The cake is quite delicious and the batter is large. When baking, make sure there are lots of people around you to prevent you from indulging in too much of this sinfully delicious cake with a hint of chilli. Serve with some fresh mango slices and vanilla yogurt or quark curd.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 50 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 10-inch cake |
Ingredients
- 2 dried red chile peppers, seeded, or to taste
- 1 ½ cups chopped dark chocolate
- 1 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 cup blanched almonds
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 6 eggs, separated
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 6 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 ½ cups chopped dark chocolate
- 2 (1.2 ounce) packages milk chocolate bars, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
Instructions
- Place chiles in a bowl with water to cover; let soak until slightly softened, about 15 minutes.
- Place 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter in top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir frequently, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching, until chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
- Place chiles in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add almonds, cocoa powder, flour, and cinnamon; process until almonds are chopped. Add Greek yogurt. Mix chile mixture thoroughly into the bowl of melted chocolate to make the batter.
- Place egg yolks and egg whites into 2 different bowls. Place 3/4 cup sugar into the bowl of egg yolks; mix until fluffy and creamy. Stir carefully into the batter.
- Beat egg whites until foamy using an electric mixer. Add 6 tablespoons sugar gradually, continuing to beat until medium peaks form. Blend meringue carefully into the batter; pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cake cool, at least 20 minutes.
- Combine 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and 2 tablespoons butter in a bowl.
- Combine 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream and 2 tablespoons sugar in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Pour over the bowl of chocolate; mix thoroughly. Let ganache cool, at least 15 minutes. Spread over the cake.
- Quark curd (8%) can be substituted for the Greek yogurt.
- Margarine can be substituted for the butter.
- Be sure you don’t overbake it. As there’s almost no flour in it, it won’t hurt if it’s a bit underbaked.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 698 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 55 g |
| Cholesterol | 177 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Saturated Fat | 22 g |
| Sodium | 191 mg |
| Sugars | 46 g |
| Fat | 52 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made it just as the recipe called for and may have overbaked. The cake was quite dry and did not hold together well. Considering it had 1 cup butter, 6 eggs and almost no flour, it is very low gluten and really wanted to try this. What I ended up doing that worked out amazing, was cutting it up in large cubes of cake in a big bowl and drizzling the granache over it. Served it with the yogurt (as indicated) or vanilla ice cream. If I make this again, I will NOT use the toothpick test so carefully and follow the time on the recipe. I had baked it about 40min to get it to clean toothpick stage.
This recipe is flawed. The ingredients call for 1-1/2 cups of dark chocolate, but the directions say to use that amount both in the cake and the granache. I didn’t realize that until I started baking. So, I used all of it in the cake. I didn’t have more, so I substituted cocoa powder plus butter for the amount in the granache. Also, 1-1/2 cups is not how dark chocolate is sold… And does the recipe mean baking chocolate or a dark chocolate bar or chips, which have less cacao? I used two baking chocolate bars. I was unable to find dried red chilies so I substituted 1 tsp cayenne pepper. The cake came out good tasting, and the people who ate it said the flavor was great. But the recipe is confusing about how much chocolate to use (and the cake took 10 mins longer than it said for baking).