Flourless Chocolate Torte

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan bake

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Don’t let the base touch the water. Cool until lukewarm.

Separate the eggs and place the yolks and whites in two large separate bowls. Beat the egg yolks with ½ a cup of the sugar, the spices and the vanilla until thick and pale and trebled in volume. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and use a large metal spoon to gently fold in until no white streaks remain.

Beat the egg whites until frothy then gradually beat in the remaining ½ cup of sugar until thick and glossy. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in 4 batches, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible.

Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for about 25 minutes until they have a lovely dry, crusty top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins. The cakes will deflate on cooling. Remove from tins and discard the lining paper. Place one cake on a serving platter and spread with jam and then the cream. Top with the second cake and pour over the cooled ganache.  

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Put the cream in a saucepan and heat until just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate and oil. Leave for 1 minute then stir until smooth. Cool until thickened but still pourable.