I hope everyone’s had a lovely Christmas break. This is the
first year that I’ve been working right up until the 25th so I’ve
been loving spending time with my family and eating my own body weight in food.
This recipe is off the Christmas Bake-Off special, and was specially requested
by my auntie for when she came to visit. I have to admit that I thought it was
going to be quite plain, and a tad heavy because of the ground almonds, but it’s
actually delicious and perfectly light. Needless to say it’s an excellent
pudding choice following a mammoth roast dinner.
Ingredients
225g butter
225g caster sugar
225 self-raising flour
70g ground almonds
4 large eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
300ml double cream
400g plain chocolate (40-50%)
Decorations
Preheat the oven to 180⁰C (160⁰C fan) and line a 20cm round
tin, making sure the edges come way above the top of the tin. This is because
you pour the ganache straight onto the top of the cake whilst it’s still in the
tin.
Add the butter, caster sugar, flour, ground almonds, eggs
and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined.
Spoon the mixture into the tin, it should be at a dropping
consistency, and use a spatula to level it out. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour
or until cooked all the way through and springy to the touch. I turned it around
at 45 minutes and put some brown paper on top to prevent it from burning. Cool
the cake in the tin.
When the cake has completely cooled make the ganache. Gently
heat the double cream in a saucepan until steaming, but not boiling.
Take the cream off of the heat and add the chocolate, broken
into pieces, to the cream. Use a spatula to stir the chocolate until it’s completely
melted into the cream, and reaches a dark, shiny consistency. Don’t be tempted
to put the saucepan back on the heat to melt the chocolate, because as The Mary
Berry says herself: chocolate melts in a child pocket.
When the ganache has cooled slightly but isn’t setting, pour
evenly over the top of the cake which should still be in the tin, and leave to
set.