Flourless chocolate & almond cake

• servings: 10 servings
• total time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

200g dark cooking chocolate, chopped into small pieces

200g butter, chopped into small pieces

3 eggs

175g golden caster sugar

100g mascarpone or soft cheese

¼ tsp vanilla extract

100g ground almonds

30g cocoa powder, plus extra to serve

Directions

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4 and line the base of a 20cm springform tin with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of just-simmering water, or in the microwave in 20-second bursts. Stir, then leave to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, tip the eggs and sugar into a second bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 4-5 mins, or until thick and creamy. Add the mascarpone or soft cheese and vanilla, and continue to beat until everything is combined. Lightly fold in the cooled melted chocolate mixture until everything is one even colour, then fold in the almonds. Sift over the cocoa powder and a small pinch of salt, and fold in to combine.

Scrape the cake batter into the prepared tin. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake for 35-40 mins until the cake is puffed up and has cracked on top. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 30-40 mins – it will deflate as it cools. Serve warm as a chocolate pudding, or leave to cool completely and enjoy as a fudgy brownie cake. Dust with extra cocoa powder before serving.

Nutrition

• Calories: 473
• Total Fat: 37 g
• Saturated Fat: 19 g
• Sodium: 0.5 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 26 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3 g
• Total Sugars: 23 g
• Protein: 7 g