No, it’s ok! See! You serve it with raspberries!
Admittedly, this cake is scraping into the Vegie Smugglers repertoire on an almond-meal technicality. I considered calling it ‘adult nut cake (with rum and a block of chocolate)’ but I have to concede that it doesn’t contain anything healthy at all. The truth? It’s a flourless dark chocolate, almond & rum cake that is SO delicious that Mr VS loved me more after I made it for him on Valentine’s day.
Being a fan of all things tasty, I thought it worth sharing in case you know an adult in need of spoiling sometime soon. It starts off like a mousse cake, then after a day in the fridge becomes a sinful truffle cake that lasts several days.
The recipe is from Claudia Roden’s ‘The Food of Spain‘, but it’s not her recipe either, apparently it dates bake to Spanish cookbooks from last century.
Chocolate, almond and rum cake
150g dark cooking chocolate (best quality you can afford), broken into pieces
3 tbsp water
150g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp dark rum
Topping
50g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup caster sugar
25g unsalted butter, cubed
Heat the oven to 160C. Line a 23cm springform pan with baking paper.
Melt the chocolate with the water in a double boiler (a bowl, over a pot of boiling water – but don’t let the bowl touch the water or it will burn, you just want the steam to be a nice gentle heat source – still not sure how? Watch this video).
Stir constantly and once the chocolate is nearly melted, add in the butter and stir them together into melty-awesomeness. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, almonds, baking powder and rum. Add in the melted chocolate and mix really well.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks (when you lift up the beaters, the peaks stay up in the air – if they flop to the side, they are ‘soft peaks’ and you need to beat them a bit more.
Add 1/4 eggwhites into the chocolate mix and combine in gently with a spatula. Repeat with 1/2 the remaining mix and then again until all the eggwhites are combined in – there’s an ok ‘how to’ video here about beating and folding in eggwhites).
Pour into the tin and bake for about 35 minutes until firm.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the pan (it will sink – totally fine).
Release the cake from the pan and transfer to a cake plate. For the topping, melt the chocolate and water as above, add the sugar and butter and melt and mix well, then pour over your cake, easing nice drips down the side every now and again.
SERVES 8 ADULTS.
Vegie Smugglers 
Lisa said,
February 18, 2013 @ 11:07 am
Sounds delicious. Would it be ok to leave the rum out or add something suitable for children?
wendyblume said,
February 18, 2013 @ 11:12 am
To be honest, i think this is a great adult cake and removing the rum would make it less special.
My kids had tiny slivers of it (it’s super rich) and I have no problem with them having it (the alcohol quantity is small and it’s been cooked for a bit, so potency is lessened).
If you want a totally alcohol-free chocolate cake for the kids, try these cupcakes…https://vegiesmugglers.com.au/2012/09/09/the-easiest-cupcake-recipe-ever/ or make these chocolate, bran & zucchini muffins… https://vegiesmugglers.com.au/2012/08/19/chocolate-bran-zucchini-muffins/
Ruth Tapp said,
February 18, 2013 @ 1:36 pm
I’m off to buy some more dark chocolate RIGHT NOW! I seem to have misplaced mine somewhere 😊 Sounds divine!
Wendy, Can you please tell me why nobody else seems to melt their chocolate in the microwave like I do? Super easy and quick…
wendyblume said,
February 18, 2013 @ 1:47 pm
I agree Ruth, often I do mine in the microwave – I find it super handy, just doing short spurts and giving it a stir. This quantity though, would become a bit unwieldy in the microwave, especially with the butter going in too, so I’m agreeing with Ms Roden’s choice of doing it the old-fashioned way.
Besides, there’s something pretty nice about stirring and watching butter and chocolate all melt in together. Better than meditation! Hope you do make it – I promise that it’s worthwhile.
Erica said,
February 18, 2013 @ 9:49 pm
That sounds sooo yum! My mum is coming to visit in a few weeks and she eats GF so might have to try it out, am making an effort to make a new GF yummy something every time she comes to stay 🙂
Spencer said,
February 21, 2013 @ 1:31 pm
Don’t know about cry but it is certainly making me hungry!
wendyblume said,
February 21, 2013 @ 2:38 pm
there’ll be tears of joy and revelation once you eat it and see the real truth to the whole universe.
Flourless Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Cake | Start to be Healthy Now said,
April 8, 2013 @ 12:44 pm
[…] A chocolate cake that will make grown men cry (vegiesmugglers.com.au) […]
Melanie said,
May 24, 2014 @ 5:46 pm
I have jus tried to make this cake and split three lots of chocolate, I followed your instructions to the letter and still ended up with a lumpy oily mess… Any tips??
wendyblume said,
May 25, 2014 @ 10:43 am
Gentler heat? That’s the only thing I can think of!
Good luck!