Festive Chocolate Cake

An incredible chocolate cake with a twist. It's soft, crumbly, somewhat reminiscent of a truffle, with an interesting combination of cinnamon, star anise, and dark chocolate that I think is just perfect. This cake is truly festive and wintery. You can serve it with a scoop of ice cream or, for example, a cup of hot mulled wine.

Batter:

Dried Apricots

1 cup

Almonds

1/2 cup

Walnuts

1/2 cup

Flour

3/4 cup

Cocoa Powder

2 tbsp

Baking Powder

1.5 tsp

Almond Flour

1/2 cup

Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp

Ground Star Anise

1 tsp

Eggs

Cane Sugar

1 cup

Dark Chocolate (70%)

7 oz

Butter

7 tbsp

For Decoration:

Apricot Jam

2-3 tbsp

Dried Apricots

Almonds

Walnuts

Powdered Sugar

To prepare the festive chocolate cake, first chop the dried apricots into small pieces and coarsely chop the nuts.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, almond flour, cinnamon, and star anise. Mix well.

Whisk the eggs with sugar separately for about 8-10 minutes, until a white, thick, fluffy mixture is obtained.

If you don't have cane sugar, white will work as well. But cane sugar will add an additional caramel flavor.

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave, not at once, but by heating for 20 seconds each time stirring to avoid overheating.

Add a little of the egg mixture to the melted chocolate and mix, then pour the chocolate into the egg mixture and gently fold with a spatula. Do not overmix, the mixture should remain airy.

Add the dry ingredients in two batches and gently mix.

Finally, add the nuts and dried apricots, mix again.

I have a 9-inch pan, which I greased with oil and lined the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Spread the batter and smooth it slightly. Place the batter in an oven preheated to 300°F in top-bottom mode. My cake baked for 50 minutes. Check for doneness with a wooden skewer, it may need a little more or less time.

I couldn't find a rectangular pan, I think it would be perfect for this cake, convenient for decorating and slicing the cake (although, that's just my opinion).

Remove the finished chocolate cake from the oven onto a rack to cool. Oh, the aromas will fill your kitchen! Brush the cake with apricot jam.

Now decorate the chocolate cake, I decorated mine with nuts and dried apricots. You can decorate differently, use some berries, marshmallows, or tiny meringues, colorful sweet sprinkles, etc.

(5/5)