Sunday Pudding: Flourless Dark Chocolate & Hazelnut Cake

With its lovely rich chocolate flavour and nutty texture, this moist cake is a family favourite. In Piedmont in Italy, they bake a version of this called torta gianduia, which is often served with a sheet of whole roasted hazelnuts on top. This recipe, in true Bourke Street style, is a decidedly rustic form of decadence.

Serves 12

Ingredients
330g dark chocolate (55% cocoa)
240g unsalted butter
40g sesame seeds
160g hazelnut meal
8 eggs, separated
240g caster sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2. Grease a 23cm spring-form cake tin and line the base and side with baking paper, allowing it to protrude about 2.5cm above the tin.

Put the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted. Remove from the heat and add the sesame seeds, hazelnut meal and egg yolks. Stir to combine, then set aside.

Put the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk to stiff peaks, then use a large spoon to gently fold in one-third of the chocolate mixture at a time, ensuring each batch is combined before adding the next. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until set. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

This cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 1 week; bring back to room temperature for serving.

Extracted from Bourke Street Bakery: All Things Sweet by Paul Allam and David McGuinness (Murdoch Books, approx €28). Photography by Alan Benson.