CHOCOLATY "A AND A" GLUTEN FREE GOODNESS

It's day two of the bank holiday weekend and as B*Witched would say, "The rain goes on, on, on and on again".Time for some more chocolaty treats I think. I love cakes that have ground almonds rather than flour. I just think the cake tastes a lot more moist and always seems a lot lighter and the main benefit is that your "gluten free" friends can enjoy a slice or two as well.

So one "A" is for almonds do what is the second one for. Well, I like any cake were I can incorporate some Amaretto into it, my boozy weapon of choice for any over 18 treat and hey, it is the bank holiday so I think a little bit of booze is called for. Not that I ever really need an excuse for a little tipple. This cake requires a bit more work than my chocolate brownies so make sure you have an electric whisk ready to whip up some egg whites and lets get cracking!

Almond and Amaretto

Chocolate Cake

 

For The Cake:

200g Soft Butter

200g Golden Caster Sugar

6 Eggs (Whites And Yolks Separated)

200g Ground Almonds

200g Dark Chocolate

For the Icing

130g Dark Chocolate

1 Tbsp Creme Fraiche

2 Tbsp Amaretto (Best You Can Afford)

1. Time to turn that oven on - whack it up to 200 degrees (180 fan).
2. Add the butter, sugar and yolks into a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the ground almond. Grate around 150g of the chocolate and break the rest into chip sized pieces so you get different sized chunks of chocolate running through the cakeand add to the mix. Fold through the chocolate and almonds until well combined and leave to one side.
4. Add the egg whites into a second bowl and whisk until you get nice stiff peaks. You should be able to tip the bowl upside over your head and get no egg on your face too. Once you know your stiff enough, fold though the egg whites with the rest of the ingredients until all combined together well.
5. Transfer to a large rectangular baking tray which has beenlined with greased baking paper and bake in the oven for around 50 minutes. That old inserted skewer should come out clean after been inserted into the cake. Once baked remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.
6. Whilst the cake is cooling in the tin, prepare the icing by melting the chocolate. Place it in a bowl over a pan of bowling water ensuring the bowl doesn't touch the water. Briefly stir the chocolate every now and then until it's fully melted but trynot to stir too much so that the chocolate doesn't split. 
7. Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl form the heat and add in the creme fraiche and Amaretto and give it all a good whisk. Leave the icing to once side to cool until the icing thickens up.
8. Once the cake is cool and the icing is thick, spread the icing over the top of the cake and level with a spatula before slicing into roughly 12 squares.

 

You can add more chocolaty embellishments to the icing such as Smarties or chocolate sprinkles. Experiment, it also a great way to get the kids involved in your baking one rainy weekend.Best served with a big dollop of whipped cream! Hey, you've got chocolate and Amaretto, you might as well go all out.

Matty B's main rule: if you eat it on the weekend it doesn't count! So go on - I won't tell anyone!