Don’t be fooled or put off by the unassuming appearance of this fantastic cake. Yes, I agree, it may lack glitz and glamour, but the taste and texture are outstanding.

Makes: 12 – 15 moderate slices

Time: “Hands on” about 60 min. Baking 60 – 70 min.

Level: Easy

Need: A 20cm/8” cake tin with a loose bottom

Ingredients

25g/1oz unsalted butter, melted & cooled, plus a little extra for the tin
75g/2½oz ground almonds
400g/14oz nuts (mainly hazelnuts, almonds & walnuts or chopped mixed nuts)
225g/8oz dark chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
50ml/1¾fl oz – 75ml/2½oz brandy and/or Amaretto
1 tsp ground cinnamon
200g/7oz golden caster sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 large orange – zest only
25g/1oz icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

As this cake is flourless, it’s gluten free.

Method

1. Brush melted butter inside the tin generously, then sprinkle the inside with some of the ground almonds, shaking off any excess. (The addition of ground almonds here is optional) Heat your oven to 180C / fan 160C / 350F / Gas 4.

2. Put the nuts in a food processor, then break the chocolate into small pieces and add it to the nuts. Pulse the machine on and off until the mixture is of a grainy consistency, but not finely ground.

3. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the vanilla extract, brandy or Amaretto, cinnamon, melted butter and sugar, mixing thoroughly. Now gradually add the egg yolks, mixing them in thoroughly and, finally, stir in the orange zest.

4. Whisk the egg whites to the stiff-peak stage. Gently fold them into the chocolate mixture with a large metal spoon, a few tablespoons at a time.

5. When all the egg whites have been folded in, spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 60 – 70 minutes. Cover the cake loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes if it’s becoming too brown.

6. The cake is ready when a cocktail stick inserted in the middle comes out dry*. Then leave it to rest in the tin for a couple of minutes, before turning out on to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving if you want to.

* NB 1 “dry” means “no wet cake mix”; there may be some melted chocolate on the cocktail stick even when the cake is fully baked.

NB 2 Earlier I acknowledged that this cake may lack “glitz and glamour”. To be honest, I didn’t want to “glitz it up” or make it glamorous. But, if you want to personalise it, please do. You could add a dusting of icing sugar before serving, or maybe a melted chocolate topping, or a layer of ganache. It’s a blank canvas, albeit a very tasty one.

On the other hand……

OK, I had a change of heart re: decorations. In fact I’m typing this a year on and have decorated this year’s cake to take to a shared lunch with other members of my Italian conversation group. I simply brushed the top with melted chocolate then added nuts before the chocolate hardened. If you want to do likewise, I’d advise setting out your nut arrangement “dry” beforehand, then have little piles of nuts in the order that you will need them. I’m still thinking about a light brushing of apricot jam over the nuts.

And on the other, other hand….

OK, I decided to glaze it after all, using warm apricot jam. I was a little concerned in case it melted or spoiled the chocolate, but it was fine. See what you think.

And a special “Christmas hello” to Carol. I hope you enjoy making this cake.

I hope you enjoy this lovely cake. If you want more cake recipes click this link, or have a look at my site for lots of other great recipes, both sweet and savoury. Below are a few that I’d love you to try:

Golden Chocolate Cake