"Mortal Delight" Chocolate And Custard Cake

Chocolate cake
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
Put 120 grams of butter in a mould and place it in the oven to melt it.
In the meantime, cut the raisins in half and soak them in Cointreau.
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, then add the melted butter and mix well until you get a smooth mixture.
Crack and separate the eggs, adding the yolks to the melted chocolate.
Add 100 grams of sugar.
Whisk all together until it’s perfectly smooth.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and add to the mixture.
Then sprinkle in the flour and the remaining sugar, and mix delicately so as not to deflate the egg whites.
Butter the mould with the remaining butter, pour in the mixture and sprinkle in the raisins, drained of Cointreau, then bake in the oven at 180°C for 30-35 minutes.
Remove the dessert immediately from the oven, so that it doesn’t dry out and the centre remains soft and melted.
If preferred, you may substitute the Cointreau with another liqueur, best if one with citrus notes, as the taste of orange and mandarin pairs well with chocolate.

Custard
Heat the milk with the vanilla pods, divided into two
In a bowl, whisk the yolks with the sugar, then pour in the milk in a stream, whisking continuously
Put everything back onto the stove and over a low flame, work it with a spatula
The cream is ready when it leaves traces on the spatula
When finished cooking, remove the vanilla pods

If you’d like to serve this dessert at a party, you may also prepare it in individual moulds and present them in single-serving portions, topped with the cream.

This recipe is taken from the book "Crèmes & châtiments : Recettes délicieuses et criminelles d'Agatha Christie" by Anne Martinetti and Francois Riviere, published by Editions Du Masque