Flourless Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Cake (Gluten and Nut Free)

My taste bud went on an exotic spice trail during our 11th wedding anniversary dinner at Restaurant Arras last week. The clever used of spices by British chef Adam Humphrey has excited me to explore my own culinary journey with spices.

Dutch love their spices, especially in cakes and biscuits. This is partly due to the abundance of spices available during their colonisation of Indonesia. The evident can be found in Speculaas, Pepernoot and Kruidnoot.

Chinese five spice powder is a spice blend that tastes (according to Mr J) quite similar to the spices used in Dutch Pepernoot. It encompasses all five flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty cleverly contributed by these five spices - star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and ground fennel seeds. Although it's primary used for savoury dishes, I don't see why it won't work with sweet.

It turned out I was right. The flavour combinations are magical. Being gluten intolerant, I have always been on the look out for gluten and nut free chocolate cake recipes. This is my third conquest after trying my hands on the Bourke Street Bakery and French versions. I must say Belinda Jeffery's recipe is flawless. It's going to be an almost impossible task for me to find another flourless chocolate cake recipe that can top this.

Flourless Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Cake (Gluten and Nut Free)
(Adapted from Belinda Jeffery's Mix & Bake)
Serves 16 - it's very rich!

Belinda Jeffery - "I know that this sound like a rather strange combination, but it's just one of those things that works - and works really well. It's a truly wonderful cake - dense, rich and chocolate-y, with a complex background depth and spiciness from the five spice powder. This cake is probably at its very best when still barely warm - it's amazingly light, almost ethereal, and considerably and has an altoghter denser texture which is equally delicious.

When I want to pull-out-all-stops I make chai-flavoured ice-cream to go with this - a truly spectacular pairing. Having given this cake such a build-up, I have to confess that this is one of the few cakes in this book for which you need an electric mixer to beat the eggs and sugar. However, it's such a fabulous cake I couldn't bear to leave it out - it's well worth it and is still speedy to make.

Ingredients

400 g good-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped (I use Lindt’s new 70% Cocoa Specialty Cooking Chocolate)
1 1/4 cup (275 g) castor sugar
1/2 cup (125 ml) water
5 tsp Chinese five spice powder
280 g unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small chunks
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs (about 340 g total weight)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180C. Butter a 28 cm springform or regular cake tin and line the base with butter baking paper. If you are using a springform tin, wrap it tightly in extra-wide foil as the cake bakes in a water bath and you don't want any water to leak into the batter through the seals in the tin. Sit the prepared tin in a roasting pan.
2. Put the chocolate into a large stainless steel bowl. Sit a fine sieve over the top of the chocolate and set the bowl aside.
3. Pour 1/2 cup (110 g) of the sugar, the water and five spice powder into a small saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar over high heat. Stop stirring and bring the mixture to the boil. as soon as it boils, remove it from the heat and immediately strain it through the sieve into the chocolate. Whisk the mixture constantly with a balloon whisk until the chocolate has pretty much melted. Add the butter and vanilla extract and whisk until mixture is smooth, then set it aside; you need to work quite quickly during this stage as five spice syrup needs to be boiling hot to melt the chocolate and incorporate the butter easily. If at any time the mixture becomes a bit too thick and the chocolate or butter haven't melted completely, gently - and very carefully - warm the bowl over low heat or sit it in a bigger bowl of hot water, stirring all the while, to melt the last little pieces.

   

4. With an electric mixer, beat the eggs and remaining 3/4 cup (165 g) sugar together on medium speed until they're light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes maximum. Stir about a quarter of this egg mixture into the chocolate mixture to lighten it a bit, then fold in the remainder thoroughly.

   

5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and shake it gently to level it. Pour very hot water (just off the boil) into the roasting pan to come about half-way up the sides of the cake tin. Carefully transfer the whole lot to the oven and bake the cake for 45-50 minutes until the top feels wobbly / firm ( see note below) and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with moist but not wet chocolate mixture clinging to it.

   

6. Remove the roasting pan from the oven.

   

7. Carefully life the cake tin out of the water bath and sit it on a wire rack to cook (if you've wrapped the tin in foil, peel it away as some water or condensation may have seeped in).

   

8. Once the cake is completely cool, gently loosen it around the sides with a palette knife and carefully invert it onto a serving plate. Remove the baking paper; if the cake seems to be sticking to the bottom of the tin, which it can do, especially in cool weather, then warm the base of the tin very gently and carefully over low heat to help loosen it. You can serve the cake upside-down (which I did) or invert it again onto another plate. Chill it, then cover it loosely with plastic film.

   

9. When you're ready to serve, cut the cake with a hot, dry knife, dipping the blade into very hot water and wiping it dry between each cut. This cake keeps well in the fridge for up to 10 days and freeze well for up to a month.

Note: Wobbly / Firm - You may well be wondering what on earth 'wobbly / firm' means. I know the term sounds a bit funny, but it's just about the only way to describe what I am trying to explain. To check for it, rest the palm of your hand to top of the cake when you think it's just about cooked. Use you palm to gently wiggle the cake from side to side - it should feel set but still be a little wobbly, a bit like a jelly - that's what 'wobbly / firm' means.