3ouncesBittersweet chocolate 85 gms, approx coarsely chopped (I used Lindt Swiss Dark chocolate)
1/4cupCoffee hot or cold
1tspFinely ground instant coffee or instant espresso powder
1 3/4cupsSugar
4largeEggs @ room temp
2tspVanilla essence
1cupWhole milk @ room temp, I used low fat milk
Instructions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, 10 mins before baking.
Butter a 9 - 10 inch (12 cup) Bundt pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess.
Place the baking pan on a wire rack instead of baking sheet,inside the oven. You want the ovens heat to circulate through the Bundt's inner tube.
Whisk together the flour, ground walnuts, baking powder and salt.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Put 2 tbsp of butter cut in to 4 pieces, into the bowl along with the chocolate, coffee and instant coffee. Heat the mixture, stirring often, until the butter and chocolate are melted and everything is smooth and creamy - keep the heat low so that the butter and chocolate don't separate. Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining 2 sticks butter and the sugar at medium speed for about 3 minutes - you'll have a thick paste, this wont be light and fluffy. beat in the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. The mixture should look smooth and satiny. Beat in the vanilla essence. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients and the milk alternately, adding the dry mixture in 3 portions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with dry ingredients)
Scrape a little less than half the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate and using a rubber spatula, stir to blend thoroughly.
If you want to go for the gingko pattern, scrape all of the white batter into the pan and top with chocolate. If you want a more marbled pattern, alternate spoonfuls of light and dark batter in the pan. when all the batter is in the pan swirl a table knife sparingly through the batter to marble them.
Bake for 65-70 minutes, or until a think knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the Bundt pan to a rack and let cool for 10 mins before unmolding, then cool the cake completely on the rack.
Notes
Because this cake is buttery and moist, it is an excellent keeper. Wrapped well it will keep at room temp for 5 days and if it stales a bit it will still be delicious lightly toasted, packed alright it can be frozen for up to 2 months. Instead of making coffee, what I did was, I added 2 tsp of instant coffee (that's the total qty of coffee I used) and 1/4 cup of water along with chocolate and melted. I used Bru instant coffee powder. However the taste of coffee was very less in the cake. If you prefer a stronger coffee taste in your cake, I suggest you add more. I used store bought almond flour instead of ground walnuts. During the mixing process my batter was super grainy and curdled. So dont worry if it happens to you, as long as the final batter is smooth. I used a 10 inch bundt pan and baked it for 50-55 mins. I put half of the vanilla batter first, then the whole of chocolate batter and topped it with the remaining vanilla batter. Tap the cake pan on the counter a few times before placing it in the oven. I placed the baking tin on a wire rack inside the oven for baking.