Lisbon Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Put a rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 325F. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and dust the inside with flour. Tap out the excess and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to blend.
3. Put the 120g butter in a large heatproof bowl or over a saucepan of simmering water. Scatter the semisweet or bittersweet chocolate on top. Heat, stirring often, until the butter and chocolate are melted, looking smooth and shiny. Remove the bowl from the heat.
4. Using a whisk, briskly stir in the sugar. One by one, energetically stir in the eggs, blending each in before adding the next. The mixture will thicken and look glossy. Wait a few minutes before stirring in the dry ingredients.
5. Scrape the batter into the cake pan, and carefully bring the pan to the counter a couple of good raps against the counter to settle the batter.
6. Bake for 35 minutes, until the cake is fiendish of firm and craginess is around the edges of the cake when set. Even if cake is firm, the center will still be moist - that's as it should be.
7. The cake must cool to room temperature (ideal) or cool all the way before you, spread the cake's topping or frosting.
8. To finish, simple put the cocoa powder in a strainer and dust generously over the top of the cake. Run a table knife between the sides of the cake and the pan and invert the cake onto a serving plate.

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