Chocolate cake with fudge icing

If you love chocolate, this cake is for you – it’s rich, dense and fudgy. We love to serve it with a glass of Pedro Ximénez as a seriously luxe dessert, but it’s also lovely for morning tea, lightened up with a dollop of whipped cream or crème fraîche and seasonal fruit.

Prep time 20 mins, cook 50 mins (plus cooling)

Serves 8-10

250 gm butter, diced, plus extra for greasing 280 gm dark chocolate (58%-66% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped

7 eggs, at room temperature

100 gm caster sugar

40 gm plain flour

50 gm Dutch-process cocoa, sieved

Chocolate fudge icing

300 ml pouring cream

150 gm brown sugar

20 gm Dutch-process cocoa

200 gm dark chocolate (58%-66% cocoa solids), finely chopped

50 gm butter, softened

1 Preheat oven to 200C. Butter a 22cm-diameter springform cake tin and line base with baking paper. Combine butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate melts (6-7 minutes), then stir to combine with a spatula. Remove from heat.

2 Whisk eggs and sugar in an electric mixer until thick and pale (5-6 minutes). Sift flour and cocoa over egg mixture and gently fold to just combine. Add chocolate and stir to just combine. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake, rotating cake once, until evenly risen and centre feels firm when lightly pressed (40-42 minutes). Place on a wire rack to cool in tin (15 minutes), then release sides of pan and stand to cool completely (2 hours).

3 Meanwhile, for chocolate fudge icing, whisk cream, sugar and cocoa in a saucepan until smooth, then bring to the boil. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate, then stand to cool, stirring occasionally (40 minutes to 1 hour). Beat in butter, then place over ice until it reaches a thick spreading consistency, giving it an occasional stir (15-20 minutes).

4 Carefully transfer cake to a plate and spread with fudge icing. Cake will keep stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days.