Nigella’s moist chocolate cake

Nigella’s chocolate cake

Nigella Lawson has this recipe in her yummy mummy book “How to be a domestic goddess”- love the  title!- and I have adored this since I started making it because it is both light and strong and does not give you an overdose feeling even if you eat lots of it!
To emphasize the strength and lightness of the mix, I make it with twice as much chocolate and a third less sugar than the original but I particularly love the tangy taste left by the use of bicarbonate. It reminds me of a moist gingerbread…

Ingredients list:

• Butter 225g
• Muscovado sugar 260g
• Eggs 2
• Vanilla extract 1tsp
• Dark chocolate 200g
• Flour 200g
• Bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp
• Boiling water 250mlPre-heat the oven to 190° C and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper. This cake mix will be very runny so this is pretty essential.
  Cream the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon then add the beaten eggs and vanilla. Melt the chocolate with a spoonful of water and add it to the mix. Measure the flour with the bicarbonate and add it in batches to the mix with the boiling water until you have them all well combined.

  Note that you can add some cinnamon and ginger to make it richer in spices but the moist Demerara usually usually does the job. A nice twist is also to present it with a cinnamon and ginger infused chocolate icing- more indulgent but totally worth it for a special party.

  Pour into the tin then bake at 190° for 30 minutes. Turn down the oven to 170 °and bake for another 15mn.

  Remove when the cake has raised but is still squidgy inside. It keeps well and like gingerbread is lovely the next day with a cup of tea – while the kids will be running around looking for their eggs under the wet bushes…

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  Happy Easter!