Chocolate love cake with cherries & booze

Name: Chocolate love cake with cherries & booze
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 2 to 6
Ingredients: 100 g butter softened, plus extra for greasing; 2 tablespoons cocoa powder; 100 g caster sugar; 1 free-range egg; 100 g self-raising flour; ½ teaspoon baking powder; ½ x 425g tin of black cherries; 2 tablespoons hazelnuts; 1 tablespoon butter; 150 ml single cream; 75 g good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids); 1 splash of brandy, rum, Amaretto or Baileys

A super-special Valentine's Day dessert

Vegetarianv

“I have a lot of love for this chocolate cake – it's not too difficult and totally delicious ”

Serves 2 to 6

Cooks In35 minutes

DifficultySuper easy

Dinner for two Dinner Party Romantic meals

Nutrition per serving

Calories 425 21%
Fat 27.6g 39%
Saturates 15.5g 78%
Sugars 25.1g 28%
Salt 0.4g 7%
Protein 5.5g 11%
Carbs 38.4g 15%
Fibre 2.4g -

Of an adult's reference intake

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Ingredients

CAKE
100 g butter , softened, plus extra for greasing
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
100 g caster sugar
1 free-range egg
100 g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ x 425g tin of black cherries
2 tablespoons hazelnuts
CHOCOLATE SAUCE
1 tablespoon butter
150 ml single cream
75 g good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
1 splash of brandy, rum, Amaretto or Baileys

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Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and grease a small ovenproof dish (23-25cm) with butter.
Mix the cocoa powder with a few tablespoons of boiling water and stir until the mixture is lovely and smooth.
In another bowl or a food mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy and light, then add the cocoa mixture, egg, flour and baking powder. Mix it all together really well and pour into your ovenproof dish.
Drain the cherries, chop the hazelnuts and sprinkle both on top before putting the dish in the oven for about 25 minutes.
While your cake is baking, make your chocolate sauce. Place the butter in a small pan with the cream and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, break the chocolate into small pieces and add to the pan.
Give it all a good stir and then leave it for 5 minutes so that the hot cream can melt the chocolate. Add a splash of your desired alcohol and stir until thoroughly combined.
To check if your cake is ready, give it a bit of a jiggle. If it doesn’t wobble too much then it’s done; if not, give it a few more minutes in the oven.
Once it’s ready, pour your warm chocolate sauce all over the cake and either share it right from the dish or serve it up on small plates with vanilla ice cream or double cream. Delicious!