Torta di Cioccolata

Chocolate cake!...was the only answer to the question I asked myself this morning: Which cake to bake first in 2012? And off to the kitchen I went. I chose an Italian recipe from one of Ursula Ferrigno's books. I like this cake very much. It is extremely rich, but worth every bite. And the glaze is divine.

Recipe
(Source: Ursula Ferrigno - Italiens leichte Küche) ...not sure how the title of the book and this recipe go together, though :-)

400g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
250g butter
5 large eggs
4 tablespoons brown sugar
130g ground almonds
130g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract/1 sachet vanilla sugar

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Prepare a 23-24cm round springform pan.

Slowly melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan while constantly stirring. Set aside and let cool slightly. Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl for about 5 minutes until foamy (whisk by hand or with a hand mixer). Add ground almonds, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract and mix well. Then add the chocolate-butter-mixture and mix well.

Pour the batter into your prepared springform pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Check whether the cake is done with a wooden skewer. It should come out clean.

For the glaze heat 125ml cream in a small saucepan and almost bring to the boil. Take away from the stove and stir in 125g grated dark chocolate. Let melt and mix until you have a smooth mixture and then pour over your cake.

This cake is wonderfully moist and keeps for a few days.