Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
This Gluten Free Chocolate Cake is very easy to make and dangerously easy to eat! You have been warned! :))
The cake is decadent, crumbly delicious, beautiful and is gluten free. It is a great recipe to make if you have allergy problems or diet restrictions. It is also a good dessert option to offer when entertaining friends or a large group of people.
The chocolate is intense and goes extremely well with hazelnut. You don’t need to be reminded how incredible and heavenly delicious is the chocolate hazelnut marriage; it’s a match made in aroma heaven.
I don’t sift the hazelnut meal, leaving uneven ground hazelnut bites because I like the texture it gives to the cake. The whipped egg whites are the only leavening agent, so whip them carefully and try to avoid deflating them when mixing the final stages of the cake batter.
Bon Appétit!
Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
Recipe credits: Rafaella Sargi
Serves 8 to 10
Ingredients
35 g (1 oz ¼) pure 100% unsweetened baking cocoa powder
80 ml (⅓ cup) hot water
150 g (5 oz ⅓) bittersweet chocolate, melted
150 g (5 oz ⅓) unsalted butter, melted
230 g (8 oz ⅛) brown sugar
140 g (5 oz) hazelnut meal / flour (or almond meal / flour)
4 eggs, whites and yolks separated
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure 100% unsweetened baking cocoa powder for decoration
Directions
You will need 1 round cake pan (9 ½ inches / 24 cm) lined with parchment paper and buttered, one big bowl, one whisk, one silicone spatula, a stand mixer fitted with the balloon (whisk) attachment, a cooling rack and a small fine sieve.
Scale and prep all the ingredients.
Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
In a large bowl, whisk the cocoa powder with the hot water until completely dissolved and smooth. Add the melted chocolate and mix again, followed by the melted butter and sugar and mix well. Add the egg yolks and whisk until completely incorporated and homogenous. Fold in the hazelnut meal.
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and ¼ teaspoon of salt to achieve a firm peak stage*.
Using a silicone spatula incorporate half of the egg whites in the chocolate mixture by folding gently scrapping from the bowl edge to its center until the batter is a little looser and the preparation is well mixed. Add the remaining of the fluffy egg whites and repeat the same delicate folding technique to mix the batter and have a homogenous cake batter. Do not over mix the batter because you’ll deflate all the egg white whipping efforts.
Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and bake in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes.
Let it cool down for 20 minutes before removing the cake from the pan and place it on a wire rack until completely cool.
Using a small sieve, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder on the cake for decoration.
*Firm Peak Stage: As a visual help, when you remove the whisk the peak that forms will keep its shape.
Recipe adapted from Pure Gourmandise / Marabout Cuisine.
