Flourless Chocolate Cake

If you have a wheat or gluten intolerance then this is the ideal cake for you as it doesn’t contain any flour at all! It can also be made dairy free by using a dairy free spread instead of butter and it is higher in protein than most cakes because of the high egg content.

Cooking and preparation

Preparation: 30 minutes

Cooking: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

• 110 g of butter or dairy free margarine such as Pure
• 225g dairy free dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids
• 6 eggs separated
• 125g of xylitol (a low GI sweetener) or caster sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Lightly grease a deep 20cm cake tin with butter or marg and line with a circle of greaseproof paper.
3. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a large heatproof bowl.
4. Rest the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water making sure that the bottom doesn’t touch the water. Stir from time to time until the chocolate is melted. Add the margarine or butter and continue stirring until it is completely melted and mixed with the chocolate. Remove from the heat Put the egg whites into a mixing bowl and whisk using a hand held electric whisk until they form still peaks. Add the xylitol or sugar and whisk until they form glossy peaks
5. Lightly beat the egg yolks in another bowl, then stir in the melted chocolate mixture until well blended. With a large metal spoon, carefully fold in the whisked egg whites until they are thoroughly mixed in
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the hot oven for 25-30 minutes until risen and cooked around the sides but still slightly soft in the centre. Insert a skewer into the middle of the cake and if there is only a little of the cake mixture sticking to it, then the cake is ready. Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely