Chocolate olive oil cake

Chef: Nigella Lawson

Prep: 25 mins

Cook: 40 mins

This is a perfect cake for those with a wheat or dairy intolerance.

150ml regular olive oil, plus extra for greasing

50g cocoa powder, sifted

125ml boiling water

2 tsp vanilla extract

150g ground almonds

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

200g caster sugar

3 free-range eggs

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 325F/gas mark 3

Grease a 23cm/9in springform cake tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.

Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste.

Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.

In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds with the bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt.

Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about three minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.

Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almonds mixture.

Scrape down and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin.

Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a dessert.

Serves
8-12

Preparation Time
25 minutes

Cooking Time
40 minutes

Main ingredients
Eggs, Sugar

Recipe Type
Cakes & Baking, Dessert, Entertaining, Cake Stall

Special Info
Dairy free

Level of Difficulty
Medium

If you want a lighter crumb, rather than a squidgy interior, and are not making the cake for the gluten-intolerant, then replace the 150g ground almonds with 125g plain flour. This has the built-in bonus of making it perhaps more suitable for an everyday cake.