• To serve the chocolate French cake, use a hot knife when slicing. 

    Chocolate French cake

    Serves: 6
    Cooking Time: 2 hrs + overnight, to set

    Ingredients

    • CHOCOLATE FRENCH CAKE

    • 6 whole eggs
    • 150g castor sugar
    • 50g golden syrup
    • 450g dark chocolate
    • 200g butter
    • 150ml fresh cream
    • GANACHE

    • 200g dark chocolate
    • 100ml fresh cream
    • TO SERVE

    • lemon curd, to decorate
    • segmented fresh orange slices, to decorate
    • halved blueberries, to decorate
    • strawberry quarters, to decorate
    • crumbled biscuits, to decorate

    Instructions

    1

    For the chocolate French cake, preheat the oven to 150°C. Grease and line a rectangular baking tray (15cm x 30cm x 3cm) with baking paper. Using an electric mixer and a bowl or a stand mixer, beat the eggs, castor sugar and golden syrup until light and fluffy, and all of the sugar has dissolved. Place a heat-proof bowl over a pot of boiling water, combine the 450g dark chocolate, butter and 150g fresh cream together and stir until the chocolate and butter have melted. (This should be done while the egg mixture is being beaten.) Once the egg mixture is ready and your chocolate mixture has melted, slowly fold the chocolate into the eggs. Pour the mixture into the lined rectangular baking tray. Transfer the tray to the preheated oven, 45 – 50 minutes. Remove from oven when set but a slight wobble remains and allow to cool in the tin, at least 2 hours.

    2

    For the ganache, melt the 200g dark chocolate and 100g fresh cream together over a double boiler. Once it has melted and appears glossy, remove from heat. Top the cooled cake in the tin with the ganache and refrigerate in the tin overnight.

    3

    To assemble, slice the French cake into 12cm x 2cm rectangles using a sharp, hot knife. Arrange a rectangle on a serving plate. Create neat smears of lemon curd on the pate. Add the fruit and biscuit crumble to the plate to decorate.

    Imka Webb
    Author

    Imka Webb is a freelance digital marketing expert and the digital editor of Food & Home Entertaining magazine.  www.imkawebb.com