Bette Noir

A rich, creamy, dark chocolate wonder. Thank you Lee-anne and John Furness for this recipe and for harboring and feeding an artsy fartsy American at L'Impasse du Temple.

Preheat oven to 350°
Serves 12 - 16
Serve plain or with ice cream, thick cream, fresh berries, or all of these

Ingredients

• 1/2 C sugar, plus 2 T extra
• 250 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
• 1/2 C unsalted butter, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
• Cocoa for dusting

Ready...go

Combine sugar and 1/4 C water in a small sauce pan and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Stir until smooth, then add the butter. Stir until melted. Transfer to a bowl.

Beat eggs, extra sugar, and the scraped seeds from the vanilla bean with an electric mixer for 5 to 7 minutes, or until tripled in volume and the mix holds a trail. Fold 1/3 into the chocolate mixture until combined. Gently fold in the remainder until just combined. Pour into a greased base-lined round 20cm tin.

Place the tin in a large baking dish. Fill the baking dish with enough boiling water to come half way up the side of the tin. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until the Bette has risen in the center and is slightly domed (should be soft to the touch).

Note: the toothpick method will not work with this recipe. If you stick a toothpick in the center, it should come out gooey.

Remove from the water, cool, then refrigerate overnight. Cut with a hot, dry knife, and dust with cocoa.

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