Chocolate Cola Cake

There's a restaurant that I love in Wexford called The Yard and every time we go there, Neil gets himself a slice of their chocolate cola cake. He doesn't even eat cake!!!!!!! This is the only cake I ever see him eat. I've always been mesmerised by the recipe; really, really moist and chocolatey but not overpowering and then zingy with the little bit of cola.

The first time I attempted it I tried it with a few spoons of good old Coca Cola....... no joy. It was just weird and fizzy. Then I struck gold in one of my favourite shops, Decobake on the quays in Dublin, there's also one in Athlone and Kildare and you can buy online. They sell flavourings and on one of my browsings I found this bad boy......from LorAnn Oils and Flavors. The staff in the shop warned me of its potency (music to my ears - this was going to work so). It worked so well in fact I went back one day and bought a raspberry flavoured and bubblegum one too.

So I used Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage recipe and adapted it a bit.

You'll need......

250g dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids), broken into chunks
250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
4 medium eggs, separated
200g caster sugar (or 100g caster mixed with 100g soft light brown sugar
50g plain flour
50g ground almonds
2-3 drops of cola flavouring
1/4 teaspoon of ground espress

Now look just how moist it is up there - see in the middle? And how well it cuts?

Ok so you'll need to......

Grease a 23cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.

Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Stir occasionally until the butter and chocolate have melted.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl until well combined. It'll be all glue-like when mixed right.

Stir the melted chocolate and butter into the egg and sugar mixture. Add the cola flavouring at this stage. Combine the flour, almonds, espresso and fold these in, too.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they hold firm peaks. Stir a large spoonful of egg white into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, then carefully fold in the rest of the egg whites with a large metal spoon or spatula, trying to keep in as much air as possible.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Place in an oven preheated to 170°C and bake for about 30 mins, until only just set.

It should still wobble slightly in the centre - this means the cake will have a divinely sticky, fudgy texture once it’s cooled down. 

Leave to cool for 10-15 mins before releasing the tin.

Believe me it's heaven - this cake ranks no.2 in most expressive reactions from consumers/colleagues.