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Nigella's Chocolate olive oil cake

Ingredients

150ml/5fl oz regular olive oil, plus extra for greasing

50g/2oz cocoa powder, sifted

125ml/4fl oz boiling water

2 tsp vanilla extract

150g/5 oz ground almonds or 125g/4 oz plain flour

tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch salt

200g/7oz caster sugar

3 free-range eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Grease a 23cm/9in springform cake tin with

a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.

Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling

water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste.

Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.

In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the

bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt.

Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with

the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and

beat together vigorously for about three minutes until you have a

pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.

Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go,

and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almonds (or flour)

mixture.

Scrape down and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid

batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set

and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should

come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the

sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin.

Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a

pudding.

Recipe Tips

It is slightly heavier with the almonds though not in a bad way so if you

want a lighter crumb, rather than a squidgy interior, and are not making the

cake for the gluten-intolerant, then replace the 150g ground almonds with 125g

plain flour. This has the built-in bonus of making it perhaps more suitable for

an everyday cake.