This rich & tender almond flour chocolate cake looks fancy, but it's simple to make at home with 8 ingredients & 20 minutes active time. GF & DF!
Prep Time: 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 40 minutesminutes
Total: 1 hourhour
Servings: 12small but rich servings (makes one 8- or 9-inch cake)
Ingredients
½cup(55 g) almond flour or meal (or whole almonds ground with the rice flour until powder-fine)
2tablespoons (20 g) sweet rice flour or GF AP flour (use cassava flour for a paleo option)
6ounces(170 g) bittersweet chocolate with 65-72% cacao mass, roughly chopped
½cup(120 ml) flavorful olive oil, plus extra for serving
¼teaspoonsalt
4large eggs, separated, at room temperature
¾cup(150 g) sugar, divided use (use coconut or maple sugar for paleo version)
¼teaspooncream of tartar
Instructions
Prepare Things
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350ºF. Rub an 8- or 9-inch round springform pan with a bit of olive oil.
Make the Batter
Place the chocolate, oil and salt in a large, metal bowl. Place the bowl in a skillet filled with 2 inches of barely simmering water, and stir frequently until the chocolate is melted.
Remove the bowl from the skillet and whisk in ½ cup of the sugar, then whisk in the egg yolks.
Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed until foamy, then gradually pour in the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, whipping the whites until they hold soft peaks (i.e., when you pull the whisk out and hold it upside down, the peaks of white flop over).
Without delay, use a flexible spatula to stir one-third of the whipped whites into the chocolate mixture.
Add the remaining whipped egg whites to the bowl, sift in the almond and sweet rice flours, and gently fold until the batter is just combined and no streaks remain.
Bake
Immediately scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs, 30-40 minutes.
Let the cake cool completely, then remove the sides of the pan. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving if you wish, then use a large chef's knife wiped clean after each cut to slice the cake.
If you like, serve the cake with a dollop of cream, a drizzle of olive oil, a few flecks of flakey salt, and/or seasonal fruit or berries.
Store
The cake will keep, covered at room temperature, for up to three days. Refrigerate or freeze for longer storage.
This cake makes a great do-ahead dessert as it is even better on the second or third day, when the flavors have had a chance to develop.
To keep the batter happy, warm your eggs to room temperature before making the cake; this will keep the batter fluid and easy to fold. You can do this quickly by placing the whole eggs in a bowl of warm tap water and letting them sit for 5-10 minutes.
If gluten isn't an issue, feel free to use all-purpose wheat flour in place of the rice flour; or you could probably use a gluten-free all-purpose blend.
Do use good chocolate and olive oil that you like the taste of. I don't recommend making this with chocolate chips.
Nutritional values are based on one of twelve servings.