Chocolate cake with mascarpone

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/gas mark 2.

2. For the chocolate cake: place a roasting tray into the oven and cover with a few centimetres of boiling water. Grease and line a 20cm/8in round cake tin with parchment paper. If it is a springform tin, cover the outside with tin foil to stop the water getting in.

3. Place the chocolate into a large heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Allow the chocolate to melt completely before removing from the heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

4. Meanwhile, separate the eggs. Whisk the yolks with 100g of the sugar until pale and fluffy. In another bowl, whisk the eggs whites and remaining 50g sugar until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. In a third bowl, whisk half of the cream to soft peaks.

5. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture, then stir in the remaining unwhipped double cream. Gently fold in the whipped cream, followed by the whipped egg whites until just combined.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and place into the roasting tray. Pour in more boiling water until the water comes up nearly to the rim of the cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until the cake is firm on top but still slightly wobbly in the middle. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

7. For the crema di mascarpone: mix all of the crema di mascarpone ingredients together until well combined.

8. To serve, cut the cake into slices and serve with dollops of the crema di mascarpone.