Ingredients

For the meringue

egg whites

a pinch

salt

1/4 tsp

cream of tartar

1 tbsp

caster sugar

1 tsp

white wine or cider vinegar

For the cake

120g

dark chocolate, broken finely or chopped

25g

ground almonds

40g

plain flour

20g

cornflour

120g

butter, softened

150g

caster sugar

1 tsp

vanilla extract

1/4 tsp

almond extract

egg yolks

2 tbsp

rum, brandy or coffee

For the glaze

100g

dark chocolate, broken finely or chopped

25-50g

butter

1 tbsp

rum, brandy or coffee

to decorate (optional)

flaked almonds, well toasted

"The famous cake popularised in the United States by Julia Child".

This recipe by food and crime writer, Orlando Murrin is kindly reproduced from his latest novel Murder Below Deck, published by Transworld Books.

Photo Credit: Angela Nilsen

Method

Butter a 20 cm loose-bottomed cake tin, about 4–5cm deep, and line base with a disc of baking paper.
Melt the 120 g chocolate for the cake in a bowl over hot water, or 2–3 minutes in the microwave. Leave to cool.
For the meringue, put the whites, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer, or use an electric hand whisk. Whisk till beginning to stiffen, then add the sugar in two goes. When the mixture is stiff and meringue-like, beat in the vinegar and set aside. If you are using a stand mixer and have a spare bowl, use it now, otherwise transfer the beaten whites to a fresh bowl, and rinse the bowl ready for the chocolate mixture.
For the cake, mix the ground almonds, flour and cornflour in a small bowl. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts using stand or electric hand mixer, until light and creamy, then beat in the yolks, followed by the cooled chocolate and rum.
Gently fold in a third of the meringue mixture using a large metal spoon, then half the flour mixture, then repeat, finishing with remaining meringue mixture. There should be no lumps of egg white or flour visible. Spoon the mixture into the tin and lightly spread it out to the edges.
Bake in a 180°C/160°C fan oven. There is no need to preheat – in which case it will take 25–28 minutes; if you do preheat, it will take 22–25 minutes. Rotate at half time if necessary. The cake is cooked when a toothpick inserted about 5 cm from the edge comes out clean, with a few crumbs attached. The centre of the cake should feel slightly soft to the touch but not liquid.
Run a palette knife round the edge of the cake, then allow to cool for ten minutes. Invert onto a rack, discard baking paper and leave to cool completely – about an hour. You can make a day ahead and wrap if convenient.
Melt the chocolate for the glaze with 25g of the butter and rum (as before) till smooth. Chocolate varies, so if it’s too thick to pour, melt in an extra 25 g butter. Put the cake (still inverted) on a rack with a sheet of baking paper underneath and pour the glaze over it, smoothing top and sides. Decorate with almonds if you wish.
When set, remove to a cake plate. If you refrigerate this, the finish will go dull, so best kept in a container at room temperature and served within a day or two.