Sunday, February 24, 2008

Chocolate Brownie Cake with Ice-Cream and 2 Sauces



Ingredients: (serves 6)
6 oz good-quality dark chocolate
6 oz unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup whisky
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 oz good-quality choc chips
Vanilla ice-cream, to serve

Caramel sauce:
3.5 oz muscovado sugar
2 tbs golden syrup
2 oz unsalted butter
3/4 cup thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate sauce:
4. oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup thickened cream

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 340 F. Grease and line the base of a 9 inch springform cake pan.
Place the dark chocolate in a bowl with the butter, vanilla and whisky. Place over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water, and stir occasionally until the butter and chocolate have melted. Add the brown sugar and beat well, then add 7 oz of the caster sugar, and beat until combined.
Remove the bowl from the heat, cool slightly, then whisk in the eggs and sift in the flour, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Beat until just combined, then carefully stir in the choc chips.
Pour chocolate mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cake starts to shrink away from the sides of the pan. Cool slightly before removing the outer ring from the pan.
While the cake is baking, make the sauces. For the caramel sauce, place the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add cream and vanilla and cook for a further 1-2 minutes, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool.
To make the chocolate sauce, place chocolate in a medium-sized bowl.
Heat cream in a saucepan to scalding point, pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth.
To make sugar shards, line a baking tray with foil. Place the remaining caster sugar in a saucepan over very low heat and swirl the saucepan around occasionally, allowing the sugar to melt evenly. Once the sugar has dissolved and turned golden (this can take up to 15 minutes), pour the mixture onto the tray and set aside to cool completely before breaking into shards.
Serve the brownie cake while still slightly warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice-cream and a sugar shard on the side. Pour over some of each of the caramel and chocolate sauces.

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