In an effort to continue shopping within the small clothing size section, I often have to give away copious amounts of cake. I try a piece of course but the cake has to be quickly snatched out of my hands and shuttled forth to another, less calorie concerned destination. This of course has the added benefit of making me a little popular, although I suspect that if the cake supply dried out, perhaps the popularity might too 
I usually try and bring the cakes and baked goods to suitable occasions. I have occasions-a-plenty this September. I have two baby showers, a hen’s night, a birthday and a picnic. However none of these occasions were quite right to bring along a cake called “Delicious Death”. I can’t imagine a quicker way to bring down the mood for a baby shower or birthday than to haul out a cake called Delicious Death. I imagined people tsking and elbowing each other and whispering “Who invited the freak?”.
The reason why I couldn’t make this for Hallowe’en is because of the reason why this cake was devised. I first saw it on Cakelaw’s delicious site and was immediately drawn to the name-Delicious Death. It was devised by British cake maven and actress Jane Asher for the Agatha Christie 120th anniversary on the 15th of September (yes I am a day late). The recipe was inspired by a passage in one of her Miss Marple books called “A Murder is Announced” in which housekeeper Mitzi bakes it for Dora Bunner’s birthday tea. “‘Impossible to make such a cake. I need for it chocolate and much butter, and sugar and raisins’” she tells her employer.
Asher herself acted in some of Christie’s productions and was commissioned by Christie’s grandson Mathew Prichard to create the cake. She describes it as “an intense, forbidding dark Belgian chocolate centre which is lifted by the unexpected sharp zing of its brandy-soaked cherry and ginger filling. The glorious assault on the senses doesn’t end there: the cake is decorated with flecks of pure gold, sprinklings of crystallised rose and violet petals, and swirls of ganache piping. This paragon of a cake is as beautiful to look at as it is delicious – and deadly? – to eat.”
The cake itself is a rich, very dark gluten free chocolate cake filled with a rummy mix of sticky, dried fruit and glace cherries. I know dried fruit is controversial. I have friends that won’t even touch a cake if it has any in it and I know so many that won’t eat fruit cake. If either applies to you, I won’t say that this cake is for you but you could always make more of the ganache and fill it with ganache. However I should caution that the cake is already very rich and the fruit lightens it somewhat. Removing it from the filling and replacing it with chocolate ganache is perhaps one way to find yourself having an actual delicious death!
So tell me Dear Reader, and this might be a morbid question, but what do you want to eat at your last meal?
Delicious Death Chocolate Cake
Recipe by Jane Asher
Ingredients
- 175g/6 ozs dark chocolate drops (50-55% cocoa solids)
- 100g/3.5 ozs softened or spreadable butter
- 100g/3.5 ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 5 large eggs
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 100g/1 cup ground almonds
- ½ tsp baking powder
For the filling
- 150ml/5 fl ozs rum, brandy or orange juice
- 150g/5 ozs raisins
- 55g/2 ozs soft dark brown sugar
- 6-8 glace cherries
- 4-6 pieces crystallized ginger (I was out of this so I used more glace cherries)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
For the decoration
- 175g/6 ozs dark chocolate drops (50-55% cocoa solids)
- 150ml/ 5 fl. ozs double cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 10g crystallized violet petals
- 10g crystallized rose petals
- 1 small pt of edible gold leaf
Buyer’s tip: crystallised violet and rose petals can be found at cake decorating stores or Coco Chocolates in Kirribilli. Edible gold leaf can be found at The Essential Ingredient.
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 150ºC, (300ºF, 135ºC fan assisted). Grease an 8” deep cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment or silicone.
From this…
To this delicious, sticky, rummy goodness!
2. Prepare the filling: in a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients and stir over heat until the mixture is bubbling. Allow to simmer gently, while stirring, for at least 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thickened. Allow to cool.
