Ingredients
The following ingredients have 4 Servings
- 220 g dark chocolate (good quality dairy free – chopped)
- 130 g coconut oil
- 75 g coconut palm sugar
- 75 g soft light brown sugar
- 85 g gluten free plain flour (I used GFA blend A (see NOTES))
- 15 g cocoa powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp GF baking powder
- 50 g ground almonds (almond meal)
- 100 g walnuts (rough-chopped )
- 2 extra large eggs (I used DUCK eggs which are a minimum 70g (in shell) weight and usually a little larger. (see NOTES))
- 50 ml almond milk (or alternative)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ pears (peeled, cored and cut into small cubes)
- 50 g dark (dairy free chocolate chips)
- additional walnut halves to decorate
Instruction
- Base-line a 9 inch loose-bottomed cake tin (round or square) with baking paper.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas 4.
- In a small saucepan, melt together the chocolate, coconut oil and two sugars. Stir until well-blended. Do not allow to boil.
- In a large bowl, weigh and mix together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, ground almonds and chopped walnuts.
- Add the chocolate-sugar liquid to the bowl and beat well with a silicone or wooden spoon.
- Set aside to cool slightly, stirring intermittently.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, almond milk and vanilla extract until well-blended.
- Add the beaten egg mix to the cooled chocolate batter and beat through with the spoon.
- Fold in the pear cubes and chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and smooth the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 180 C/350 F/Gas 4 before turning the oven down to 150 C/300 F/Gas 2.
- Bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out more or less clean with a few crumbs.
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tin to cool completely. The centre of the cake may sink very slightly. This is fine. It should be very moist and a little gooey.
- When cold, carefully remove from the tin and place on a serving plate.
- Decorate with walnut halves (to keep them in place, stick with a little melted chocolate) and a further sprinkle of nuts and chocolate as you choose.
- Serve on its own, with poached pears or with whipped coconut cream or double/clotted cream (if you can eat dairy).
- Store in the fridge between ‘eats’. It will firm up, so be sure to bring back to room temperature before serving to regain a soft, gooey consistency.