Classic Chocolate Cake
My mother used to make this cake every week as it was so popular with everyone at home. I think it was originally from Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking. It is quite rich so small slices are all that is needed. Very simple to make and bake.
Melt the chocolate gently; mix with the softened butter, flour, sugar and beaten
egg yolks. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Turn into a buttered 6 inch cake tin and cook in pre heated oven 170°C (335°F) for 30-35 mins. There will be a thin crust on the top of the cake but if you test it with a fork the inside will appear insufficiently cooked which is in fact correct as it firms up as it cools. As soon as it is cool enough to handle, turn upside down onto a cake rack. Sift icing sugar over the top.
Theo Hodges
Theo Hodges was born in Kent. After a degree in Graphic Design she joined J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency as an Art Director working on accounts such as Rowntrees, Kraft and The Butter Council. While she was at University in Perugia, Italy she started collecting recipes from friends and family. In 1980 she set up her own design agency: Theo Hodges Design Consultants. For many years when they were young Theo, her sister and six cousins used to spend vacations at her Grandmother’s Victorian vicarage in Kent. ‘The thing about remembering childhood’ she says, is ‘there’s a whole lot of oblivion, and then out of it something floats up, quite sharp and clear. Many of the meals I can still see vividly and various recipes of mine were originally from Granny’s kitchen. ‘The kitchen garden was stuffed with raspberries, huge red dessert gooseberries, strawberries, runner beans, peas and much more with the hens in a shed at the back. But Granny only ate chicken breast and runner beans, followed by raspberries and Jersey cream - and therefore so did we. When raspberries were out of season, and in those days the season was much shorter, Granny made Victoria sponge cakes sandwiched with cream and home-made raspberry jam. On this limited but delicious diet we all thrived’. Theo’s mother was an excellent cook as well, and had been taught by the house- keeper at their house in Mougins, South of France. And once rationing was withdrawn in England in 1952 and good, fresh ingredients became available again, she amassed an enormous number of recipes which has formed the basis for Theo’s collection of family desserts.