Bittersweet chocolate cake

Stand six 8cm-diameter ring moulds on a baking sheet. Using a balloon whisk, whisk the egg whites with 65g of the sugar over a bowl of simmering water for 3 minutes until the mixture is slightly warm and foamy and the sugar has dissolved. Take the bowl off the heat and continue to whisk on a medium speed for 5 minutes until soft peaks form.

Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Pour the milk into a pan over a low heat, then add the remaining 45g of sugar with the cocoa powder, flour, a pinch of salt and egg yolks and whisk until it becomes thick like a pudding texture. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate. Squeeze the gelatine to drain it and whisk into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the whisked eggs. Pour the mixture into the ring moulds and put in the freezer for 30–60 minutes.

Mix both flours with the baking powder, cinnamon and a small pinch of salt in a bowl and then beat in the butter, sugars and honey with a wooden spoon until it turns into an almost pastry-like dough that can be kneaded. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until wafer thin and place in the freezer for about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 after about 40 minutes.

Remove the dough from the freezer and put it in the oven for 8 minutes. Remove and then cut into twelve 8cm-diameter cookies and six 6cm-diameter cookies. Return these to the oven for a further 3 minutes. Keep the oven switched on.

Put the milk, cream and cinnamon stick into a pan and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and add half of the sugar, then put the pan back on a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

In a separate large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar until slightly thickened and pour half of the hot milk mixture into the eggs. Then pour this back into the remaining milk in the pan. Return to a very low heat and gently simmer for 5–10 minutes until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour it into a bowl and leave to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before churning in an ice-cream machine until set.

To finish, remove the chocolate cakes from the moulds and place each one on top of a large cookie, put on a baking sheet and bake for about 14 minutes.

Put the remaining larger cookies on plates, add a ball of ice cream and then top with a small cookie. Put a chocolate cake next to each ball of ice cream and finish with a dusting of icing sugar. The chef suggests serving this dessert with chocolate sauce.

Place the butter, sugar and cream into a pan and bring to simmer over a medium heat. Whisk in the chocolate and corn syrup and stir for 2–4 minutes until the chocolate has melted and it is nice and glossy.