ganache my heart

Cocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake My first ever attempt at making a cake in my oven (note: i own a very very OLD chef oven, not known for their even heating abilities).

recipe from: womens weekly best foods collection (who doesnt own a WW cookbook?)
reason for making it: dinner party with the girls
so what do i think?: i have pretty much spent the past 3 days referring to this cake in my facebook updates thats how much i LOVED it. not only was i extremely excited about the fact that i baked a cake, but it wasn't dry, it was a coco flavour more than the sweetness of chocolate, the bottom was moist, the top was crunchy (best type) the ganace was extreme and the raspberries were tart. there is nothing that could have made this cake better, except more cake, and a nice cake plate. and it was gluten free, but not gross gluten free, you know how sometimes GF is obviously GF? not this.
teamed with: light dollop cream. yes yes yes i KNOW its light, but it actually went really well because the cream wasnt so thick that it was richness overload, it was actually pretty good, and its LOW FAT!!!
dinner: yes i made dinner too, vietnamese noodles with ginger garlic chicken. this was a good choice because it was light and refreshing as opposed to the heavier cake.

so the recipe (coz i know you all pretty much want to make it):

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup (35g) cocoa powder
1/3 cup (80ml) water
150g dark eating chocolate, melted
150g butter, melted
1 1/3 cups (300g) firmly packed brown sugar (i just loosely packed it)
1 cup (125g) almond meal
4 eggs, separated
200g dark eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
2/3 cup (160ml) thickened cream (i used light dollop cream)
300g raspberries (i used frozen raspberries, and about 2 handfulls)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Grease deep 22cm-round cake pan; line base and side with baking paper.

Blend sifted cocoa with the water in large bowl until smooth. Stir in melted chocolate, butter, sugar, almond meal and egg yolks.

Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. (i just used a hand-whisk and beated until they were pretty much stiff) Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture, in two batches. Pour mixture into pan. Bake cake about 1¼ hours. (lies, mine was 1 hr at about 180o but my oven is weird. basically wait till skewer is clean and then turn off oven and leave it in there to cool for a while)

Stand cake in pan 15 minutes; turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool. (by this time it was 11pm and i wanted to sleep so i covered mine in glad-wrap on a plate and put it in the fridge for tomorrow night)

Stir chopped chocolate and cream in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. (or microwave!! melt chocolate first, let it cool a little and stir in cream - do NOT microwave once cream is in, otherwise it separates)

Place raspberries on top of cake; drizzle chocolate mixture over raspberries. Stand cake at room temperature until chocolate sets. (alternately, ice cake with the ganache and sprinkle raspberries ontop!)

you can also freeze the cake :D save it for a surprise special occasion. i would suggest serving at room temperature.

its bedtime now...so until next time, eat well!! (i really need to think of a good tag line...any suggestions let me know!!) xo