Death by Chocolate is probably not what people want to hear only 3 weeks into the new year. However, with this month’s Sweet Adventures Blog Hop titled ‘Death by Chocolate’, I really couldn’t resist cheekily jumping on board. The Hungry Australian Blog is hosting this month’s Blog Hop.
For Christmas, my wonderful sister passed on some stunning vintage pieces to me for styling my food pictures, she also gave me the most decadent dark chocolate. Made by Erich Hamann, this schokolade is bitter and not for the faint at heart 
As you may have guessed from the name, Hamann is a German chocolatier. Break off a few squares and it will be just enough to satisfy that naughty little craving. When I heard of Death by Chocolate, I instantly knew that I wanted to contribute a recipe using this wonderful schokolade. It had to be so! Here is what the Sugarhigh Newsletter had to say about Hamann Schokolade
“Another culinary delicacy not for the weak of palate: dark chocolate. Founded in 1912, Erich Hamann Bittere Schokoladen has long established itself as one of Berlin’s leaders in high-cocoa-content chocolates untempered by dairy. A family-run business now in its third generation, the cozy Wilmersdorf shop, still decked out in its original, 1920s Bauhaus interior, offers countless variations on its bittersweet wares, wrapping up everything from classic Mokka-Bohnen, fruity pralines, zesty ginger sticks, and their best-selling chocolate bar in charming, old-fashioned packaging.”
The recipe for this Peach and Chocolate moist cake that I used was inspired by Elra’s Baking, a wonderful moist poached peach cake using gluten free flour. I adapted the recipe and changed the flours that were used but the remaing recipe belongs to Elra. A wonderful treat. I brought it to a birthday party on Saturday, the hostess was a gluten free lover and claimed the box of slices all to herself. The poached, wrinkled peaches are a welcome addition to a rich cake such as this and as it is stone fruit season, I thought that this would be the perfect recipe to contribute.
For The Cake:
115g unsalted butter, room temperature
125g castor sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
115g (70%) dark chocolate, melted-cooled slightly
120g Almond Meal
20 g unsweetened cocoa powder
1¼ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 poached peach, recipe is at the bottom 
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C
- Butter a 24 cm cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper and butter the paper as well. Coat the cake pan lightly with rice flour, tap off the excess flour. Set aside.
- Sift almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Peel off the skin from the poached peach if desire, then cut into quarter. Set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar on a medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Beating well after each addition.
- Melt the chocolate over a Bain Marie and add to the creamed mixture, beat on a low speed (speed #2) just enough to incorporate them, add the sifted flour mixture, beat for 1 minutes. Turn off the machine
- Pour the batter into prepared cake pan. Arrange the sliced peaches on top, Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Whilst the cake is still in the tin, drizzle some of the peach syrup over to give that extra sticky kick.
- Cool before serving.
For The Poached Peach:
3 medium-size, ripe, but firm yellow peaches
1 vanilla bean, split and scrape, reserve the pod to add to the syrup
250g sugar
500ml water
Place the sugar, vanilla bean including the pod, and water in a large enough pan to put the fruit in a single layer, set the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Halve each peach, scoop out the stone, add to the sugar mixture. Turn the heat to low. Cook for about 10 minute on each side until the peaches have softened. Set the peaches aside on a rack to drain the excess syrup, and let them cool. Reserve the rest with the poaching syrup for other uses….I plan on using mine for ice cream. I do love ice cream!
