Double Chocolate Fudge Cakes

At work we ogled the lovely photographs on the front cover of a well-known-supermarket-magazine. On a whim, I made Monday night baking night. And whyever not?

Here are the results:

Please excuse the slightly suspect pictures - in my defence it was about 6.30am, before work and their subsequent devourment (I don't think that is a word but it is definitely what happened).

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate (I used Green and Blacks because it was on special offer in the aforementioned well-known-supermarket)
100g unsalted butter, cubed
4 medium eggs
50g cornflour, sifted
175g icing sugar, sifted
25ml milk
100g ground almonds
1/4 cream of tartar
For the icing
100g dark chocolate (as before), melted
50g creme fraiche
75g icing sugar, sifted
white chocolate stars, for decoration

Method

1. Preheat the fan oven to 160 degrees, line a 4cm deep, 20x30cm baking pan with non-stick baking paper
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl over simmering water; cool. Beat in two whole eggs and two yolks (keep the whites too!), then the cornflour, icing sugar, milk and almonds until smooth
3. Whisk the two egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Fold into the chocolate mixture with a large metal spoon until barely combined
4. Pour into the baking tray, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for 15 minutes until barely set. Leave to cool in tray
5. Turn out the cold cake on the board and use a 5cm cutter to stamp out 24 discs. Beat the melted chocolate with the icing sugar and creme fraiche until smooth (it might split a bit, but don't panic). Beat in a few teaspoons of boiling water until the consistency turns satin-like and creamy.
6. Spoon a little onto each disc. Stack one disc on another to make 12 layered cake. Decorate with white chocolate stars. 
7. Take to work and win over your colleagues.

So, as you can see, in the absence of round cake cutters I made mine square. I think they're still cute. Sadly, I did not consume one of the complete and finished versions. Eating too much raw cake mixture during the making process reduced my cake appetite significantly. The overall verdict was positive, especially taking into account the speed at which they disappeared from the staff room.

A success :)