Chocolate, Hazelnut and Sherry Cake | Diana Henry

Chocolate and sherry: a marriage made in heaven. Treat yourself to a glass of raisiny-sweet Pedro Ximénez sherry to go with it...

Serves 8 

INGREDIENTS

• 75g unsalted butter, plus more for the tin
• 150g dark chocolate
• 125ml dry fino sherry
• 6 eggs, separated
• 160g caster sugar
• 150g hazelnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
• 55g self-raising flour, sifted
• 55g cocoa powder, sifted
• pinch of sea salt flakes
• icing sugar, to dust

for the cream

• 250g raisins
• 250ml oloroso sherry
• 300ml double cream
• 4 tablespoon Greek yogurt, or fromage frais
• 4 tablespoons icing sugar

METHOD

1. Butter a 22cm (8. inch) diameter springform cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter, chocolate and sherry in a heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Heat until everything has melted, stirring from time to time to help it along. Let this cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 170°C fan, Gas 4.
4. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until glossy. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and 70g of the hazelnuts. Beat the egg whites until fairly stiff. Using a large metal spoon, loosen the chocolate mixture with 1 big spoonful of egg white, then fold in the rest with the flour, cocoa and salt.
5. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes. Test the cake with a skewer and, if it comes out clean, it’s done; otherwise leave it for another 5–10 minutes, but keep checking with a skewer, as it’s easy to overcook this cake. Leave it to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning it out.
6. In a small saucepan, heat the raisins in the sherry. When the sherry is just under boiling point, turn the heat off and leave the raisins to plump up for 30 minutes and cool.
7. Whip the cream and stir in the yogurt or fromage frais and icing sugar. Add the raisins with their soaking liquid and check the sweetness.
8. Dust the surface of the cake with a little icing sugar, then scatter the rest of the chopped hazelnuts on top. Finish with another light dusting of icing sugar and serve with dollops of the cream.

Extracted from Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons by Diana Henry, published by Aster, £26, photographs by Jason Lowe.