This cake is delicious. It is easy to make. It keeps well, getting better and moister with time. It is also gluten and dairy free, which is why I made it the first time. It will not be why I make it again…
(The recipe comes from Nigella, just to give credit as Allie says. And while we are giving credit, the Nigella website pointed me to this amazing app which allows you to quickly and accurately convert your cake recipes to different baking tin sizes. Gold.)
Ingredients
- 150 ml olive oil (not extra virgin, just plain, or light flavoured)
- 50 g best quality cocoa powder.
- 125 ml boiling water
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 150 g ground almonds
- 1/2 tsp bicarb
- pinch of salt
- 200 g caster suger
- 3 large eggs
Method
Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Grease a 22 cm springform tin with olive oil and line the base with baking paper.
Sift (or just pour) the cocoa powder into a small bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you get a just runny fabulous chocolate paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract and set the bowl to one side to cool while you get the rest of the cake ready.
Combine the almond meal with the bicarb in another small bowl.
In a larger bowl, preferably the bowl of your handy freestanding kitchen mixer, beat together the olive oil, sugar and eggs. You want to beat vigorously until you get a lovely pale yellow mixture that resembles thickened cream, which is about three minutes with the mixer.
When you have that, turn the speed down a little and slowly add your cocoa mixture, then the almond meal. When it is all added, turn off the machine and do a final spatula stir, scraping any bits off the side. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes or until done. How can you tell? The sides will be set and the centre will still look slightly damp. A cake tester will not come out completely clean, but mostly.
Let the cake cool in the tin on a wire rack for ten minutes, then run a knife around the sides and spring the tin open. Eat warm or cool as is, or step it up with some extras…
Options
I used some very lovely chilli cocoa from an amazing spice shop in the Strand Arcade when I made this cake. In the absence of access to this store you could try adding finely ground chilli flakes or juiced fresh chilli for the same hit.
To make a slightly more robust cake for layering (as I did the first time I made this) replace half the almond meal with approximately 65 g of plain flour. I used gluten free flour quite successfully.
You can then make two cakes and stack them, sandwiched with chocolate frosting and topped with chocolate ganache. Or just use the ganache for the middle bit too. To make the ganache/frosting gluten free just use coconut cream in the place of the cream/butter.
i.e. to make the ganache I took a 250 ml tin of coconut cream and 250 g of 70% dark Lindt chocolate and melted them together over a low heat. I stirred continuously till the chocolate melted and I got a lovely, glossy mixture. Let it cool slightly and spread it on the cake. Frankly, I am never going to make ganache with cream again. This tastes delicious and seems much harder to stuff up.
To make the frosting, you need to be a little more prepared. The coconut cream needs to sit upside-down overnight in the fridge. This, apparently, leaves you with thick cream, and a liquid you can drain off. You then add 1/4 cup of cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp of vanilla and icing sugar to taste and whip the crap out of it. I wasn’t prepared, so my coconut cream was not thicker, but it still sort of worked.
Cake for 50
These are the quantities I used to make a single 30 x 30 cm layer of the cake.
- 355 ml olive oil
- 120 g cocoa powder
- 300 ml boiling water
- 4 tsps vanilla extract
- 175 g ground almonds
- 120 g plain flour (gluten free)
- 1 1/4 tsps bicarb
- 475 g caster sugar
- 7 eggs
I also have a square 30 x 30 cm springform pan if anyone needs to borrow it!