Inspired by All I Want | Bob Moses

All everyone wants, really… is a good  Dark Chocolate Cake, isn’t it?

One bite can instantaneously change your mood from wanting to hurt cute little animals to feeling happier than Lucy (my favorite YouTube star baby) who understands exactly how I feel about desserts, and food generally.  My good friend – & muse – Nicolle loved (cake smiles don’t lie!) her share of this delicious gluten free cake that is, by the way, the star of our first | Instagram Contest #01 #freecakeàparis | – winner to be cake-crowned on Saturday 7th of June!

Enough teasing, let’s get busy !

| Ingredients for 10 |

Cake Dough

_ 225g of dark chocolate (65%)

_ 125g of unsalted butter

_ 175g of caster sugar

_ 100g ground almonds

_ 6 large free range eggs

Chocolate ganache

_ 100g of dark chocolate

_ 30g of unsalted butter

_ 50g of icing sugar

_ 75g of double cream

_ 100g of  blanched almonds

| Method |

This dark chocolate almond cake looks complicated to make but it is not ! Start by preheating your oven to 180° et to prepare a cake tin with baking paper (better than butter and flour, trust me it will be much more practical!).

Let’s start with the cake dough : first melt the chocolate et the butter in a bain-marie. Then add the sugar and the ground almonds. Stir until it’s well mixed. Separate the egg yolks ( keep the whites, we’ll use them in a minute) and then add them one by one to the chocolate mixture. Now put up your sleeves or turn on your Kitchen Aid and go for the whisking, up to firm peaks (to be sure if it’s ready turn the bowl upside down – be careful!!! – if nothing falls, we’re good!). Now add the whisked whites delicately to the mixture until it becomes homogeneous. Pour the mixture on the tin and up in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Wait until the cake is completely cold before removing the tin.

For the ganache, melt the chocolate and the butter in a bain-marie. Once they are well mixed take it outside the stove and add the icing sugar and the double cream. Let it cool then pour it generously over your cake.

Finally, roast the blanched almonds in the over for about 8-10 minutes then chop them roughly. Place them in the middle, on top of the ganache, in a nice pretty circle and eat away !