This recipe came from the Australian chef Damien Pignolet, who in turn got it from his friend Eve, thus the title.
This is a must for anyone who feels that cakes are spoiled by the cooking and would rather lick the raw batter in the bowl than eat the finished cake.
It is really just a chocolate mousse, but made with very dark chocolate, ¾ s of it is cooked and ¼ remains uncooked as a gooey middle.
Note the superb simplicity of the ingredients, just chocolate and eggs, with a tiny amount of butter and even less sugar.
You would be hard put to find a better example of Escoffier’s dictum:Faites Simple.
One essential of this recipe is to use best quality chocolate, I used a 75% Cocoa one which worked well.
The truly courageous could try one with an even higher count!

Eve’s Chocolate Cake

360g dark chocolate, chopped into small bits
50g unsalted butter
12 large eggs, separated
50g caster sugar
a little extra dark chocolate and cocoa to decorate

Grease a 26-28cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 150C, 300F.Gas 2.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a bain-marie of hot (but not boiling)water-or in a microwave- and then work in the softened butter.
Beat the egg yolks with 30g of the sugar until pale.
Then combine them with the chocolate and butter mix.
Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry.
Then beat in 20g of the sugar until stiff.
Beat ¼ of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mix.
Fold this gently but thoroughly back into the remaining egg white mixture. Transfer ¼ of the cake mixture into a bowl and refrigerate.
Pour the balance of the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30-40 minutes.
It should remain slightly moist in the centre.
To test, press the centre with your finger after 30 minutes – it should hold the indentation.
When the cake is ready, invert it onto a serving platter.
Remove the ring and base.
Leave it to cool completely.
The cake should collapse and leave a crater in the centre.
Fill the crater with the reserved cake mix and dust lightly with cocoa.
Scatter over the extra bits of grated chocolate.
Serve with whipped cream.

Post Script on July 6th.

Sile thinks it is a little too bitter so another 20g of sugar with the egg yolks might be a good idea, especially if using such a dark chocolate.