Flourless Chocolate & Raspberry Cake

Hello: and a big shout out to Yolande!

I am a big fan of flourless cakes: with their rich, dense flavours they make a great dessert, or a rich addition to an afternoon tea. Perfect with a cup of lovely coffee.

Most flourless cakes tend to be chocolate inspired: I suspect this is because chocolate holds its own form so well: if you were to mix eggs, sugar , almond meal, & say, vanilla, all together you wouldn't get the worlds best cake. Eggs, sugar, almond meal & chocolate is a very different story.

I have seen allot of recipe's for 'gluten free' cakes, using gluten free flour. I will try one of these down the track, but having eaten gluten free pasta, I can't say that I am in a particular hurry to do so! But I am curious to see if a decent, non-chocolate, gluten free cake can be made, so watch this space.

I have made flourless chocolate cupcakes for ages now, adding raspberries to the mix, and it is really just the most wonderful combination: the rich dark-choc flavours, the slight nuttiness from the almond meal, all in a wonderfully moist & dense cake, with the raspberries hidden in the mix giving a sweet/tarty hit.

Flourless Chocolate & Raspberry Cake

250g chocolate, broken into small bits

5 eggs, separated

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 + 1/4 cup almond meal (or hazelnut, whichever you prefer)

1 cup frozen raspberries

Ganache

150g dark chocolate, in small bits

1/3 cup pouring cream

Grease & then line w/ baking paper a 20cm round springform cake tin. Preheat your oven to 170'c.

Melt the chocolate.

I find the best way to do this is to zap the choc for 20seconds in the microwave (on high). Take it out, stir a bit, then pop in for another 20 seconds. Keep going until the chocolate becomes 'soft' looking (I find it is approx 3x20sec bursts), at which point stirring should be enough to turn it into a chocolate puddle. Don't be tempted to zap it again: the chocolate will overcook & then it won't be any use to you.

Take your eggwhites & put them into the bowl of your mixmater (if you don't have one, I hope your biceps are in a strong state!), fit it w/ the whisk attachment & beat the eggwhites until soft peaks form.

In a separate bowl, take the egg yolks & 1/2 cup of the sugar & beat until thick & pale.

 

Add the remaining sugar, one tablespoon at a time, to the eggwhites, beating the whole time, until stiff peaks form.

Add the almond meal to the chocolate mix, stirring to combine, then add the egg yolk/sugar mix.

With a large metal spoon, gently fold in half of the stiff eggwhites to the chocolate mix.

Once incorporated (don't overwork it), add the rest of the eggwhites, then fold in the raspberries & stir to combine. Pour mixture into the prepared cake tin, and bake for 1 hour, or until done (skewer test should give you some moist crumbs, not come out completely clean).

 When done, remove from oven, leave in tin to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a rack to cool completely (or you could serve this still -warm, w/ a dollop of thick cream, as a delicious dessert).

Meanwhile, combine the ganache ingredients together in a small saucepan, and put over medium-low heat until the chocolate starts to melt. Remove from the heat, stirring continuously until you have a lovely glossy chocolate sauce. Allow to cool (I cheat & pop this into the fridge to speed things up).

Once chilled enough that it is set, but still spreadable, use the ganache to ice the top of the chilled cake.

If serving the cake as dessert, you could drizzle the warm cake slices with the ganache for a chocoholic's delight choc-pudd!