Sweet Sundays: Flourless Chocolate Lime Cake

 

 

My house smells like chocolate cake.  I swear there isn’t a better smell.  Ok, peanut butter cookies, brand new crayons, my Grandmother’s spaghetti….. those rank up near the top.  But when you sometimes feel like me and I know some of you do, nothing can beat chocolate.

 

My love for Nigella Lawson knows no end.  She loves food and she is honest about it.  Reading her cookbooks are a guilty pleasure for me, because she gets me… she knows that deep down we all want to stick our hands in the fridge and eat whipped cream right out of the bowl (spoon optional).  When I need something chocolate hers are the books I turn to.  Nigella has devoted whole chapters of her books to chocolate.  Cakes, brownies, pies, loafs, cookies, cupcakes, mousses and pudding……..heaven!!!!!

 

 

Flourless Chocolate Lime Cake was found in Nigella’s cookbook Nigella Kitchen. This cookbook focuses on easy simple food that is quick to the table and perfect for families.  I have made a few recipes from this cookbook before, but they were so quick to put together, I forgot to take pictures of them.  Before I knew the dishes were done!  This recipe for chocolate cake was just as easy and just as fast.  There are a few simple steps but it isn’t at all impossible and the cake can be thrown together on a late Sunday afternoon and devoured within an hour! 

Just what I need…..

 

 

Flourless Chocolate Lime Cake served with fresh whipped cream

 

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped ( 3/4 cups chips)

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) soft butter, plus some for greasing the pan

6 egg

1 1/4 cup superfine sugar  ( I have never used this ingredient before.  I finely found it at my local grocery store.  I think you can use the granulated sugar it just won’t be as smooth)

1 cup almond meal/flour  (it is cheaper for me to buy whole blanched almonds and grind them up myself in the food processor, but by all means use what you want.

4 teaspoons best-quality unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

Zest and juice of 1 lime

Confectioners’ sugar to dust

 

1.  Preheat oven to 35o degrees.

2.  Line your spring form cake pan with parchment paper, and butter the sides

3.  Melt the chocolate and butter together either in a heatproof bowl suspended on a saucepan of simmering water or in the microwave.  I did the former, my microwave went kaput.  Set aside to cool.

 

4.  Beat the eggs and sugar together until about tripled in volume, pale and mousse-like.

5.  Mix the almond meal with the cocoa powder and fold this gently into the egg and sugar mixture.

6.  Mix in the cooled butter and chocolate mixture.

7.  Mix in the zest of the lime and lime juice.

8.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes.  Start checking it around the 35 minute mark.  The top should be firm and still wobble at the bottom.

9.  Remove from oven and set the cake in its pan on a wire rack to cool.  Wait about ten minutes and drape a clean kitchen cloth over the cake to prevent the top from getting crusty.

10.  Let cool completely before removing it from the pan.