Chocolate, Almond and Raspberry Cake

A chocolate lovers delight, this cake is rich, delicious and gluten free. A wonderful choice for afternoon tea, dessert or as a birthday cake. I like to serve it with a simple fruit coulis or vanilla bean ice cream or both!

Serves 8
V GF
what you need
200g good-quality dark cooking chocolate (70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
150g butter, at room temperature, chopped
4 eggs, seperated
½ cup (90g) rapadura sugar (or brown sugar)
½ cup (60g) almond meal
½ cup (90g) brown rice flour
¾ cup (95g) fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
½ cup (60g) raw almonds, roasted and roughly ground
raspberry coulis, to serve (see basics page 32)
 
what to do
1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C (140 deg C fan forced) and lightly grease a 20cm (base measurement) springform tin, and line the base with non-stick baking paper.
2. Place the chocolate and butter in a heatprrof bowl and sit over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave for a few minutes to soften, then stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.
3. Use electric beaters to beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and beat to combine, then fold in the almond meal and brown rice flour.
4. In a separate bowl, use clean beaters to beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold through the cake mixture until evenly combined. Spoon half the cake mix into the prepared tin, then sprinkle with raspberries and the roasted ground almonds. Cover with the remaining cake mix.
5. Bake for one hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Cool in the tin for 30 minutes, then release the sides. Serve with raspberry coulis.

Note: For information on rapadura sugar see page 18. To make this as a special occasion dessert, divide the mixture between 6 large muffin tins, which have been greased and lined with baking paper. Bake for 30 minutes.
Storage: In the unlikely event of leftovers, cake will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, but is best eaten at room temperature.

almonds are grown on a small tree, and although thought of as a nut, almonds are actually a fruit and what we call an almond is the edible seed of that fruit. The seed can be eaten on its own, raw or toasted. Almonds are available in various forms, whole blanched, sliced (flaked or slithered), ground into meal, or as almond butter, almond milk and almond oil. Blanched almonds are shelled almonds treated with hot water to soften the brown skin, which is then removed. These variations can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Almonds are a low carbohydrate food and are a rich source of protein and vitamin E.

© Jane Grover - NAKED FOOD - the way food was meant to be