Flourless Chocolate Cake

I always have almond meal in my pantry - mainly for making macarons. As you know, almond meal isn't the cheapest ingredient, so I tend to buy more if it's on sale!

When used in cakes, almond meal gives you the most beautiful, moist, chewy texture. I've even forgotten about the time and been late to check on an almond meal cake in the oven, to find that it still turned out beautifully juicy inside. Because it doesn't behave like flour, the secret to achieving airy lightness is all in the eggs.

I was so fortunate to acquire 2 extra mixing bowls for my KitchenAid at my last birthday. They have certainly been so useful for cakes such as these which need different components whipped (such as egg yolks and whites).

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

In a medium saucepan add 200g chopped butter, 200g chopped dark chocolate and 1/4 cup strong black coffee.
Stir constantly over low heat until melted then immediately transfer to a bowl to cool.

Do not be tempted to turn the heat up, and make sure you keep the mixture moving, to prevent the chocolate splitting.

In a large mixing bowl, whip 4 egg yolks with 1 cup caster sugar until thick and glossy.

Fold 2 cups of almond meal and your cooled chocolate mix into the egg yolks.

In another mixing bowl, whip 4 egg whites to stiff peaks.
Fold in 1/4 of the whites to the chocolate-yolk mix to "loosen" it.

Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, being extremely careful not to knock out all those precious air pockets.

Gently transfer to a springform cake tin and bake at 160 C for about 45 minutes.