A rich and indulgent flourless truffle-like chocolate cake. Perfect as a make ahead dinner party dessert, this cloud forest chocolate cake is naturally gluten free.
This is a tale of falling windows, fabulous neighbours, goose eggs but mostly flourless chocolate cakes. Because I have not one, but two recipes for you. Both are a decadent mix of butter, sugar, eggs, almonds and above all rich dark chocolate.
You’re already expecting to find my version of Willie’s cloud forest chocolate cake. But I have a surprise version of Claudia Roden’s gâteau au chocolat for you too.
Goose Eggs
When I wrote my post on duck eggs nearly two years ago I was intrigued by the picture of a goose egg. I’ve been yearning to get my hands on one ever since. Goose eggs are meant to be even better than duck eggs for baking. But where on earth do you get them?
Well, I couldn’t quite believe it when I went to buy my duck eggs from our local weekly produce market one day. Right next to the duck eggs was a basket of three goose eggs. I bought one immediately.
I’d only left the market about a minute when I turned around and raced back again to buy the other two. Who knew how long it might be before I’d be able to get my hands on another one?
I’d been told goose eggs are particularly delicious when fried or scrambled. Well it seemed a shame to scramble my first ever goose egg, so we had one each, fried for breakfast the following day. They were enormous and virtually covered the whole plate. See the above comparison with a duck egg if you don’t believe me. Those goose eggs kept us going down at the plot for a good many hours.
But what to do with my remaining egg? It just so happens that I’d been wanting to make Willie’s famous cloud forest chocolate cake ever since I first saw it. But I was waiting for the right occasion. Well really, what could be more special than baking a rich flourless cake with a goose egg?
Willie’s Cloud Forest Chocolate Cake
Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook was thus unearthed and I proceeded to melt his Venezuelan Black 100% cocoa. As usual I did things my way. I’m all for the least amount of fuss and washing up, so I tend to simplify recipes which seem unnecessarily complicated.
I didn’t grate the chocolate first, as Willie prescribes in his recipe. Nor did I melt the butter and chocolate in a pan suspended over boiling water. I find it’s fine to do it in a saucepan directly, as long as the heat is a gentle one.
As the egg, although large wasn’t quite worth six chicken eggs and as I only had 160g of the cocoa, I made a smaller cake than the stated one and had to adjust quantities for the other ingredients.
The cake is quite a simple one to make, as long as you have electric beaters. You can whisk the eggs and sugar together by hand but it takes some doing. It doesn’t take long to get it into the oven either, which is always a bonus.
My favourite part is mixing the melted chocolate into the whipped eggs. You get such lovely swirly patterns. You do need to be careful and fold the mixture together as gently as possible, as you want to keep as much air in as possible. But it is fun.
The cake cooked to perfection. But I was too impatient to try it, so I didn’t leave the cake long enough to cool before scattering over the grated chocolate. Thus the chocolate proceeded to melt which meant the cake didn’t look nearly as sophisticated as it was meant to. My impatience is often my downfall.
But What Does It Taste Like?
Willie covers his cloud forest cake with chocolate ganache icing, but I don’t. It’s perfectly rich and delicious enough on its own. I find a ganache topping is overkill. So I just dust the top of the cake with finely grated chocolate. You could use icing sugar instead.
This cloud forest chocolate cake had such a powerful chocolate smell whilst cooking. It made my stomach rumble, even though I’d only just had lunch. It’s rich, dense, truffley and gorgeous. CT reckoned, when we finally got to try it, that it was an adult only experience. The taste and aroma of chocolate is very strong. The texture is mousse like and more like a brownie than a cake. But it isn’t in the least bit sweet and has a robust underlying bitterness that’s a bit like beer.
Windows and Neighbours
We have fabulous next door neighbours and count ourselves very lucky. Not only do they take most of our parcels when we’re away, but they have helped us out in a crisis a number of times.
One Saturday, part of our bedroom window fell away, ripping off some roof tiles in the process. This isn’t great at the best of times, but especially it was especially bad then as the weather was very wet and windy. And there was worse to come.
Out came the long ladder and various tools and really, in quite a short space of time, our neighbours had fixed it for us. To say a heartfelt thank you, I baked them Claudia Rodin’s gâteau au chocolat. It went down very well and the empty plate came back in less than an hour. The plate was accompanied by a beaming smile and a report that it was very good and they’d polished it off rapidly.
Claudia Roden’s Gâteau au Chocolat
Willie’s cloud forest chocolate cake is very similar to my version of Claudia Roden’s gâteau au chocolat. The method, however, is slightly different, as are the quantities. I’ve made it a few times and it’s also delicious. It contains less sugar (pro rata) than Willie’s and produces a smaller cake.
Most of the photos shown in this post are of the gâteau au chocolat. We enjoyed it most recently with rose syrup whipped cream and our own homegrown strawberries.
Method
For Claudia’s chocolate cake, you need to separate the eggs first. Beat the yolks with the sugar until the mixture is thick and pale. Then you fold in the chocolate and butter mixture along with the ground almonds. Finally you need to whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them in. Bake in a 20cm round silicone mould or lined tin at 180℃ (350℉, Gas 4) for twenty minutes.
Ingredients
I find duck eggs work particularly well in this cake, although a goose egg would be lovely too. I also use cardamom sugar which gives subtle fragrant spicy notes.
To make cardamom sugar, fill a large jar with golden caster sugar. Add about twenty cardamom pods and give the jar a good shake. Leave for at least a week and keep the sugar topped up. This means you can use it on an ongoing basis. You’ll need to sieve the sugar when you use it so you can catch any stray cardamom pods. Return this back to the jar.
- 125g 70% dark chocolate
- 50g unsalted butter
- 3 extra large eggs (I use duck eggs)
- 35g golden caster sugar (I use cardamom sugar, see above)
- 50g ground almonds
Other Flourless Chocolate Cakes You Might Like
- Black Forest gâteau
- Chocolate almond cake
- Chocolate polenta cake
- Coffee cardamom mousse cake
- Nigella’s pistachio chocolate cake
- Triple chocolate almond brownies
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make my version of Willie’s cloud forest chocolate cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Flourless Chocolate Cake. PIN IT.
Willie’s Cloud Forest Chocolate Cake – The Recipe
Willie’s Cloud Forest Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 160 g 100% chocolate (I used Willie’s Cacao, Venezuelan Black)
- 200 g unsalted butter
- 1 goose egg or 3 large hens eggs
- 40 g light muscovado
- 120 g golden caster sugar (I use vanilla sugar)
- 75 g ground almonds
Instructions
- Finely grate 10g off the chocolate block to cover the top of the cake with later.160 g 100% chocolate
- Melt the remaining 150g in a saucepan over a low heat along with the butter. Leave to cool a little.200 g unsalted butter
- Whisk the egg with the sugars until thick and doubled in volume. Electric beaters are best for this as it takes at least five minutes of hard whisking.1 goose egg or 3 large hens eggs, 40 g light muscovado, 120 g golden caster sugar
- Pour the chocolate down the side of the bowl so as not to knock the air out of the egg mixture then proceed to fold in as gently as possible.
- Fold in the ground almonds.75 g ground almonds
- Pour into a 22cm silicone cake mould or lined tin and bake in a preheated oven at 170℃ (325℉, Gas 3) for 30 minutes. The cake should be well risen and a skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean.
- Leave to cool, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool further.
- Place onto a cake stand and scatter the grated cocoa over the top.
Herbert Appleby says
We have goose eggs when we go to my uncles house as they keep geese I’d never have thought about baking cakes with them though.. looks great!!
Choclette says
So many wishes. Looks like many of us are after a new kitchen. i didn’t think of that one when I was making a wish. A large kitchen with lots of workspace,cupboard space, windows with sills and a kitchen table would make me a very happy woman.
Baking Addict says
Wow I’ve never seen goose eggs for sale. I want a fried goose egg too! The cake looks fabulous. I love chocolatey, truffley tasting cake.
Choclette says
Corina – yes indeed, a good ration of yolk to white.
Oxslip – oh you grew up with geese. Were they all right? Our next door neighbours had some and I was terrified of them. Fresh brioche sounds wonderful, never had it, but it sounds a mighty fine use of these excellent eggs.
Lizzy – thank you, it was good fun. I shall be on the look our for more of these.
Grazing Kate – glad you had a good holiday. I’ll be checking your blog to see where you went. Yes, this is indeed an expensive cake, but it is a good one. You’ve obviously instilled good your kids with good taste.
Johanna – keep giggling now with a picture of you trying to steal eggs from some irate geese – they can be pretty fierce.
Jill – Not sure how easy goose eggs would be to find in Paris, but you never know. The cake really didn’t need anything extra, but one day I might just have to try it with it’s topping – just to see 😉
Jill Colonna says
Goose eggs? Fantastic. Will have to check this out. Your cake sounded incredible: dark and truffly, not too sweet? Wow. No wonder you didn’t need to top it with anything!
Johanna GGG says
those eggs look gigantic – must be fun – never seen such a thing before but there are heaps of geese by the lake near us – wonder if they leave any eggs about 🙂 cake sounds lovely
Grazing Kate says
I’ve made the cake before – was really nervous as Willies choc is expensive and I didn’t want to muck it up. Admittedly used chicken’s eggs but the result was an incredibly rich, intense (and yes, I agree, ‘adult’ cake, although my kids tucked in) and felt quite special. Also love the name ‘cloud forest chocolate’
I’ve not got enough time to blog and read blogs at the moment – it’s been lovely as been on holiday for a while, but hopefully back with a vengeance this week!
Lizzy says
I need to stop by more often! Fabulous cake…and what an incredible egg. What fun 🙂
oxslip says
How wonderful – Ma used to struggle to find uses for these when we were children and the geese were laying. After we revolted about another huge omelette or frittata we had a spell of her making a lot of brioche which I adore. Freshly baked it’s even better than you expect
Corina says
Yum – the size of that yolk is amazing!
