Adapted from a recipe in Fortune Stanley’s English Country House Cooking, this velvety cake is baked at a low temperature to promote its fine texture.
Ingredients
- CAKE INGREDIENTS
- 6 ounces 60% dark chocolate, chopped
- ¾ cup whole almond meal
- 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened + extra for pan
- ½ cup white sugar
- 5 large eggs, separated
- 3 tablespoons white rice flour
- 2 tablespoons potato starch
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- FROSTING INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup raspberry jam
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
- Fresh raspberries
Directions
Heat the oven to 300° F. Butter the sides of a 9-inch cake pan and line the bottom of the pan with baking parchment.
Melt the chocolate gently and let cool to tepid. Sift the almond meal onto a sheet of waxed paper and discard the bits of brown almond skin left in the sieve.
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the chocolate and egg yolks. Combine the rice flour, potato starch and salt, sift on top and stir in. Add the almond meal and stir in.
Using clean beaters, beat the egg whites to the soft peak stage (the tips should just droop over). Mix one-third of the beaten egg whites into the batter to loosen it and fold in the rest.
Transfer the batter to the pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the cake shrinks away slightly from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out almost clean.
Let stand in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Let cool completely, right side up.
To frost the cake: Melt the raspberry jam over low heat. Transfer to a fine sieve and, holding it over the cake, press down on the jam with the back of a spoon. Discard the seeds. Spread the jam glaze to cover the top surface only. Let set at room temperature for 1 hour.
Beat the cream and confectioners’ sugar until it holds its shape and pile over the jam. Swirl decoratively with a small spatula and decorate with fresh raspberries.
Nutrition Analysis: 450 cal, 31 g fat, 145 mg chol, 75 mg sodium, 37 g carbs, 28 g sugars, 7 g protein.
The author of more than a dozen cookbooks to date, Gluten-Free Living Contributing Editor Jackie Mallorca’s titles include The Wheat-Free Cook and Gluten-Free Italian.
