This cake recipe is the taste of my childhood; it’s the classic go-to Caldecott chocolate cake, that makes an appearance at virtually every special occasion. My mother never really liked baking, so she relied on the speed and simplicity of this recipe whenever a cake was needed, and we loved it.
With a dense, gooey, brownie-like texture, this cake tastes a lot like the classic French moelleux au chocolat and is lovely served with a dusting of icing sugar—or some chocolate buttercream icing, if you prefer.
Prep time: 15 mins // Bake time: 25-30 mins
Ingredients for the cake:
– 6 oz (170g) good quality dark chocolate
– 2 oz (57g) butter
– 4 eggs
– pinch of salt
– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 7 oz (190g) caster sugar
– 4 1/2 oz (128g) self-raising flour
Method:
Melt the chocolate with the butter in a heatproof bowl or jug over boiling water. Set this aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4, or 160C/320F for a fan oven.
Beat the eggs with the salt, vanilla, and then sift in the caster sugar, and give it all a good stir. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the eggs, and mix well. Now sift in the flour, and combine it all gently.
Pour the mixture into a large lined/greased cake tin and bake for about 25-30 minutes in the centre of the oven. In my experience, the cooking time varies quite a bit based on how hot your oven tends to run, and how gooey you like the centre of your cake; so, if you love a gooey cake, it’s safest to set an alarm for 20 mins and then check how the centre is looking at that point. When it’s ready, the top should have a fine shiny crust that will have bubbled and cracked slightly, and the centre should be slightly gooey (but not pure batter!). Remember, it will keep cooking a bit as it cools, so err on the side of taking it out sooner rather than later and letting it cool before you eat it.