Ingredients:
300ml olive oil
400g caster sugar
6 eggs
100g cocoa powder
250ml boiling water
300g ground almonds
Couple of good pinches of salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and grease and line two 9” loose bottomed cake tins (or just grease with oil and dust with cocoa powder for a similar non-stick effect)
Whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and thickened (an electric whisk will make this a lot easier, but 2-3 minutes by hand should do the trick)
Slowly trickle in the oil, continuing to whisk. The mixture should noticeably thicken (again, aim for 2-3 minutes whisking)
In a separate bowl or jug, combine the cocoa powder and boiling water and beat until smooth.
Gently add the chocolate to the egg mixture and combine.
Add the salt, baking powder and ground almonds and gently stir again.
Pour into your tins and bake for around 30 minutes. In my opinion this cake is best slightly under-baked, where the top is firm but still squidgy in the middle. Equally you don’t want the centre to be liquid, so add another 10-15 minutes if it feels too delicate.
Leave to cool slightly before removing from their tins. Happily served warm or cooled to room temperature.
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Pippa Cole