Flourless Chocolate Cake

Preparation

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C
2. Grease and line a 20cm spring-form cake tin
3. Separate 4 eggs
4. Melt 175g bittersweet chocolate in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan with a small amount of simmering water. Stir gently until smooth.
5. Turn off the heat and add 170g unsalted butter. Stir gently until melted.
6. Add 50g cocoa powder and stir until smooth, then take the bowl off the saucepan.
7. Stir in 150g caster sugar until incorporated.
8. Add the egg yolks, one at a time. Beat well after adding each egg.
9. Stir in 1 tsp vanilla extract
10. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.
11. Fold a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mix to soften the mixture then, bit by bit, gradually and gently fold through the remaining stiff egg whites.
12. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
13. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 160°C and bake 15 minutes more or until a skewer, when inserted into the cake, comes out with crumbs attached.
14. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack