Mocha Chocolata ya ya..

Yes my doc is going to give me hell again.. but let's be honest. I just am not cut out to be a diabetic. I am a chocoholic and that "ic" came way before the diabet"ic" so the way I see it.. chocolate wins. Hands down. So I was going through my Nigella and I found this recipe for Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caffe Latte Cream. Hello. Two of my favorite flavors - chocolate and coffee, how could I go wrong? Yeah well.. I couldn't. This cake is sinfully rich packed with a major decadently chocolate punch. And I even got a bonus surprise after cutting into it.. the middle is gooey and oozes like those lava cakes - not quite as much as a true lava cake, but oozey just the same. *swoon* I do have to admit to one error in judgement while making this cake. The Caffe Latte cream is made with white chocolate. Something I loathe. She even makes a comment about people who dislike white chocolate, "Don't be put off if you don't like white chocolate: you don't taste it here; it just counters the sharpness of the instant espresso powder in a slightly caramelly way, which in turn is softened by the cream." But because of my extreme dislike for the stuff, I don't keep it in my house so I decided that a good dark chocolate butter cream would be good on this cake. Well.. no, it wasn't so great.. it was more like chocolate overkill. The next time I make this cake (and ohhh I will make it again!) I will either try the Caffe Latte cream or I will go without anything as the cake really can stand on it's own - it's that damn good. The second small change I made, which really didn't effect taste at all but gave the sides a great deep dark brownish-black color, was I dusted my springform pan with Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder because I didn't have enough parchment paper to line the pan. If you are a chocolate/coffee addict as I am.. try this cake =) Chocolate Espresso Cake with Caffe Latte Cream courtesy of Nigella Lawson For the cake: 5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt semisweet) 1 stick, plus 3 TBS. butter 6 eggs 1 1/4 c. superfine sugar (I used regular white sugar that I ran through my food processor to make it fine) 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1/2 c. all-purpose flour 5 tsp. instant espresso powder 1/4 c./4 TBS. Tia Maria or other coffee liqueur (I didn't have any so I omitted it) For the Caffe Latte Cream: 3 oz. white choclate, broken into small pieces 1 1/2 c. heavy cream scant 2 tsp. instant espresso powder Take anything you need out of the fridge to bring to room temperature. The only truly important thing, however, is that the eggs aren't cold, so if they are, just put them into a bowl and cover them with warm water for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350º F. Butter and line a 9 inch springform pan. Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave or double boiler and set aside to cool slightly. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until thick, pale and moussey. They should have at least doubled in volume, even tripled. If you're using a standing mixer, as I do, this is effortless. Gently fold in the flour and espresso powder, taking care not to lose the air you have created, and finally add the melted chocolate and butter, folding gently again. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, by which time the top of the cake should be firm, and the underneath still a bit gooey. Immediately pour over the Tia Maria and then let the cake cool completely on a rack before releasing it from the pan. For the cream, melt the white chocolate either in a microwave or double boiler, and let it cool. Fold in the cream and espresso powder, whipping the latte cream together to thicken it a little. For some reason the white chocolate seems to make the cream instantly thicker; if I whisk the cream first it can seize a little when it's stirred into the chocolate. Sit the sprung cake on a plate and fill the middle sunken crate with the caffe latte cream and dust with a little cocoa, or just put the buff-colored cream in a bowl with a spoon, to serve alongside the cake, dusting or not with cocoa or, indeed, instant espresso powder or a mixture of both, as you wish.