So Frenchy, so chic

Last night I had my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner. I use them as an excuse to make something special and generally try something new. Last night, for no particular reason, I decided to go French. I think the direction actually came from the desire to have seafood. I'm not overly confident with cooking seafood as I haven't done it much before, but I found a recipe for a french style seafood soup and thought it looked pretty easy. So, for dinner I made Seafood Bouillabaisse w/ a Capsicum Rouille. The Bouillabaisse was eaten too fast to even get a picture, however I can describe it - a deliciously warming soup with lovely chunks of seafood, a small kick from the rouille and some crunch from the crusty bread (also perfect lapping up the remaining flavours).

Dessert was chocolate cake. This recipe is from a basic French cooking book I've had for year. It is so easy and has minimal ingredients. It's also gluten free, so I like to think that means it's a healthy cake. To make it even more healthy, I wanted to add blueberries, which I had bought yesterday morning from the markets. The cake is so fudgy and rich though, I didn't want to make it too complex by adding the berries to the actual cake, so instead made a creamy topping, which helped balance the richness of the chocolate.

Needless to say, dinner was a hit. Peter and Nadia brought two amazing bottles of wine and as always, we had a great catch-up. Thanks guys and hope you enjoy the left over cake I made you take home.

French Chocolate Cake

250g dark chocolate

250g butter, unsalted

5 eggs

1/2 cup plus 1 tbs caster sugar

1 tbs cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

250ml thickened cream

1 punnet blueberries

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Butter and line a springform pan, the wrap the outside base and sides of the tin with alfoil. 

In a small saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter and chocolate. Once completely melted, set aside to cool slightly. In a clean bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until combined (about a minute). Combine the cocoa and the extra tablespoon of sugar then add to the eggs and beat until combined. Carefully pour the melted chocolate into the egg mix and slowly beat until smooth. Pour mixture into the tin and tap gently to remove any air bubbles. Place tin in a roasting tin and pour boiling water around it, about 3/4 the way up the cake tin. Pop in the oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes. The centre of the cake will still be soft when ready, so the skewer test won't work, however the edges should be set. Lift from roasting tin and set aside to cool for about 5 minutes in the tin. Remove the springform tin and allow cake to fully cook either on a wire rack (can be difficult to move to a rack as it is so fudgy and delicate) or just on a plate.

In a clean bowl, start whipping the cream. When the cream is starting to get thick, add about 3/4 of the blueberries and continue to whip until the cream is thick. Cover the cake in cream and top with the remaining berries. Dust with some icing sugar and serve. ENJOY!