Ridonculous is a word I use far too often these days. It should be a word that you type, and not say aloud – kind of like ‘zomg’, ‘wtf’, and ‘yours sincerely’. They should be kept in either written or in your head, but not uttered. I unfortunately have crossed that line, and actually say it out loud.
I’ve made this
chocolate love cake with cherries and booze several times now and it is a big hit in my household. A household of two, I would like to point out, who enjoy anything that involves mixing chocolate with Cointreau.
Jamie Oliver is pure genius for concocting this delight. It’s a straight forward recipe, which I like. {Mix one group of ingredients in this bowl, cook, then mix this group on the stove, et viola}. The ingredients for the most part, can be found in your cupboard and it may not be necessary for you to travel to the shops each time you want to make it. It is a very flexible recipe where ingredients can be swapped and replaced without devastating the recipe.
This cake is full of win every time. It’s a safe cake, and you really can’t mess it up. I would highly suggest this cake to everyone. For a quick and simple dessert for two, or multiplied, as a gushing dessert at a dinner party served with hot liqueur sauce.
My pictures really don’t do this recipe justice. Times the gooey scrumptiousness by about ten. To see the recipe for this cake by Jamie Oliver, click below …
Ingredients
Cake:
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100g/3½oz butter, softened
100g/3½oz caster sugar
1 egg, preferably free-range or organic
100g/3½oz self-raising flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ tin of black cherries, drained {if you can’t find tinned black cherries, glacé cherries work just as well}
2 tablespoons hazelnuts, chopped for the chocolate sauce
Sauce:
25g/¾oz butter
142ml/4.9fl oz double cream
75g/2½oz good-quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
a splash of brandy, rum, Amaretto or Baileys
Method
Mix all the cake ingredients together in a bowl. Pour into a greaseproof dish. You can either mix in the hazelnuts, or sprinkle them on top before putting in the oven. Place in a 180ºC oven for 25 minutes.
While your cake is baking, make your chocolate sauce. Place the butter in a small pan with the cream and bring almost to a boil. Turn off the heat and add your chocolate pieces to the pan. Give it a good stir and leave for 5 minutes so the hot cream can melt the chocolate. Add a splash of your desired alcohol and stir thoroughly.
Do the ‘clean knife‘ test on your cake. Once it’s ready, pour the chocolate sauce over the cake and either share it right from the dish or serve it up in individual bowls. Delicious!
Click here for a handy cooking calculator, should you prefer to measure in cups, mls, oz etc. Jamie Oliver’s chocolate love cake with cherries and booze recipe can be found here on his website, should you like to bookmark it.
