Spiced Flourless Chocolate Cake with Fresh Cherries

Rich, dark chocolate combined with a hint of chilli and spice makes this my go-to cake when I want to serve something simple but totally delicious. In winter I serve it with prunes steeped in alcohol.

Cake

300 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped

150 grams butter at room temperature, diced

finely grated zest 1 orange

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch cayenne pepper

6 #7 eggs (large)

½ cup caster sugar

½ cup brown sugar

To serve

500 grams fresh cherries, halved and pitted

1 cup cream, softly whipped

Grease a 26cm x 7cm springform cake tin and line the sides and base with baking paper.

Preheat the oven to 160ºC.

Put the chocolate, butter, zest and spices in a heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water. Don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water.

Stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Remove from the heat and cool until lukewarm.

Put the eggs and both sugars in the bowl of a free-standing mixer with the whisk attachment and beat until the mixture has tripled in volume and is thick and pale. This will take about 10 minutes.

Using a large metal spoon, fold in 1/3 of the lukewarm chocolate then gently but thoroughly fold in the remaining chocolate until no white streaks remain.

Pour into the tin and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.

Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack and cool completely. The cake will deflate dramatically on cooling.

To serve: Remove the sides of the tin and remove the baking paper.

Place on a serving platter and pile the cream in the centre. Dust with icing sugar and cocoa if desired. Serve with the cherries. Serves 12

If you want to jazz up the cherries, combine with 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses and 2 teaspoons of lime juice. Fresh raspberries, strawberries and pomegranate seeds can also be added to the cherries.