Choclette says
Janice – they are not very easy to come by, so snap them up when you can.
Celia – these were the first goose eggs I’d seen other than in pictures. Do make that cloud cake – it is so rich and delicious.
Phil – scrambled eggs is on the list for next time I get hold of some. I gave away a few as Easter eggs and the reports I heard back were that they made great scrambled eggs.
Chele – find the right occasion – I put it off far too long.
Ocean Breezes – Thanks for your good wishes. Do keep a look out for duck or goose eggs – they are so good for baking.
Foodycat – yes, I find geese rather intimidating.
Foodycat says
No wonder geese are so bad-tempered, trying to lay those! The cake sounds perfect though.
Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes says
Yikes those are some huge eggs! I’ve never had duck or goose eggs, I’ll be on the look out for them! Thanks for all the great information. BTW, the cake looks delicious! Have a wonderful weekend!
Chele says
Good lord that egg is HUGE! I too have always wanted to make this cake but always thought it needs the right occasion. Fab ;0)
celia says
I have never seen a goose egg before! When I saw your pic, I thought you’d found ostrich eggs!! Thanks for the feedback on the cloud cake – haven’t tried it yet, but keep thinking I must, especially since I have 100% cacao in the pantry!
Phil in the Kitchen says
I for one am always more than happy to see another Claudia Roden recipe. She’s been with me through thick and thin (well, fat and slightly less fat) over many years. I think I might have tried more of CR’s recipes than just about any other writer. This looks like another winner to me. Hope you’re keeping warm and dry.
I’m really pleased that more people are getting to hear about goose eggs. I’ve been eating them for years, but finding them can be difficult. (Incidentally, I’ve also noticed that they tend to get a lot cheaper as you get farther away from London). My favourite way of eating them is still scrambled but omelettes taste great too, although with a different texture to hen egg omelettes. Oh and a great sounding cake too.
Janice says
I’ve never seen goose eggs for sale. Love the giant fried egg, what a treat!
Choclette says
Kath – well I guess that’s one way to get your hands on a goose egg! I’ve always been a little scared of geese, but I hugely rate their eggs.
Maggie – I don’t think we’ll ever run out of things to try – my list just keeps getting longer.
Dom – Shouldn’t the hall have a few geese wondering around their orchard? Then it would be really cool baking with really local eggs.
Kate – goose eggs are not desperately common, but if you do come across one, get it.
Helen – I’m a bit funny about duck eggs. They are brilliant for baking but I wouldn’t want to eat one on it’s own. Goose eggs are a lot milder.
Jac – I think one of my stated aims should be as a temptress – I’d like to think that anyway 😉
Ananda – just cracking the shells was a bit of a feat.
CityHippy – duck eggs vary in size, but an average one is about the size of a large hen’s egg.
Foodiva – one egg fitted my small frying pan perfectly.
Foodiva says
Mystery be incredible? Yes, that’s some new lingo for ‘must be incredible’… automatic dictionary’s too efficient, you know!
Foodiva says
Oh my, I really can’t imagine how those geese lay their ginormous eggs! It mystery be incredible having them for breakfast, they’re the size of a small plate… One look at your perfect chocolate cake has MY tummy rumbling!
cityhippyfarmgirl says
Wow that is big! That’s compared to a duck egg, are duck eggs much bigger than a hen egg? Either way that’s still huge!
Ananda Rajashekar says
Gosh those eggs are SO huge never tried but would like to try!
Jacqueline says
Wow, those eggs are huuuuuuuge! Would like to slice into that cake right now. You do know how to tempt!
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
I am actually quite sad that I really do not like duck eggs. They are just too ducky and rich for me.
The cakes looks lovely.
katescakesandbakes says
yummm..chocolate cake… I agree those eggs are absolutely ginormous! I love the picture of the egg dwarfing the toast! It must have been well tasty. I’ll have to keep an eye out for goose eggs!
What lovely recipe Choclette- Claudia is one of my favourite food writers. I’m ever so sorry to hear about the window- especially in all that terrible wind and rain. I hope it is all okay now?
Dom at Belleau Kitchen says
good lordy look at them eggs!… my good friend and neighbour down the road has a few ducks and when I was doing my mega bake off for the Gunby Hall tea room I used a couple of duck eggs and they did make amazing cakes but I preferred the scrambled eggs we got from them… bright yellow!… your cake also looks stunning, I love the way you describe that smell… I am now salivating!
I adore Claudia Rodins cake recipes and this really does look incredible! It looks like a giant slab of chocolate cake and all the sauce makes it heavenly. Fab entry to random recipes and glad I could make your November run a little more sparklier!
Kath says
Oh my goodness it sounds fantastic. That goose egg is huge! I must try one but I don’t think I have ever seen one for sale. But I did see a lovely goose at an English Heritage site over easter and I am working on Mr OC…
Maggie@BritishBaking says
I had no idea you could buy goose eggs!! I’ve not tried duck eggs yet! Another on my long list of things to get round to then! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