Flourless Gluten Free Chocolate Almond Cake

The famous dessert of the Island of Capri I’ve found, over the years of making this cake, is extremely forgiving. The almond meal, butter, chocolate and sugar should be equal in weight. This is the time to get out the digital scale, as it makes not only preparing this but also remembering it later so easy. I’ve done this with 85 grams of each and 3 eggs. Or 250 grams of each and 5-6 eggs. Once I only had 125 grams of almond meal and I simply used that as the proportion for the rest of the ingredients, along with 3 eggs. They only change the cake a little in height and size, but each has come out smooth and moist, almost fudgy.

If you like, you can add a splash of rum, some lemon or orange zest or cinnamon or  a dash of strong coffee to give this cake your twist.

Ingredients

125 grams whole almonds/almond meal

125 grams good quality dark chocolate (I use 70% cocoa)

125 grams salted butter, chopped

125 grams breakfast sugar

3 large eggs, separated and left to come to room temperature

powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Grease and line a 20 cm or 8 inch round cake tin with baking paper (I like to use a springform tin or one with a removable base for this delicate cake) and preheat oven to 160ºC or 320ºF.
2. If using whole almonds, blitz them to a very fine, sandy texture in a food processor. Set aside.
3. Place the chocolate, broken up, in a metal or glass bowl set over a bain marie (double broiler, or a pot of simmering water). When melted, remove the bowl from the heat and add the butter, stirring with a wooden spoon or silicon spatula to help it melt. Then add the sugar and the almond meal.
4. Once the mixture is no longer hot, add the egg yolks and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. If adding any further ingredients (orange zest, rum, etc), stir them in now.
5. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with beaters to soft, fluffy peaks. Fold the whites gently through the chocolate and almond batter.
6. Pour the batter into the cake tin, smooth over the top and bake for approximately 40 minutes or until the top appears dry and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs attached (not wet batter). It is important not to overcook this cake so that it retains its wonderful moist consistency. Let cool completely in the tin before handling.
7. Dust with powdered sugar and, if desired, some lightly whipped cream. This cake keeps well for several days and is even better the next day.