Pistachio and Sea Salt Brownie Cake

I made this as birthday cake at work for another colleague - we've had three birthdays in three weeks! After making the fruity blueberry and coconut cake the previous week, I thought I'd go for something chocolaty this time, and this did not disappoint! I came across this recipe on BBC Good Food months ago, and so adapted this slightly to make this amazingly fudgy, pistachio topped brownie cake. It's a good one for making ahead as it'll keep for a few days and still be rich in the middle, and you could just as easily replace the pistachios with any other nut you fancy.


Ingredients:
175g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate, chopped
200g caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
65g plain flour
75g roasted salted pistachios, shelled and chopped
Pinch of sea salt
Icing sugar to dust

Pre-heat you oven to 180c, and grease/line a loose bottomed cake tin ready.

Combine the butter, chocolate and caster sugar in a saucepan and melt gently over a low heat, stirring all the while to stop it catching. Once it's smooth and free of lumps, remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Once it's cool, whisk in the egg yolks and flour until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs whites until they hold soft peaks but are still a little frothy. This only takes a couple of minutes by hand, but if you are using an electric whisk, make sure you don't overdo them.
Gently spoon the whisked egg whites into the chocolate mixture and carefully fold it all together. 

Once it's all folded together, spoon the mix into your prepared tin. Level it out, pushing it right up to the edges with the back of a spoon. Scatter the chopped pistachios all over the top, and add a sprinkling of sea salt.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until it's just firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out at least almost clean.
As I made this as a birthday cake, I needed to be able to cut it into wedges without it oozing everywhere so went for a slightly firmer set. If you prefer gooey brownies, just cook them for a little less time at 20-25 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin slightly before removing, dusting with icing sugar and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.