Espresso mud cakes, chocolate syrup & ice cream

Dessert with 9 ingredients.

Servings: 4

Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoon espresso powder dissolved in 2 tsp hot water, plus extra for the tin
• 50 gram golden caster sugar plus 1 tbsp
• 4 tablespoon plain flour sifted
• 4 tablespoon golden syrup
• 1 large egg separated
• seeds from ½ a vanilla pod or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• coffee or vanilla ice cream, to serve
• 50 gram unsalted butter softened, plus extra for the tin
• 145 gram dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into squares

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter four wells of a muffin tin, and sprinkle some espresso powder into each.
2. In a pan, gently melt half of the chocolate with the butter until smooth. Stir in 50g sugar, then take off the heat and cool for a few mins. Stir in the coffee, egg yolk, vanilla and flour until even.
3. Beat the egg whites with electric beaters or a balloon whisk until foamy and thickened. Add 1 tbsp sugar and whisk until it forms shiny soft peaks. Take care not to overwhisk – softer is better if you’re not sure.
4. Stir about 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate batter to loosen, then carefully fold in the rest of the whites using a large metal spoon or a spatula.
5. Spoon into the prepared tin, then bake for 10-12 mins or until the cakes are just starting to dome in the middle. Cool the cakes in the tin for 15 mins. In a small pan, melt the remaining chocolate and golden syrup together with 3 tbsp hot water, and whisk until silky smooth. Turn out the cakes and serve warm in a puddle of the syrup and topped with ice cream.