3. In a small heatproof bowl, melt the chocolate drops over simmering water or in a microwave, being careful not to let it overheat. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
The chocolate mixture before the egg whites are incorporated
4. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until very pale and fluffy. Separate the eggs, setting aside the whites in a large mixing bowl, and, one by one, add 4 of the yolks to the butter/sugar mix, beating well between each one.
5. Add the melted chocolate and fold in carefully, then stir in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix together the ground almonds and baking powder, then stir them into the cake mix.
6. Whisk the egg whites until peaked and stiff, then fold gently into the chocolate cake mix. The chocolate cake mix may seem quite stiff compared to the whites so just fold carefully.
Ready for the oven
7. Spoon the mix into the prepared cake tin, levelling the top, and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 55-65 minutes, or until firm and well risen. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out on to a rack to cool completely.
I used a 9 inch pan. This is why you should follow the instructions and use an 8 inch pan.
8. Using a serrated knife, slice the cake in half horizontally. Spread the cooled fruit filling onto one half and sandwich the two halves back together.
9. To decorate: put the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl and melt them together over simmering water or in a microwave. Stir in the butter to give it a gorgeous gloss. Place the cake on a rack over a baking tray. Keeping back a couple of tablespoonfuls, pour the icing over the whole cake, making sure it covers the top and the sides completely, scooping up the excess from the tray with a palette knife as necessary. Add any surplus to the kept back icing. Carefully transfer the cake to a 10” cake board or pretty plate.
10. Once the reserved icing is firm enough to pipe, place it in a piping bag (ensuring there are no large crumbs in it) with no. 8 star nozzle and pipe a scrolling line around the top and bottom edges of the cake. Leave for 2-3 hours, to set. Place the violet and rose petals into a plastic bag and crush them into small flakes. Sprinkle these liberally around the chocolate scrolls. Finally, with a cocktail stick or tweezers, pull off some small flakes of gold leaf and gently add them to the top of the cake.
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92 Comments | Add your own
I love cakes with such dramatic names and the story behind it is fun as well.
My goodness, this sure looks rich!
I’ll have to bookmark this recipe for when I need to make a cake for special occasions 
ohh I think my last meal would be a big platter of sushi and sashimi, followed by multiple bowls of ice cream!
This looks super rich and decadent.
Hmmm my last meal… too many choices. I’d probably end up picking at little bits of everything
oh my – this cake is amazing – despite its ‘morbid’ name
This is a work of art. I want to lick the picture. Is that wrong?
It is a black hearted masterpiece, Lorraine. I must make it! WOnderful back story to the delightful cake which puts my former favorite “death by chocolate” to shame. The boozey fruit center is just too perfect.
I know what I’ll make next time I need a chocolate fix!
Yay! I am so glad that you made it, and especially impressed that you found crystallised rose petals. Even the Cake Deco shop didn’t sell those here. Your cake is gorgeous and a dead ringer for the original. Agatha Christie would be very impressed. Gosh, my preference for last meal is an ever changing menu, but today I’ll go for salt and pepper squid, caramelised pork belly with Asian greens, caramel tart with fresh cream, and cheesecake (who cares about the calories if it’s my last meal
).
What a divine cake!
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
SSG xxx
This cake sounds like a lot of fun for Halloween. The filling looks delicious. And, I’ve always been an Agatha Christie fan, so I love the origin of the cake!
I would definitely make this, and up the brandy content! Sounds amazing. I know though, even one batch of muffins/cupcakes is too much temptation for me to leave lying around the house! I need to bake more, but it kind of seems wasted as most people at work can only deal with one cake a week!
If death looks this delicious then bring it on!!
love your darling tea set too
Really incredible intense chocolate cake – ideal for me!
I understand why death – is heavenly
All the best,
Gera
That cake looks beautiful – unfortch I’m one of those types that won’t touch cake with fruit in it
I think it came from my mother, she won’t touch cake with fruit in it either!!
