An impressive luxurious dessert to serve at special occasions. To get the best effect, I set mine in a 30x20cm tray lined with cling film, but you can make it in a terrine dish if you prefer. I used to serve mine in a pool of cold vanilla custard and a dollop of ice cream.

Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days and it freezes well.

Line a 20×30 baking tray with cling film. Watch the video for tips on this recipe

Melt the butter and cocoa powder in a pan on a low heat, stirring to combine and set aside. In a bowl over hot water, melt the dark chocolate.

In a stand mixer, whisk the cream and icing sugar to a lightly whipped consistency, be careful not to over whip. Transfer to a bowl, wipe out the mixer bowl ready for the eggs

In a small pan, dissolve the sugar in the water on a low heat. When dissolved, bring to the boil then simmer for a minute and set aside.

Whisk the egg yolks until they are thick and fluffy, then very slowly pour the hot sugar syrup on the yolks, whisking all the time until you have a thick mixture. Keep whisking until the egg mixture is cold.

Slowly whisk the cocoa powder butter mixture into the egg yolks followed by the melted dark chocolate and finally fold in the whipped cream until completely combined. Pour onto the tray and chill for at least 3 hours.

To slice, heat a knife before making a cut and rinse the knife between each cut. This will give you that lovely professional finish.