It seems that every time I open my refrigerator, I am moving around the bags of almond flour that I had purchased from Trader Joe’s. I admit, I got a little excited when I saw bags of ground almonds and may have purchased too many. (Yes, I store nuts in the refrigerator because they tend to last longer.) I’ve been meaning to bake with it for some time now and finally decided to try this recipe for Flourless Chocolate Orange Almond Cake that I found in Bon Appetit. I am not Jewish, but it is a Passover friendly recipe so I thought I would share it this week.
Procedure
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 10 inch springform pan by generously coating the bottom and sides with butter. In a large bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar into the almond flour. Coarsely chop your chocolate and then run it through a blender or food processor until finely ground. Mix this into the almond flour. Use the good stuff! Better chocolate makes a better cake. I chopped up bars of Ghirardelli.
Next, whisk together the cocoa, orange juice and zest. The mixture will get very thick…
In an electric mixing bowl, scrape the seeds of your vanilla bean (use the back of a paring knife) and combine it with the egg yolks and 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs of sugar. Beat this mixture until it is very thick. It should go from looking like the yolk color to a very pale white…like this…
Beat in the cocoa mixture and then fold it into the dry almond mixture and set it aside. Next, in a clean bowl and a clean whisk, beat the egg whites and salt in the electric mixture. Once it becomes a little foamy, gradually add the remaining 2 Tbs of sugar and beat until you have stiff peaks…like this…
Fold the egg whites into the chocolate batter in three additions. Be sure to that it is completely incorporated but do not overmix! Transfer the batter to your pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when tested in the center. It is normal for a flourless cake to fall a little when taken out of the oven. Let it cool completely in the pan before removing it. Here it is…
Presentation
If this is something you are going to take somewhere, here is an easy way to decorate the cake. Dust it with some powder sugar. I made a pattern by randomly placing down some straws on the cake first. Use anything in your kitchen and get creative! Then put it on a platter and use berries to add a color splash…
If you are serving it up yourself, I suggest pairing it with some vanilla ice cream or a dessert sauce. Flourless cakes tend get very dry and go well with something moist. I served it up to my family with some vanilla ice cream and a strawberry orange salad…
Enjoy!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks wonderful! I'm going to bookmark it for next year!
This recipe looks wonderful — and I love that it's gluten-free. I've posted a link to it on the Gluten-Free Guidebook's Facebook page, and will mention it on the site, too.
Thanks,
Hilary Davidson
http://www.GlutenFreeGuidebook.com
Love it Love it!! Coincidently I have almond flour waiting to be used up! yay!!!