I think for my last meal I would want parmesan crumbed chicken schnitzel with mushroom sauce and duck fat roasted potatoes……drool!!
You know, I had been wondering how on earth you keep so trim, now I know!! I have been making cakes aplenty lately too and have ended up mainly on my waistline.. time to meet the neighbours, methinks
My last meal.. oh what a feast it would be!!
YUUUUUUUM! This cake would be my last meal, the WHOLE thing. How delicious!!
That looks like a nice gluten free chocolate cake! I wouldn’t bother with the filling and icing – I’d just eat it with cream. And maybe chocolate sauce if required.
LOL – your Death Cake story a fab and funny start to the day. Not sure when I will atempt this one but I am sure the right occasion will pop up sometime and I’ll remember this as the prefect ‘death’ dish to take!
my last meal would have to be some lamb chops that are nice and black on the outside, a bowl of full fat carbonara and then a huge bowl of chocolate pudding and ice cream
Oh my.. I could quite happily eat a piece of that as my last meal
nice work!
How lovely and glossy! But I’m one of those that will poo-poo a cake with fruit in it – I’ll go the ganache in the middle option
Last meal option is such a hard question, but the first thing that comes to mind is something rich and will probably kill me anyways if I have too much of it – chicken liver pate on brioche toast I had at Sean’s Kitchen a while back.
YUUUUMMMMMMOOOOOO!
Last meal? -Easy…
hot cinnamon donuts (so hot that they nearly burn your fingers!)
I’d also accept crispy bacon, plain salted potato chips (crisps) or my mum’s banana cream pie.
love the finished cake it looks seriously deadly calorie wise lolz
Will need a large lass of water with that one!
This is divine… I too shuffle cakes to our good friends across the road ASAP so I can’t eat them. Last meal? In my single days, for dinner I used to eat blocks of gorganzola and the like, and once I choked on a piece of proscuitto, and saved myself by banging my back on the corner of a wall while sticking my fingers down my throat to try and pull it out… that was almost my last meal!
I’m completely enticed by this cake, Lorraine! It’s so pretty and I think the fruit filling is a nice, welcome change from ordinary ganache filling.
This lookd utterly beautiful, Lorraine! Though I feel positive that your popularity would be absolutely unaffected by changes in cake supplying
I love the sound of “I need … much butter”, too!
This looks utterly, dangerously, divine! And I know just the person to make it for…
Actually, this cake looks as if it might be just the thing to eat as my last meal!
Mmm this would be a delicious death indeed. Thanks for sharing the history behind this cake as I’ve never heard of it. I don’t have a specific meal in mind for my last, but I’d probably want a lot of dishes from my hometown in China. Especially our famous breakfast noodles with a sesame paste-based sauce.
yum! I have a recipe for a schwatzwalderkirschtorte (black forest cake)that also cooks and thinkens the fruit in the cherry juices but uses lots of cream instead of the chocolate. There goes my diet!
ohhh that cake looks so rich and decadent! yum!
My last meal… well something seriously fatty and bad for me! Onion rings and mac and cheese… followed by a slice of really rich cake and maybe a macaron. And a toblerone cocktail to wash it all down! I would be very sick, but then again, Its my last meal so who cares!
Looks wicked!!
Yum! My final meal would require some travel – David Thomson’s fave restaurant in Bangkok in the late 1990s was the Seven Seas. We went there and I have never forgotten the crispy catfish salad. I want it again before I die. Oh, and maybe a chocolate pudding with a molten centre for dessert. But what for main?? Singapore Chilli Crab of course!
Love the look and the touch of pink that is so you, Lorraine. I sometimes make brownies with dried cherries and red wine, so I’m in. Last meal: Fresh whole Dover sole, beef wellington and hot fudge chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. None of these ever featured on my blog. What the?
I’ve often said that my last meal would be appetizers and desserts, just a little nibble of so many delicious things. So delicious death might be the way to go! xoxo Mum
This is fantastic! I’m a fan of glace cherries, will definitely have to give this a go.
