Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake With Pears
The lightest chocolate cake with ground almonds and soft ripe pears is all you'll ever need when that craving for chocolate gets out of control. Gluten-free, this cake is made with toasted ground almonds and gets a beautiful rise from the whisked egg whites. A wonderful dessert to make for a special occasion! We will certainly be making this one over Christmas!
Ingredients
- 85 g unsalted butter + 1tsp for greasing
- 85 g caster sugar + 1 tablespoon for the tin
- 85 g dark chocolate broken into small pieces
- 3 medium eggs separated
- 85 g ground almonds
- 3 ripe pears peeled, halved and cored
- icing sugar for decoration
- creme fraiche to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Line the base of an 18cm (7in) springform cake tin with a circle of baking parchment. Grease the top of the baking parchment and the sides of the tin with butter. Then tip a tablespoon of caster sugar in and swirl it around so that sugar sticks to the greased tin all around.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C Fan.
- In a large frying pan, toast your ground almonds just until lightly browned and aromatic. Remove from the pan immediately to prevent further toasting, and leave to cool completely.
- Place butter and broken up dark chocolate in a microwave-safe dish. Melt in the microwave in short bursts, mixing in between, until all melted.
- In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy using an electric handheld mixer. Fold the cooled chocolate and butter mixture into the yolks. Then fold in the toasted almonds.
- In a separate large bowl whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Very carefully fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in three installments. Try to not knock too much air out.
- Spoon the cake mix into the prapared cake tin. Then arrange the peeled and cored pear halves cut side down. Don't press them down, they will sink naturally whilst cooking.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes. The cake should be cooked through, but soft in the middle. Leave it to cook for 15 minutes before releasing from the tin. Dust with icing sugar.
- We like serving it warm with a dollop of creme fraiche. It is also great cold the next day, or you can reheat by placing it in the microwave for 20 seconds per piece.
Notes
Adapted Barney Desmazery's recipe for a Flourless Chocolate & Pear Cake.
Nutrition
Calories: 403kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 7gFat: 27gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 113mgSodium: 37mgPotassium: 239mgFiber: 6gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 501IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 64mgIron: 3mg
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