Chocolate Délice

For approx. 8 slices
Preparation: 10 mins
Refrigeration: 12 hours

This strong Christmas party contender is the 'tall dark stranger' of chocolate desserts: intriguing, naughty, passionate and intoxicating with flavours and high cocoa content!

This incredibly sleek and easy-to-make dessert recipe was given to my mum by a family friend over 20 years ago, and is still a dinner-table winner to this day. Here's our golden rules: don't skip on the refrigeration time, and make sure you serve the délice with orange or kumquat slices lightly caramelised in sugar for that divine 'chocorangelicious' combination! Or why not serve with a couple of scoops of our tasty Bitter Orange Marmalade? Alternatively you may go without the fruit by simply substituting brandy with Cointreau.

• 250g butter
• 400g good quality dark chocolate (with at least 70% cocoa content)
• 1 whole organic egg + 5 organic egg yolks
• 1/4 wine glass-measure brandy
• 1 cup strong black coffee (espresso), lukewarm

Break up the chocolate into chunks and place in a heatproof bowl with the strong coffee. Put the heatproof bowl on top of a pan half-filled with simmering water, on the stove, and leave the chocolate to melt. When the chocolate is thoroughly melted, turn off the stove (while still leaving the bowl on the pan of hot water), and stir.

Slice up the butter and add to the warm chocolate, making sure it melts. Add the brandy. Then take the bowl off the pan of hot water. Whisk the egg yolks and add them to the chocolate mix, and finally add the whisked egg white.

Line a rectangular cake tin with greased parchment paper. Pour in the chocolate mix and make sure it has cooled off before placing in the fridge for ideally 12 hours.

Serve with freshly-made orange or kumquat compote: wash and slice up a couple of organic oranges/ 500g kumquats, place in a small pan with 4 tablespoons caster sugar and 1 tablespoon water over a moderate flame for a few minutes, until glazed and softened.