Macadamia nut chocolate cake

This morning I felt like baking a chocolate cake. I wanted something not very fussy but quite yummy. Flicking through this book I bought recently, James Martin Desserts, I came across this recipe entitled Macadamia nut chocolate cake. There was a picture of this pretty little cake, encrusted with little pieces of chopped macadamia nuts. I decided to make it as I had all the ingredients at home. It was not even an extensive list. The only tricky item could have been the macadamia nuts, but in the end I also had that in my nuts basket.

I don’t often bake with macadamia nuts so it was a nice excuse. I love nibbling on those nuts at work, when I have a terrible hunger pang. I used the food processor for the chopping. And used the pulse button. Since I once processed peanuts for too long and they became this horrible oily mass I have decided to mind my nuts whilst getting them chopped.

The result was a lovely moist cake with a lovely discreet crunch to it. And all the deliciously sinful chocolate sauce. According to the author it is best to have it still warm. If cold it looses a bit of the texture. In case there is some to be had the following day or at a later time, just warm it up in the microwave first. If you don't feel like warming it up it is ok as well. The texture reminded me of a muffin. A nice, chocolatey one.

I have to admit that I did not notice much about the macadamia nuts. It was definitely not like hazelnuts which just fill my lungs, heart, and mind. I could only feel a gentle hint of it on the crust. Altogether it was a rather lovely cake. Not pretentious but looking very classy and as if one has spent ages on it

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Macadamia nut chocolate cake

serves 8

75g toasted macademia nuts
190g unsalted butter, room temperature
200g sugar
4 eggs
45g unsweetened cocoa, sifted
70g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

For the chocolate sauce:

25g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp double cream
15g sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC/350oF/Gas mark 4. Butter 8 moulds ( 5cm wide each). Place on a baking tray. Reserve.

Finely grind half the macademia nuts and coarsely chop the remainin half.

Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the cocoa, flour and baking powder and stir until fully incorporated. Gently fold the ground nuts into the batter.

Fill the moulds two-thirds full with the batter and sprinkle with the chopped macadamia nuts.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

To make the sauce, gently heat the chocolate and butter in a saucepan until melted, stir in the cream and sugar and continue to heat gently, stirring, until combined.

To serve, pour a pool of chocolate sauce onto each plate. Place a cake in the centre of each plate on top of the sauce. Spoon a scoop of ice cream on the side if you fancy an extra treat. The author suggested coconut.