Thomasina Miers’ molten mole chocolate cake

Name: Thomasina Miers’ molten mole chocolate cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: Serves 8-10
Cuisine: Mexican recipes
Ingredients: 200g unsalted butter; 200g soft light brown sugar; 200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids); 60g white spelt flour; ½ tsp fine salt; 1 tsp baking powder; 3 medium eggs; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 90g pecans, chopped; 90g milk chocolate chips (optional); Softly whipped cream or crème fraîche, to serve (optional); For the spiced mole; 60g sesame seeds; 2-3 tsp ancho chilli powder (see Before You Start); 2 tsp ground cinnamon; ½ tsp fine salt; 2 tbsp maple syrup; Specialist kit; 24cm loose-bottomed cake tin

Portion size: Serves 8-10
Prep time 20 min. Cook time 45 min
Difficulty: easy

Recipe by: Thomasina Miers

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This molten chocolate cake by Mexican food aficionado Thomasina Miers has a welcome chilli warmth, inspired by Mexican mole.

Chocolate cake with a twist: “An astonishingly good cake that manages to be both thrilling and comforting with its smoky, salty, deeply chocolatey taste and unexpected layers of flavour from the chilli and sesame,” says Thomasina. “It has a richness, but there is also a raffish feeling to it, perhaps due to the surprising background warmth of the ancho.”
Mexican flavours: “Inspired by the warm chocolate and mole pastes ground to order in the chocolate shops in Oaxaca, the combination of sesame, cinnamon and chilli opens up your taste buds and pairs with the chocolate in a way that I find irresistible,” explains Thomasina.
Make ahead: the cake will keep in a tin for up to 3 days.

Recipe taken from Mexican Table by Thomasina Miers (Quadrille £28, out 21 August). Browse more of our best chocolate cakes.

Before you start

I like to use 3 teaspoons of ancho powder for a lovely background warmth, but do go down to 2 if feeding lots of young people.

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Ingredients

200g unsalted butter
200g soft light brown sugar
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
60g white spelt flour
½ tsp fine salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
90g pecans, chopped
90g milk chocolate chips (optional)
Softly whipped cream or crème fraîche, to serve (optional)

For the spiced mole

60g sesame seeds
2-3 tsp ancho chilli powder (see Before You Start)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp fine salt
2 tbsp maple syrup

Specialist kit

24cm loose-bottomed cake tin

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Method

Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5 and line the cake tin with baking paper.
Melt the butter, sugar and dark chocolate together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. You will need a roomy bowl for this so that you can stir the mixture without spilling its precious contents. Once completely melted, take the bowl off the heat and set aside.
To make the mole, heat a small frying pan over a medium heat and toast the sesame seeds for about 5 minutes until lightly golden. Reserve 1 tablespoon for later, and tip the rest into a small blender with the other mole ingredients. Whizz to a paste.
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Now add the flour, salt and baking powder to the chocolate mixture and beat in with a wooden spoon. Pour roughly a quarter of this mixture into the mole paste and mix well to loosen it, then empty this back into the chocolate, folding it in deftly so that all the wonderful nutty, smoky flavours of the paste hit the chocolate.
Whisk the eggs into the chocolate mixture, one at a time. Stir through the vanilla, chopped pecans and chocolate chips (if using), reserving a small handful of the pecans for the topping. Scatter the reserved pecans and sesame seeds over the top and bake in the middle of the oven for 35 minutes. It should still look a little squidgy, but that’s OK. It will keep cooking a little once out of the oven, and will settle as it cools.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a bowl of thick cream or crème fraîche, or just as it is. Store in a cake tin, in a cool, dry place for up to 3 days.