Fallen Chocolate Cake

Ew,  isn't flour becoming so last year? If that's your attitude, you might want to try this. Flourless chocolate cakes are much more convincing as puddings, due to their moistness and richness; a chocolate sponge is delicious, but much more suited to an afternoon tea or just in the tin for the week cake. Yes. I am the kind of saddo that has an 'in the tin for the week cake'. This cake isn't flourless because it relies on ground almonds or some other gluten free dry matter, it's lift and texture is purely based on separated eggs, the yolks mixed with best dark chocolate and a meringue folded in from the whites. I got this recipe passed down from Nigella Lawson who got it from Richard Sax, with different tweaks being made at each generation gap, and please, I encourage you to make your own tweaks, too. This has gone through may bane changes, like Cheryl Cole post marriages, but I've settled on this elegantly austere name- it connotes somehow a poet falling into beautiful decline and obviously to describe its crater begging for piles of whipped cream and berries.
I considered breaking off my relationship with cakes altogether before making this. After a few successes, we turned bitter again like the flavour of my abysmal clementine cake, a recipe I actually posted, but hastily took it down as I couldn't convince myself I liked it. But then after making this, this shallow disc of chocolate heaven, I think we might be able to try again.
There is a fabulous mocha variant to this cake that I conjured up: simply add 2 tbsp Camp coffee (the best way to incorporate coffee flavouring into baking) with the melted chocolate and tint some whipped cream a buff colour to dollop on the cake, then dust with a cappuccino-evoking sprinkle of cocoa powder.
1)Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, but as usual, be prepared to adjust this if the cake cooks too quickly. It is astonishing how much ovens vary. Grease a springform tin, but just grease up the sides, since there's no point greasing the bottom layer as I never bother to dig the cake off it.
2)Melt a large bar and a bit, about 150g of good (70% or more) dark chocolate over a bowl of simmering water or the microwave and when that's melted add 125g unsalted butter and melt that in the hot chocolate.
3)Separate 4 eggs, and to get a really stiff meringue it is best to separate it by tossing, very carefully because if the yolk breaks you have to start all over, between its shell. Add the yolks to one bowl and the whites to a spotless metal bowl. Add 100g caster sugar to the yolks, plus two whole eggs, the cooled butter and chocolate and a shot liqueur, dark rum, cointreau if you want your cake to taste like Terry's, but I used creme de cacao as it was still left over from my Christmas grasshopper pie. Mix it all thoroughly, but don't worry about getting any air into it.
4)There are many methods I've read about to make egg whites whisk up voluminously, but the best in my opinion is to add 1/2 tsp cream of tartar. Whisk them until they reach medium peak, which means when you lift out the whisk, an undefined peak should remain but it will slump. Then, while whisking, add 75g caster sugar gradually around the sides of the bowl, until it reaches stiff peak. This means when you lift the whisk out, a tall, proud and completely stationary peak should remain. It will also be incredibly glossy, not speckled and foamy like it was at medium peak.
5)Add a spoonful of the whites to the chocolate mixture, and mix it in bravely, not worrying about keeping air in, you're just loosening the mix so the whites can fold in easily. Now fold the rest of the whites in. People seem to think that folding entails being so gentle with the mix, no pressure is applied. That is not true, you must be firm and forceful with your movements around the bowl, just never stir the mix or smoosh it while you fold, and stop as soon as the whites are mixed in, no more. Scrape around the bowl with a large spoon or rubber spatula, fold the mixture over, cut through it, fold over the cut in the mixture, then repeat.
6)Fill the tin with the mixture, and bake for about 35 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean, and the cake is cracked and springy to the touch. Leave to cool, and unfortunately it will sink as it does so, and decorate it with raspberries, frozen for me because I can't be bothered to let them thaw, or softly whipped cream.