Chocolate cake and Straw wine
Jenny de Luca is positively drooling as she tastes Hazendal's The Last Straw
2003 for this food and wine matching exercise. "This straw wine has got
to be the most delicious dessert wine I have ever tasted and I think our rich
and moist French chocolate cake is the most delicious chocolate cake I have
ever eaten. So the two simply have to be paired."
This is a gal who knows plenty about food and wine. She and husband Peter have
been running one of Johannesburg's best Italian restaurants for the past 16
years. With the two in charge, it's little wonder that rustic Casalinga brims
with character and is a place where guests immediately feel at ease. It is an
extension of the De Luca home on a 32-hectare farm in Muldersdrift and was constructed
from sections of demolished houses on the Randfontein Gold Mining Estates.
De Luca has always been passionate about what she does - a trait obviously inherited
from her father, the world renowned golfer Gary Player, whose weakness is apparently
chocolate and cheesecake.
She continues: "This French chocolate cake is hugely popular with customers
in the restaurant and I believe that the aroma and smooth taste of the dessert
wine perfectly complement the rich chocolate."
Decadent? Maybe. Delicious? Definitely. Okay, so skip the entrée and
mains and go directly to the pud. You deserve it.
French Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
250g dark chocolate, chopped
225g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons brandy/orange liqueur
5 free-range eggs
1 tablespoon plain flour
Icing sugar for dusting
Method
Generously butter a 23 x 5cm springform pan. Line with a round of non-stick,
buttered baking paper. Wrap the outside of the pan (sides and underneath) in
foil to prevent water from seeping into the cake.
Over low heat, melt the chocolate, butter and sugar, stirring until smooth.
Cool slightly, and then stir in the liquor.
In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs with an electric mixer for a minute.
Beat in the flour, then slowly add the chocolate mixture until well blended.
Pour into the prepared pan and place in a large roasting dish. Pour some boiling
water into the roasting dish to come 2cm up the side of the pan. Then bake at
180°C for 25-30 minutes until the edge of the cake is set but the centre
is still soft.
Remove pan from water bath and remove foil. Cool completely (the cake will sink
in the middle and may crack - don't worry about this). Remove the side of the
pan and invert cake onto a serving plate. Remove the bottom tin and paper.
Dust with icing sugar and serve with whipped or sour cream.
