Helen from Moorpark & Mulberry shared this recipe with me recently. The flavour of our new season Extra Virgin Olive Oil is strong enough to come through the dark chocolate intensity of this moist cake.
200g 72% dark chocolate
125ml Dunford Grove Extra Virgin Olive Oil
200g caster sugar
2 tablespoons Dunford Grove spray free hazelnuts, finely ground
Pinch of salt
5 large eggs separated
Icing sugar to dust
Thickened cream and berries to serve
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Paper line the base and sides of a 20cm spring form tin.
Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a medium sized bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the water is not touching the base of the bowl. Stir until the chocolate is melted.
Whisk in the oil in a steady stream, followed by two thirds of the caster sugar. Keep whisking until the sugar is dissolved, then remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks one at a time, followed by the ground hazelnuts.
Place the egg whites into a large bowl with the pinch of salt and whisk until opaque. Add one third of the remaining caster sugar and beat for a couple of minutes before adding the remaining caster sugar gradually, beating until you have soft peaks.
Whisk a large spoonful of the whites into the chocolate mixture. This will loosen the mix slightly, enabling you to fold in the remaining egg whites easily. Fold carefully with a metal spoon so as not to lose too much air. Pour into the paper lined tin and bake for about 40 minutes, or until a fine skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Leave it to cool in the tin. Don’t worry when the cake deflates and cracks, it’s meant to and the icing sugar does a great job of prettying the cake up.
Serve with thickened cream or yoghurt on the side. Fresh berries and raspberry coulis go well with this cake too.