Dark Chocolate and Coconut Torte

This cake was designed for GHD Hair when I did their Instagram take-over!  I ended up making it for a dinner party while I was out in the south of France and it went down an absolute treat.  There is something about the smooth truffly texture of the cake (gluten-free) served with the particularly creamy coconut icing (dairy-free) that is so delicious.  Watch yourself, as this icing is so damn light that you can find yourself having three slices in a row!  I recommend using a thick coconut cream and using the cream in a carton rather than the stuff found in a tin. Store the cream in the fridge for a couple of hours so that the water and cream separate and you can easily scoop out just the cream.

Ingredients:

For the cake

200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

200g unrefined caster sugar/xylitol

6 medium eggs, separated

200g unsalted butter, diced

200g almond flour

1 tsp almond extract

For the coconut icing

800ml coconut cream

60h unrefined caster sugar/xylitol

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the dark chocolate sauce

60g dark chocolate 70% coco, broken into pieces

20g unsalted butter

1 tbsp Amaretto liquor

2 tbsp almond milk

Preheat oven to 170 degrees and line a 10 inch cake tin with butter and baking parchment.

Begin with the cake and in a mixer add the egg yolks and half the sugar and whisk until pale for about 5 minutes.  Melt chocolate and butter in a bains-Marie until completely melted and then remove from the heat and mix in the egg and sugar mix.  Then stir in the almond flour, almond extract until everything is well combined.  Next whip up the egg whites to form stuff peaks and then add a spoonful of sugar at a time until all is incorporated.  Do not stop mixing until all is added and then gently fold in the whites a third at a time into the chocolate batter.  Now scrape everything into the prepared tin and place into the oven for 35-40 minutes until the top has crisped up a little but it will still be gooey in the middle.  Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before carefully removing and placing onto a serving plate.

While the cake is baking in the oven you can make the coconut cream.  Remove the chilled coconut cream from the fridge and scrape only the cream (not the water) into a mixer along with the other ingredients.  Whisk at a high speed for about 5 minutes until the cream has thickened up and looks like whipped cream.  Carefully scrape into a bowl and store in the fridge until just before serving and then ice over the cake.

The chocolate sauce can be made just before serving by placing all the ingredients except the Amaretto into a small saucepan set at a low heat. Stir everything together and it will melt into a rich and glossy sauce.  Add the liquor just at the end and then flick onto the cake.

Store cake in the fridge and it will keep for about 2 days.