Oh Gosh, I’m almost afraid to try it!
Since it’s a last meal and all, I’d have to start with an amuse bouche of basil and tomato soup, entree of langos with garlic butter, and for the mains, beef cheek with creamed potato and wilted spinach, beef pad see ew, and my boyfriend’s pumpkin risotto. Don’t get me started on dessert: Adriano Zumbo features heavily
Oh yum. Yum. And YUM… To die for! :{)
that cake looks sooooo deadly!
i really like that pink teapot! so cute =)
Oh NQN you piqued the interest of this english lit graduate with a secret love for agatha christie crime fiction.
My last meal would have to involve a banquet table to fit all the stuff I want on it, but it would definitely include things I currently try and avoid, filled with trans fats and preservatives and HFCS and other delicious delicious additives!
Gorgeous cake! My co-workers get most of my baking these days. They’d love this!
I am eating this right now and it is absolutely divine!
I know what you mean, i usually bring all my dessert to work or give them to my husbands to bring to work. I will have once peice and then i need to get it out of the house
Oh WOW! I’m not a massive fan of chocolate cake, but this looks amazing! All that glossy icing yummmm!
My last meal would have to contain many different desserts!
Oh goodness. If this is death, I don’t wanna live.
Lorraine, there is a special place in heaven for people who can make a chocolate cake like this one!!
Oh my aching hips…I have to go back to the gym just from looking at this masterpiece!
Except for the name of the cake it would be perfect alternative for a christmas cake, all that fruit and choc richness.
OMG, it looks so deadly! ;-P A devilishly scrumptious cake.
Cheers,
Rosa
Mmmmm, but what a way to go huh. Delicious indeed.
Just wondering why you say dried fruit is controversial.
I completely understand what you mean about the giving stuff away…and completely agree! I made two mini cakes and gave one away, and threw away half of the one I had (even though I soooo wanted to it at midnight).
Your cake looks gorgeous. I love the shiny ganache.
The more I see and read of this cake, the more in love I fall with it. The greatness of a ganachey chocolate cake AND brandied dried fruit?!?!! HEAVEN.
I would have to say I would like to have… big bowl of creamy pasta, hot garlic bread, croissants, hot doughnuts, lots of rich creamy icecream, whipped cream… all things full of lactose and gluten… after all that I would probably wish the end would come very quickly before my intolerances kicked in!
Hmmm… what would i have on my last meal? Definitely comfort food, something hot… maybe hot donuts or fresh peshwari naan or samosas… maybe a Moroccan tagine… hey, maybe the more i eat, the more I delay the inevitable… I can do that!
Gorgeous cake! That is what I call a black beauty!
Have a great day.
*kisses* HH
Wondering, if you pass on the piece of cake, do you at least lick the spoon when it’s being made? Hehehehe.
What a beauty! Your cakes are so inspiring!!
For my last meal I would either have steak and bearnaisesauce (such a man)or lobster termidore, and creme brulee for dessert. It doesn’t matter if you gain weight when it is your last meal, right?
Hey, how can every cake you bake be prettier and more delicious looking than the previous one? I am a chocaholic as you know, and I would be tempted to put more chocolate ganache as a filling for my personal taste but I have to admit this cake seems perfect the way it is, in its balance of flavors.
I have had Death by Chocolate cake many times, but not Delicious Death. It looks like a killer way to go! Yum.
For some reason, this reminds me of a chocolate version of a fruit cake… but much more deadly… in a good way of course!
Lorraine, if you ever, ever need to give cake away, I’m ready and willing
This looks amazing, one of those, need to bake as soon as possible numbers. Hopefully my last meal will go on as long as possible, so somehting with lots and lots and lots of courses 
oh lordy that looks amazing!
