SYLVIE’S TEMPTATION

Sylvia Scholz, winner of The Best-Tasting Chocolate Cake competion, shares her winning cake

‘Iam a keen baker and I love chocolate. My quick and easy cake has three components, each containing chocolate. When I want to bake it, I buy three slabs of good-quality chocolate and some fresh cream, and Bob’s your uncle."

Chocolate base:

60g sugar 120g butter at room temperature 160g (11/ cups) cake flour 3 25g cocoa powder

Filling: 175g butter 125g 70% dark chocolate, chopped 75g ordinary dark chocolate, chopped 4 extra-large eggs 175g sugar 75g cocoa powder 5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence 350ml fresh cream

Topping: 150ml fresh cream 100g dark chocolate, chopped Chocolate shavings, to decorate

Grease a 24cm springform cake pan and sprinkle with sugar or line with bake paper. Preheat the oven to 175ºC. Mix all the ingredients for the base, rubbing with your fingertips until you have a smooth dough. Use two-thirds of the mixture to cover the bottom of the prepared pan and to line the edges 2-3cm high. Cover and refrigerate.

For the filling, melt the butter in a saucepan, reduce heat and add the chocolate. Stir constantly until melted, making sure chocolate does not burn, then remove from heat. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer. Slowly add the sugar, beating until creamy. With a wooden spoon or whisk, stir in the melted chocolate mixture, then fold in the cocoa powder, vanilla essence and cream. Pour the filling into the cake pan on top of the chocolate base. Bake for 40 minutes, then open the oven door slightly and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove and cool.

For the topping, place cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then turn off the heat. Stir in chocolate until melted. Remove from heat and cool completely, then beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Spread topping onto cooled cake, top with chocolate shavings and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving at room temperature.