Happiness is...

... going to make Jill Dupleix's flourless chocolate cake (for the first time in years!) and finding that one has all the necessary ingredients already in the pantry :) 

(Also, separating 5 eggs into the same bowl and not breaking any of the yolks.  I know it's always recommended to separate eggs one at a time, first into a cup and then tipping the white into the mixing bowl, in case you accidentally break one of the yolks and contaminate the batch, but I'm mostly a) quite good at separating eggs and b) too lazy.  When I made a scaled-up triple-quantity version of this recipe for my father's 50th birthday party, though -- then I did the eggs one at a time.  Even with good egg-separation skills, 15 eggs at a time is just pushing your luck...)

We're invited round to our neighbour's place for dinner tomorrow and I've offered to bring dessert.  It needs to be something I can make ahead and bring without last-minute preparations (so creme brulee, for example, is out); it also needs to look a bit impressive though still homemade, so fruit salad probably won't do (though my watermelon with Cointreau-macerated berries and lime zest finished off with sweet sparkling wine is quite swish, if I do say so myself).  I made chocolate raspberry mousse cake for our family-not!BBQ-party thing last Saturday and there's actually still some left in the fridge, so I don't feel particularly inspired to make that again; I contemplated cheesecake, but that takes time.  Then I thought about this recipe, which was one of my favourites from "I Hate To Cook" (by Jill Dupleix, alias Dolly Campbell).  Dressed up with fresh mixed berries piled on top and drizzled liberally with white chocolate ganache and a dusting of icing sugar (which is how we decorated it for my father's birthday, see above), it has the right combination of elegance and wow! factor.

The ingredients really are fairly simple; I stocked up on chocolate last weekend, and we usually have butter.  It's just the ground almonds that might be outside the usual pantry staples -- plus I thought we were out of sugar.  The cornucopia of cooking supplies bestowed upon me by friends moving house came to the rescue in both cases.  Thanks, John and Sheelagh!

Jill Dupleix's flourless chocolate cake

250g chocolate
150g butter
150g sugar
1 tbs strong coffee
1 tbs brandy (we are out of brandy, oops -- I used sherry instead)
125g almond meal
5 eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 180C; prepare a deep 20-23cm round cake tin.  (I use a non-stick loose-bottomed tin, so preparation consists of putting the base into the tin.  Otherwise grease and line.)

Melt chocolate (I used the microwave for 2 minutes), stir in butter until melted (it might need another quick zap in the microwave to get it all to melt in) and then sugar, coffee and brandy, then egg yolks.  Beat egg whites until stiff (peak curls over just at the end) but not dry; stir in a large spoonful to lighten the mix, then fold in the rest using a large metal spoon.

Pour gently into tin and bake for... well, I've set a timer for 40 minutes and am going to check in the expectation that it will need another 5-10 minutes after that.  We'll see!

I'll try to remember to take a picture tomorrow, after I've decorated it and before we eat it.