You just reminded me of halloween… OPPs! This cake will kill my diet plan! LOL
i would love to tuck into a piece of this cake! but yes, it goes without saying that my last meal would have to have cake in it
I love the agatha christie story behind this cake! food history is so interesting. i wish i was a food historian
my last meal….fresh pasta, simple seafood with garlic, lemon, parsley. some really good vino. and something chocolatey for dessert.
Heidi xo
What a gorgeous cake! It looks incredibly delicious! Love the elegant decorations!
Pure evil of you to post this while i’m dieting!!
An ideal last meal… fresh prawn cocktail followed by a perfectly cooked medium rare steak, masses of french fries with aioli & a variety of chocolate desserts. Everything super-sized of course
On the premiere episode of “Top Chef Desserts” last night, one challenge involved trying to make the most decadent chocolate creation ever. I think YOU should have entered this cake. You would have won hands down.
when I was in the USa I used to go to a restaurant with a triple death chocolate cake ( 3 layers) it was good to die each time !!Pierre
Dear god
The cake of my dreams from the depth of my soul has been reincarnated.
Excuse me while I get some tissues and hand lotion.
Wow that does look so lovely and moist. Yummo! Love the name too!
This is a humorous post, Lorraine:) This cakes looks so rich and decadent! Wow! I would have a hard time choosing a last meal, but I imagine this would be an appropriate dessert:)
My last meal?…..definitely LOBSTER!
I just read this book recently and this cake was on my mind. Imagine my surprise when I saw it here!! It looks great although I don’t think I would go for a dried fruit and chocolate combination myself.
For my last meal I want to eat lots of lots of seafood – a bit of lobster, some king crab and dozens of scallops! Oh yeah, and some chocolate brulee to finish please
Waw! What a massive filled chocolate cake!!
It is huge, Lorraine!
i might sacrifice all my clothes for that glossy ganache alone!
Crystallised ginger and chocolate sound like a gorgeous comination!
I enjoy dried fruit but not glace cherries but have bookmarked this after seeing it on Cakelaw’s site – wish I was a bit quicker to get around to it like you – you really need this cake for a how to host a murder dinner party
What a devilishly intense cake this is. As, I’ve said before, you are a very patient baker ;o)
Last meal: mini-appetizers to please my heartès pitter patter…too many to mention. A fabulous seafood linguini…a citrusy granita in between…to be followed by stuffed calamari and grilled veggies. Of course, the dessert, would be no contest…crème brulée with a touch of Grand Marnier to the side ;O)
Lorraine, was that over-answering your question? I guess I got carried away ;o)
Ciao for now,
Claudia
I love how shiny that ganache is! Any cake which has such a marvelous sheen to it is always one I can’t say no to.
I always give away most of the things I bake too – the recipients tend to be whoever I’m working with at the time, and like you, I sometimes do wonder if they would like me less if I didn’t feed them so often!
Hi if I wanted to make this but just put nuts instead of raisins and cherries, since I am not a fan of fruits with my chocolate (I know I’m boring ;p) can I proceed with the recipe and just not do the filling part? Should there be a change in how I bake it? Thanks!!! Enjoy Australia
Everything…..until I burst LOL
The cake looks so pretty Lorraine! And so deadly at the same time. Ohhh *wipes away drool*
Wow that looks incredible. Soooo chocolatey, I think I’d quite like to die by chocolate if that’s what it takes.
Jane Asher is a bit of an institution here… I have a copy of her Fancy Dress Costumes book which she published 25 yrs ago before she got into serious cake making.
Oh no.. this is just too evil! xx
This could well be the cake that kills the cake mistress. That looks sooo decadent and boozy.
Must. Resist. Baking …
That truly looks worthy enough to die for. I love a good chcolate cake, and actually quite like fruit cake too, when made well!
wow…very neat. I really loved ur site.
That line about the baby shower had me cracking up! I got sent the recipe for this today but it didn’t have a picture with it, yours is beautiful! I almost wouldn’t want to eat it (but I’m all over anything with dried fruit in it).
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