Quadruple (or Quintuple!) Chocolate Cake

October 28th, 2007 by Not Quite Nigella

Now I know that double cream and double cheese is decadent, I’ve even had triple cream and that was heavenly debauchery. The mere thought of a Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake seems almost wickedly lustful and wanton! I’m almost rendered speechless except to say YES YES YES!!! Let me lock my door just in case, before I proceed…

I’ve made cakes with syrup before (eg the South African Malva pudding by Art Smith on Oprah) and they are without exception, wonderfully moist. And the poking of the cake prior to dousing with syrup can only be therapeutic and if that doesn’t help with stress, the resultant cake should do the trick.

I should confess right now that I was in a rush and accidentally added the 25 grams of dark chocolate into the syrup itself instead of reserving it for the chocolate flake garnish. So instead of making a Quadruple chocolate cake, I inadvertently made a Quintuple Chocolate Cake!

Needless to say, this is an extremely rich cake. A thin slice would be enough for any hardcore chocoholic. The cake itself is wonderfully moist and delicate and keeps for several days without drying out. I’d actually suggest making the chips even smaller as the chocolate sank to the bottom of the cake making the bottom third a very rich and indulgent almost solid chocolate layer. Unless of course you like living life on the edge…

Nigella’s Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake from Feast

200g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
50g cocoa
275g caster sugar
175g butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
80ml sour cream
125ml boiling water
175g chocolate chips (I used 100grams of Lindt 85% cocoa and 75grams of Lindt milk couverture)

For the syrup:

1 tsp cocoa
125ml water
100g caster sugar
25g dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70% cocoa)

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and line a loaf tin (21 x 11cm and 7.5cm deep). Put the flour, bicarb, cocoa, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream into a food processor, and blitz until it’s a smooth, satiny brown batter. Process again while pouring the boiling water slowly into the mixture. Turn off the processor, and stir in the chocolate chips.

(If you’re not using a food process, cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the eggs, followed by the dry ingredients, then the sour cream and vanilla, then beat in the water.)

Pour the fairly runny batter into the loaf tin, and bake for an hour. When ready, the loaf will be risen and split down the middle, and a skewer should come out fairly clean.

Just before the cake comes out of the oven, put the syrup ingredients of cocoa, water and sugar into a small saucepan, and boil for five minutes. What you want is a reduced liquid, a syrup.

When you’ve taken the cake out of the oven, pierce all over with a skewer, and pour the syrup as evenly as possible over the cake. Let the cake become completely cold, then slip it out of its tin, removing the paper, and place it on your serving plate. Get your chocolate, and slice thin slivers off the block with a heavy knife, until you’ve got enough to cover the top of the cake. If required, spoon a little extra syrup so that the chocolate will stick to the surface.

From Feast by Nigella Lawson

P.S. If you click on the photo below, you’ll see the rich dark chocolate bottom layer. That’s not syrup, that’s delicious chocolate!

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16 Comments | Add your own

1. Helen | October 28th, 2007 at 11:37 pm | #
omg that look decadent. but oh so good as well!
2. Not Quite Nigella | October 29th, 2007 at 2:45 am | #
Hi Helen-thanks! Does including 85% cocoa dark chocolate perhaps relegate this to health food status? I hope so…
3. Jobe | October 29th, 2007 at 2:45 pm | #
Looks really awesome.
Reminds me of the 16-chocolate cheesecake I made. Or should that me Sexdecillion Chocolate Cheesecake?
http://zarathustra-bakes.blogspot.com/2006/10/sixteen-choc-cheesecake.html
4. Not Quite Nigella | October 29th, 2007 at 8:28 pm | #
Hi Jobe-That looks divine! I do love a good cheesecake and that one looks great
5. Willa | January 8th, 2008 at 8:52 pm | #
I made this cake (gluten-free) and it is simply wonderful! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I was in chocolate heaven.
6. Not Quite Nigella | January 9th, 2008 at 12:05 am | #
Hi Willa-That’s great to hear and great that the gluten free version works out well. You’re more than welcome and I notice that you have a recipe for Pulla which I may cook as my husband is half-Finnish and I think he’d really like it
7. Willa | January 9th, 2008 at 1:22 am | #
I hope the Pulla works well for you. My husband is part Finn as well. To make the recipe non gluten-free just use plain flour instead of gluten-free flour blend and omit the xanthan gum.
8. Not Quite Nigella | January 9th, 2008 at 2:19 am | #
Hi Willa-That’s great and thanks for the non gluten free version And the episode of Nigella Bites (on right this second on the ABC) is featuring this very Quadruple cake!
9. Chiantae Lane | May 17th, 2008 at 1:36 am | #
this cake is like so bangin’.
i’m gonna try this at home!!!!!!!!!!!!
10. Cassandra Davis | May 17th, 2008 at 1:39 am | #
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH MY GOD!!! THIS CAKE IS DELICIOUS LOOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11. Not Quite Nigella | May 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am | #
Hi Chiantae-Banging is indeed a most perfect way to describe it! Let me know what you think of it
Hi Cassandra-Hehe thanks! I felt that way when I first saw the recipe!
12. Jamee | September 4th, 2011 at 11:45 am | #
How did you get such perfect-looking chocolate slivers? What’s the trick? This looks so delicious that I think I’m going to have to go through the tedious task of converting all measurements so that I can recreate this… Yum. –Jamee in Omaha, NE, USA

4 Trackbacks/Pingbacks

1. Nigella & Chocolate « My Kitchen in the Desert | January 9th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
[...] a copy of Feast, I went scouring the internet this morning for the recipe. I’d like to thank Not Quite Nigella for her her most wonderful site! As I type, the cake is in the oven baking. It smells [...]
2. So far, so good « My Kitchen in the Desert | January 9th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
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3. The truth is in the eating « My Kitchen in the Desert | January 10th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
[...] Many thanks to Nigella Lawson and her Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake recipe AND many thanks to Not Quite Nigella for her website which features many of Nigella’s recipes, tried, tested and photographed. [...]
4. The Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake @ Not Quite Nigella | May 29th, 2009 at 6:00 am
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