Earlier this morning I tried a bit of Christmas shopping, but could barely get in the door of Waterstones before getting too infuriated and having to leave. 

So, I did what everyone should do when they’re feeling low on merriment and Christmas cheer, go home for coffee and cake.

Taking a bit of inspiration from the wonderful Sirocco cookbook by Sabrina Ghayour and a lot of inspiration from my trip to Cuba a couple of years ago, I made this take on a dark chocolate mousse cake.

Everywhere I went in Cuba, there was coffee and dark chocolate, and mixed with a good quality dark rum like the Santiago de Cuba that I used here, it is a marriage made in heaven.

The problem is, that although they work really well together, these three flavours can be a little bitter and a little dry for a cake, so to balance it out they need something sweeter and lighter. 

I chose to go with lime and mint (grated and chopped respectively) thrown over the top as they are the obvious flavours to mix with rum, and bring a balance. To sweeten it up a bit more I used another ingredient I saw a lot in Cuba – passionfruit, beating it into some double cream to serve alongside a slice.

Highly recommend enjoying this late in the afternoon with a decent cup of coffee, and a shot of rum to sip on if you’ve got no other plans.

Ingredients

• 200g dark chocolate
• 175ml olive oil
• 5 eggs (separated)
• 75g caster sugar
• 50ml dark rum
• 3 shots of espresso
• 100ml double cream
• 2 passionfruit
• Lime, mint and dark chocolate to garnish

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200C, gas mark gas mark 6. Line and grease your cake tin.
• Pour your espresso, and add rum. Allow to cool.
• Melt the dark chocolate in a suitable bowl, over simmering water. Take off the heat, then stir in the olive oil. Leave to cool for roughly 15-20mins. 
• While it’s cooling, beat your egg yolks with the sugar until fluffy and pale in colour. Leave to one side.
• Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Leave to one side.
• Add your cooled espresso and rum to the chcolate.
• Once your chocolate mix has cooled, slowly add an fold into the yolk mix. Keep folding until smooth.
• Fold in the egg whites until smooth and silky.
• Pour into your cake tin, then put in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. 
• While baking prepare cream, by beating with the passionfruit seeds until fluffy.
• Remove cake from oven, leave to stand for 15 minutes. The edges will sink slightly but that’s fine.
• Serve a heavy slice with cream, and a little grated dark chocolate and lime, and finely chopped mint. Shot of rum and a coffee are optional, but delicious.