Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever for a Wickedly Moist French Dessert

Time to ditch the diet because the real secret of good health is that a little of what you fancy does you good, and are you going to fancy this gorgeous, gooey French chocolate cake! Although it is ridiculously easy and totally reliable, it is a treat cake and ideal for special occasions or surprise guests.

At Les Trois Chenes, our Bed and Breakfast in Limousin, S W France, this cake, served on the famous, local Limoges porcelain, is one of our favourite desserts - quick, easy, French, melt-in-the-mouth and truly scrumptious! This is the best chocolate cake recipe ever!

Remember, you can find more of our recipes in my work-in-progress Les Trois Chenes Cookbook

• 9oz / 250g butter
• 9oz / 250g dark chocolate
• 5 oz /175 g sugar (add another ounce if you have a sweet tooth)
• Vanilla flavouring
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 eggs
• 3oz / 75 g flour

Oven gas mark 5, 190°c 375°F

• You will also need a deep sided flan 25cm / 10 inch. Mine is about 5cm or 2 inches deep. A more shallow cake will take less time to cook and a smaller and deeper cake will take longer. Grease the dish with a bit of butter and shake a little flour over it to stop the cake sticking.
• Choose a nice dish as the cake is served from it and not turned out onto a plate
• You need a small pan and a bowl together with a wooden spoon, sieve for the flour and a hand whisk, although the latter isn't essential.

• Melt the butter and chocolate together over a very gentle heat, stirring occasionally. Let it cool while you prepare the other ingredients
• Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk lightly
• Add the sugar and vanilla
• Whisk in the butter and chocolate mixture
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and whisk together
• Pour into the dish
• Cook for about 25 minutes.
• The cake is ready when the top starts to crack. You can see this in the picture here. You must take it out at this point even though the centre is soft.
  

NOTE: This is NOT the sort of cake where you test with a skewer. This is a gooey, gooey cake - hold your nerve and take the cake out! Leave the cake in the dish. It will sink as it cools. This is normal.

Serve the cake straight from the dish. The top should be sort of frosted, the edges like a normal chocolate cake and the centre should be soft. I like to cut a piece and put it onto a plate and microwave it just slightly, try three seconds at a time, until it is just to say warm in the middle. This makes the cake nice and soft in the centre.

I don't decorate my cake as it is rich and moist enough without icing, but I guess there's nothing to stop you putting a topping of your choice on. A shake of icing sugar over it would be nice - I just didn't get around to this. I do serve mine with a low fat creme fraiche and the slightly sour taste of the cream is nice with the sweetness of the cake.

You could also serve it with ice cream, custard, whipped cream or pouring cream.

Have you thought about decorating the cake and the plate with fresh edible flowers or sugared flowers from your garden. Sometimes you'll find that these are called sugar frosted flowers, candied flowers or crysallizd flowers.

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When I went back to my home town, the City of York, UK, I went on the Chocolate and Sweetie Walk and this opened my eyes, and mouth, to the wonders of York chocolate industry past and present. Read more about it in York City of Chocolate and see lots of gorgeous photographs of chocolate. Irresistible!

Limoges porcelain has been a product of our region ever since the special clay to make this fine porcelain was discovered in Limousin. Plus, we have an abundant water supply and oak forests that enable wood to be cut and transported to the porcelain factories. Limoges was called 'The Red City' because the kilns never went out.

Why choose Limoges porcelain? Because it is fine to the point of being translucent, beautiful and very tough; several good reasons for using it in our bed and breakfast. It needn't be expensive either as you can buy from factory shops at bargain prices. Why not come and stay with us for a Limoges porcelain shopping holiday?