Most of us bake cakes on the weekend – mainly because that ‘s when we find the time to do so. Most of us have fond memories of our mothers’ chocolate cake and somehow we never manage to do it the way they did so why not find a recipe that we can make our own?  Here’s a really simple chocolate cake that’s spicy, rich with chocolate and with a rush of heat to make this cake quite different from the rest.  Serve this cake hot with melted mocha chocolate icing, crushed pistachio nuts and thick cream, as is with only whipped cream and a cood strong cup of coffee or for dessert.

Ingredients

• 300g good quality chocolate, 70% cocoa content
• 300 g chocolate for icing, 60% cocoa content
• 10 cardamom pods, finely ground
• 6 eggs, separated
• 100g ground almonds
• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 175g sugar
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• 25g cocoa powder
• 25g flour
• handful crushed pistachios
• 200ml double cream to serve
• 50 ml espresso coffee

Method

• Preheat oven to 150 C and grease a 23cm spring form cake tin and line with parchment paper.
• Break the chocolate into small chunks and melt gently,  add the ground cardamom seeds to the chocolate and stir well to combine.
• Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside.
• In another, larger bowl, combine the ground almonds, the softened butter, the sugar and the chilli powder.
• Sift in the cocoa powder and flour and whisk until well combined , then mix in the chocolate cardamom mixture and only then in the egg yolks.
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold that gently into the chocolate mixture.
• Spoon into the tin and bake for about 50–60 minutes and then leave to cool before removing from the tin.
• Melt the second chocolate and stir in the espresso coffee to form a smooth runny cream.
• Pour over cake, sprinkle over with crushed pistachios and serve with lightlywhisked double cream.