Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

Whenever I make crepes I always have about half a cup of hazelnut meal leftover.

Not being one to waste food, I felt it necessary to find a dessert recipe to use it up!

This flourless chocolate cake recipe fits the bill, especially if you have a sweet tooth.

Unless you can finish off a packet of Tim Tam’s in a sitting, I recommend you make this cake with friends in mind, it’s pretty rich.

And for those of you who take umbrage with gluten, it’s made with Almond Flour.

A win all round!

INGREDIENTS

200g quality dark chocolate 70-80 per cent

200g unsalted butter room temp

4x egg whites

5x egg yolks

1/2 cup hazelnut meal (can also use almond meal if you prefer)

TO SERVE

Cocoa for dusting

Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (you need it!)

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C (356 degrees F)

Boil the kettle

Break up chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl

Add butter to the chocolate

Pour boiling water into a saucepan and place bowl over the saucepan – do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl (you may be tempted to turn on the heat to speed things up, but trust me this will be hot enough for the chocolate to melt without overheating and ending up grainy)

Set aside to cool

Beat your egg whites until stiff peaks form

Place the yolks and sugar into a bowl and whisk to combine

Then, while whisking, gradually pour in the chocolate mixture until combined

Add the hazelnut meal and fold through half of the egg whites using a metal spoon (you don’t want to over-combine or you will lose the air from the egg whites)

Then fold in the remaining egg whites (try not to leave any large clumps of egg white or they will become rubbery after cooking)

Pour mixture into a greased or non-stick spring form cake tin, bake for 35 mins (will still be wet, but that’s ok)

Leave to completely cool in the tin

Dust with cocoa

Serve with some cream or ice cream