Flourless chocolate cake with salted caramel ripple

Instructions

1. Grease a 20 cm loose-bottomed cake tin liberally with butter (I add a small circle of baking parchment to the base of the tin for safety). Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Melt the chocolate, sugar and butter over a bain marie (i.e. place ingredients in a bowl over a saucepan of water – the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water – and slowly heat). Once melted, mix with a spatula and fold in the egg yolks, vanilla extract and ground almonds.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Mix about one third into the chocolate mix. Then carefully fold in the remainder, keeping as much air as possible. Pour into the cake tin and tap on a workbench. Cook for about 25 minutes until it has risen up but has a slight wobble in the middle (check during cooking as cooking time may vary depending on your oven). Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin for about 30 minutes.
4. While the cake cooks and cools, make the salted caramel. Place the soft brown sugar, cream and butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to thicken a little and then whisk in add in the cornflour. Once the caramel is thick and glossy, whisk in the pinch of sea salt, then remove from heat. Transfer to a bowl and chill in the fridge.
5. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin and dust liberally with cocoa powder. Cut into wedges.
6. Place the chilled salted caramel into a bowl along with the mascarpone and mix lightly until a ripple effect is formed. Serve with cake.