These are a popular bake for work – I tend to vary the recipe and they work best if you use chocolate orange in place of the milk/white chocolate chunks.

185g unsalted butter
185g dark chocolate pieces (70% works best)
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
100g chocolate chunks (split into 50/50 white/milk chocolate, or all chocolate orange)
3 large free-range eggs
275g golden caster sugar
Half a teaspoon of cinnamon

  1. Cube the unsalted butter and put it with the dark chocolate pieces in a pyrex bowl suspended over boiling water. Let them melt slowly, giving the bowlful a mix with a spatula every now and then.
  2. When it’s melted completely, put it aside to cool.
  3. If you’re using the chocolate orange variant then add a little orange tincture (Seville works!).
  4. Set the oven to 180C / 160C fan / gas mark 4.
  5. Baseline a baking tray with greaseproof and butter the sides.
  6. Sieve together the flour, cocoa and cinnamon.
  7. Chop the chocolate chunks into small (but not too small) pieces.
  8. Put the eggs and caster sugar into a mixing bowl and wazz together with a handblender until it’s thick and creamy like a milkshake. If you lift the beaters out then the mix should come down like ribbons and leave a trail for a couple of seconds.
  9. Pour the chocolate/butter mix into the egg/sugar bowl, and very slowly and carefully fold it together – you don’t want to knock any air out of it, but at the same time incorporate it so it’s mixed up. Don’t worry if it’s a little marbled. I use a rubber spatula to do this so I can get all the goodness in.
  10. Sieve the flour/cocoa mix in, folding it in like before. It’ll look dusty to start with but eventually look like a fudgy mess, which is what you’re aiming for.
  11. Stir in the chocolate chunks.
  12. Spoon the whole lot into the baking tray with the spatula and smooth it carefully into the far reaches.
  13. Bake for about 25 minutes. To check if it’s done, pull it out and give it a shake – if it wobbles in the middle it’s not quite done. The top should have a sort-of papery consistency.
  14. DO NOT TAKE IT OUT OF THE TIN. Leave the whole thing in the tin until it’s cooled completely.
  15. Once cooled it’ll come out easily and in one piece. Cut into squares and revel in your culinary genius.

These last about 2 weeks in an airtight box.