Suzy’s cake

 My favourite chocolate cake is moist, melts in the mouth, is easy to make and never fails to please.

A number of you have asked for the recipe for my chocolate cake. I’ll let you into a secret: it’s one of famous French pastry chef Pierre Hermé’s - dubbed "The king of modern Patisserie" by The Guardian. I call it Suzy’s cake.

I vary the ingredients, depending on what I have in my larder, my mood and my habits. I’ve put these personal variations in brackets.

 Serves 8 to 10 people
250g unsalted butter (although I use salted butter), 200 g sugar, 250g chocolate, 4 eggs, 70g flour.

Heat the oven at 180° (gas mark 6). Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a  bain-marie and leave to cool.

Mix the butter and sugar for 4 minutes in a mixer, at medium speed. Add the eggs one by one, mixing for 1 minute between each egg (sometimes I do it for half as long). Turn down the mixer to a lower speed and add the chocolate then the flour. (I often add various spices, and always cinnamon).

Pour the batter into a cake tin. Bake for around 30 minutes, or until the cake has risen slightly and is cracking a little.

Put the cake in the fridge for an hour so it’s nice and cool (I don’t do this). Leave at room temperature before serving.

I generally use Valrhona dark chocolate cocoa beans, as I do with a lot of my cakes. Sometimes I use milk chocolate and bake it at gas mark 2 (on the middle rack). When it’s done its slightly caramelised on top and moist and gooey in the middle. Delicious!!! Most of the time I serve it with custard, on its own or with cherries in liqueur.

Some tips from Pierre Hermé:
"Serve with ginger ice cream, whipped cream, or custard.”
“We sometimes add raspberries: put a thin layer of the cake mix at the bottom of the cake tin, then some raspberries, before pouring over the rest of the cake mix.”