Flourless Chocolate-Orange Almond Cake

Submitted by RunninLion

"One of my friend's has celiac disease and cannot eat anything with gluten. Unfortunately for her, this usually means she cannot enjoy a lot of foods, particularly desserts, at gatherings. I made this cake with her in mind for our holiday party. It is rather time-consuming but definately worth it! The cake was rich and decadent and my friends really enjoyed it."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 40mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• 1 1⁄4 cups whole almonds (about 6-7 oz.)
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1⁄2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1⁄2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 teaspoons fresh grated orange peel
• 6 large eggs, seperated
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 tsp extract)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush bottom of 10-inch springform pan generously with butter or margarine.
2. Blend almonds and 1/4 cup sugar in food processor until almonds are finely ground. Add chocolate; blend until chocolate is finely ground.
3. Whisk cocoa, orange juice and orange peel in small bowl until smooth.
4. In another bowl, combine egg yolks and 1/2 cup + 2 Tbs. sugar. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat until yolk mixture is very thick, about 4 minutes.
6. Beat in cocoa mixture. Fold in ground-almond mixture.
7. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites and salt in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add 2 Tbs. sugar, beating until whites are stiff but not dry.
8. Fold whites into chocolate batter in 3 additions. Transfer to prepared pan.
9. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
10. Cool cake completely in pan on rack. If making a day ahead of time, cover with foil and store at room temperature.

Reviews

[Sweet Baboo]

To adapt this recipe, I used a total of 6 tablespoons of sugar (4 tablespoons with the chocolate, and 2 tablespoons with the egg whites), and the rest Slenda, to serve to diabetic family members. With this change, it had the texture of a moist, dense brownie, and was enjoyed by all.