Recipe: fallen chocolate soufflé cake

A smooth, fudgy chocolate cake, subtle but decadent

I am a self-confessed chocoholic. If given the option, I would choose chocolate over a chewy sweet every day of the week, and so when I want to create something truly delicious, my mind tends to gravitate towards chocolate.

I have spoken before of how if I am craving chocolate, generally nothing will satisfy the craving apart from simply eating chocolate as it is, but this cake absolutely satisfies. The mixture is made like a soufflé, but is allowed to rise and then fall, creating a dense but smooth texture, akin to a delicious fudgy brownie. I opted to use a mixture of milk chocolate along with some glorious hazelnut truffles that I had, as well as a few spoonfuls of a decadent chocolate hazelnut crema, but you could forego the truffles and crema, and could also opt to use 70%+ chocolate for more intensity. What results is a delicate but rich chocolate torte-like cake, which I think is best served with whipped cream and lightly poached plums, and is shown here with a decoration of sugared fruits which I’ve detailed how to make below. Truly a beautiful thing. You can serve the cake on the day of baking once it is fully cooled, or place in the fridge overnight to further set–which is what I do–and serve the next day.

If you wanted to make the decoration of sugared fruits, it is very easy and quite beautiful. Most fruits can be used, just nothing too wet i.e. stick to whole fruits, and not slices of a whole fruit. You could use edible leaves, too, for a more autumnal feel. I used strawberry leaves from a little strawberry plant in the garden, which I cleaned and dried and treated the same way that I did the other sugared fruits. You can also use some of the whole poached plums to decorate, as shown in the image below (the very beautiful shiny plums in the middle of the cake).