this very, very chocolaty. It was like that chocolate ice-cream really, because it was so chocolaty it was almost like doing a pure liquid shot of the stuff! I hope you won’t balk when I also describe the taste as a little bitter. Now, I do think that very dark chocolate has a propensity towards the bitter anyway, but this coupled with the strong black coffee (I used what we had in the house, Columbian), made the taste almost *too* chocolaty and *too* bitter. In my opinion, a tiny sliver of this is all that’s needed. Any more, and I imagine you would start to feel sick (and I didn’t need to imagine, because I sliced myself a generous portion and regretted it after about 5 minutes). Without sounding miserable, I couldn’t really taste the raspberry liqueur in the batter, but I do suspect that this addition lightened and sweetened the natural juiciness of the raspberries in the batter. I don’t want to give the impression of myself as some miserly, austere Dickensian character, limiting myself to bread and gruel. I adore food and live to eat, but I really did think that this was too much. It was the culinary equivalent to an American prime-time entertainment show. It was rich; it was gooeily chocolaty and darkly bitter and just too much. I must, however, write that I really liked the addition of raspberries in the cake batter. Not only did they look lovely, but I also thought that they really added a lot to the taste of the cake. Their juicy sweetness really lightened the dense, dark sticky texture of the cake and were like succulent little gems – just lovely. In fact, they have completely inspired me to use whole, raw fruit in cake again. I don’t want to give the impression that I hated this cake. One tiny slice of the cake was lovely and in this way, I felt that I could appreciate the taste and texture. And, as I say, I really liked the addition of fresh raspberries – a genius touch. I don’t think, however, that I could have stomached more. In fact, I don’t think that even *the* most die-hard chocoholic could have stomached more than a chunky slice – surely!
Because of the above, I do think that what you choose to serve this cake with becomes very important. I couldn’t have eaten my slice without the many fresh raspberries that I tumbled over it. Not only did they perfectly compliment the raspberries in the cake itself, but they also did a lot to counteract that rib-sticking dense batter. And I must say now that the crème fraiche accompaniment is a *must!* I couldn’t *imagine* eating this with double cream. It would be way too sickly. The sharp sourness of the crème fraiche worked in a complimentary manner to the mellow richness of the cake. I would have thought that Greek yoghurt would have done a similar job.
I should also say that the rest of the meal was stunning! The sausages and mash were lovely. The mashed potato was typically wonderful; thick, creamy and gorgeous. I was very pleased with Fiona Beckett’s gravy. The gravy was really lovely. The cider could really be tasted, as could the velvety sage – yum! It was rather too thick for my liking, even with the additional boiling water I added on reheating. However, I think this must be to do with the ferocity of our new oven, and I guess that this will just take some getting used to.
So, overall, I didn’t hate this cake. I really don’t want to give that impression. Okay, I found the texture too wet and gooey and the cake itself too rich, chocolaty and bitter, but as I say, I loved the raspberries and a small sliver with some added raspberries and crème fraiche is certainly tolerable. What am I saying? Such a slice is more than tolerable – it is a treat!
(The cake batter, with added beaten eggs)
(2cm of batter, with raspberries sprinkled on top)
(The prepared cake, pre-oven)
Other person’s perspective: Chris described the texture as very sickly, and the taste as overpoweringly, bitterly, chocolaty. The raspberries in the batter were quite nice, and rather poetically he described them as sweet relief. On further questioning, he admitted that he didn’t really like it, to be honest. He loved the main course and went mad for the gravy, which was gratifying because I am not one of life’s most natural gravy-makers.
(The cake just out of the oven)
Future changes: This is a fictitious section, because I really doubt that I will make this again, and anyway, I am not overly sure about how I would change this to make it more palatable. I would certainly leave the cake in the oven for the whole 40 minutes, and just cover the top loosely with foil to stop it burning. In terms of the taste, like I say, I am just not sure what I could do to change anything. I might be tempted to use less chocolate (as blasphemous as that sounds), or a combination of milk and dark chocolate. I would also certainly omit the coffee. I just feel that it adds additional dark bitterness, which the cake doesn’t need. I might also be tempted to add further fresh raspberries – they were luverly. I do think that the only way to eat this is in small slivers with fresh raspberries and crème fraiche, and Chris also suggests that it may be nice with vanilla ice-cream.
(A picture of my gravy - sage, onion and cider gravy from Fiona Beckett's "Meat and Two Veg")
Rating: I can only give this a rating of 2 ½ /5 and Chris rates it 2/5, therefore it receives a compromise rating of 2 ½ /5. Sorry.
Labels: Chocolate
