Dark and Twisty Lindt Cake

For those of you still, like me, secretly enjoying Grey’s Anatomy, though there are like 3 characters left whole and healthy, let’s get one thing straight. Meredith is not dark and twisty. I know you agree. We all want to be but not everyone can.

Unlike this cake that is the darkest, twistiest thing you ever met.

It is a sort of brownie, sort of cake, mini dessert. Made with 70% French Lindt cooking chocolate, the BEST one I’ve ever tried. So dark, so bitter, it makes Grey’s Anatomy look like Sesame Street.

Swirled and topped with Caramel Brownie Lindt for the ones afraid of going over to the dark side.

It is rich, dense, and deeply, unapologetically chocolatey. Which is the only kind of chocolatey there should be.

It all started with me wanting to work off some weekday blues with some weeknight baking. I thought of making a Lindt version of these insane brownies before realising I was one egg short. I Googled a whole bunch of strange things and sat wondering if I could will my large baking dishes into shrinking down to fit half a recipe.

And then I realized, I’d made sad eyes at my Mom a few months ago because she had two of these delightfully cute, little red baking dishes, and I had none. Within seconds, I had one wrapped up and in my bag. As long it’s not Tupperware, she and I are willing to share anything 🙂

So I got out my beautiful red dish and made a really small little brownie cake, perfect for half a recipe with 1 egg.

I say cake because there is a chance I over-mixed it and lost the beautiful flaky crust I’ve become obsessive about. The weirdest thing though was that the top didn’t smooth out by itself but retained the swirls of batter that formed when I poured it in. Dark and twisty. Any ideas, anyone? I flipped out and thought I’ve destroyed it but the inside was soft and bursting with chocolate flavour. The top was crusty and perfect, even without the flakiness.

The Caramel Brownie flavour was an afterthought but a good one because it combats the bitterness of the Lindt cooking chocolate perfectly. In case you do use a 70% cocoa and above variety, try frosting or mixing it with some milk chocolate.

Try this brownie cake warm with some vanilla ice-cream, a few friends, and plenty of spoons. Happiness at its darkest.

What you’ll need:

3 tbsps unsalted butter (or salted but omit the pinch of salt that comes later)

85 gms roughly chopped dark chocolate

1/8 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup castor sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

3 squares of your favourite milk chocolate, chopped

What to do:

1.  In a bowl placed over a pot of simmering water, melt the butter, chocolate and cocoa until you have a thick, smooth mixture. Set aside to cool a bit.

2. Preheat the oven to 175 C. Grease a 5″ to 6″ dish and set aside. You could even use 6 muffin moulds.

3. Beat the egg, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl till pale.

4. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and mix gently to combine.

6. Finally, add the flour and salt and mix well. Fold in the milk chocolate and don’t be alarmed if it melts a bit in the warm batter.

7. Pour into the prepared dish, even the top with a rubber spatula and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Dig in while piping hot and gooey, preferably topped with more milk chocolate!