Bestest Road Tested Flourless Chocolate Cake

Hey come here...yeh you...closer...that's it...I've got a secret to tell you. What's that, you ask?. Well...I have a confession to make. I am a hopeless baker. Yups. If it has to be measured and it has to be precise, I am usually going to stuff it up. I found this Elizabeth David recipe which was adapted by Jill Dupleix, and have made it a number of times over the last 5-6 years. In fact, it's probably the only dessert I do well with the exception of a Neil Perry lemon tart. Uncomplicated, five ingredients and minimal elbow work. You will love this cake and no doubt it will also be added to your baking repertoire once you realise how easy and fudge-alicious it is.


Ingredients
250 grams bitter dark chocolate
150 grams caster sugar
150 grams butter
100 grams ground almonds
5 free-range eggs (separated)
Icing Sugar or Cocoa powder (optional)

Method

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees. Butter and Flour a 20cm round cake tin.
2. Melt chocolate sugar and butter in a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Or do what I do and cheat by putting it in the oven for a few minutes while it's warming up.
3. Remove melted chocolate mix from heat and stir thoroughly. Mix in the almond meal then beat in separated egg yolks one at a time.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff and peaked. Stir a couple of spoonfuls into the chocolate mix to lighten before gently folding in the rest (use a big stainless steel spoon to help aerate the mix).
5. Bake for 40-50 minutes and leave to cool in tin. Dust with icing sugar or cocoa powder to serve.

               

Lately I have been making a variation on this cake. I either bake two cakes individually (this makes a super-sized cake like the one in the picture below) or you can make one cake and cut it in half. Be careful if you do this though. I put my cake in the fridge to "set" before I cut my single layer cake into two. I then spread Nestle Top'n'fill Caramel over the bottom layer before sandwiching over the top.Just be careful as you can see from the picture on the left, because the cake is flourless, it will actually sink in the middle, and may also be a little cracked. That's okay it was made with love. But just to warn you to be gentle. Also as you can see from my finished product, the cake is a bit lopsided. I dusted mine with cocoa powder, and to be honest it was probably better the next day after a night in the fridge. Just take it out 2 hours or so before you want to serve it. Now if you want a richer dessert, serve with double-cream or ice-cream. I generally serve this with organic vanilla bean yoghurt as for me the tartness cuts through the richness and it makes me feel a little less guilty about the calorie and sugar overload. But hey - everyone needs a little sweetness in their lives right?