Flourless Chocolate Cake with Nut Crust

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Nut Crust

Ingredients

250g good quality dark chocolate (70% +), broken into small pieces

100g 85% Lindt chocolate (broken into small pieces)

150g butter

5 eggs, separated

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup caster sugar

Nut Crust

2 cups nut of choice (I tried the cake with each of the following nuts:Hazelnut, Walnut and Almonds)

70g butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

2. Melt butter on a low heat and once melted remove from heat and gradually stir in chocolate until smooth and silky.

3. Separate eggs and whisk whites to stiff peaks, slowly adding the caster sugar.

4. Whisk egg yolks lightly with icing sugar and mix into chocolate mixture.

5. Fold in egg whites being careful not to over mix the mixture otherwise it won't be light and fluffy.

6. For crust, roast nuts in oven until nice and brown then mix in a blender with the butter.

7. Line ramekins with baking paper on the base and around edges. Place enough nut mixture in each ramekin to achieve a 1cm crust.

8. Spoon in the chocolate over the nuts but so not over fill ramekins as they will rise over, so just below the edge.

9. Bake for 18 minutes, but be careful not to over cook them. They should have 'just set' on the top and not have browned at all.

10. If serving warm, allow to cool for at least 10 minutes otherwise they will break when you turn then out. Otherwise refrigerate them until cold then serve them. They are best served with ice cream.

What you can also do to achieve a nice warm cake is fridge them until firm then turn them out onto your serving plate. Put then in the microwave for 20 seconds and they will go all gooey in the middle.