A chocolate strawberry cake is always welcome on any table, especially if it’s a flourless cake. Strawberries in India, arrive at the end of the year; a happy coincidence when the mood and food are both celebratory. At a time when menus are loaded with rich offerings, a skinny yet scrumptious cake is a smart way to cut out a few calories.
A flourless, butterless batter
There’s no grain flour in this chocolate strawberry cake. As in many of my earlier cakes, I’ve used almonds in this recipe. The only difference is that for this cake I used a toasted almond meal in place of almond flour. All you have to do is toast whole almonds (skin and all) in a pan, then cool and powder them in a food processor or blender. This way, the almonds develop a richer, smoky flavour which complements the dark chocolate in the cake. I think toasted hazelnuts or walnuts would make good substitutes for almonds, in enriching this flourless chocolate cake.
Strawberries take centre stage
Choose the reddest, sweetest and fattest strawberries for this cake. The ruby-hued, plump fruit gives up its juice while baking, turning into squishy, jammy chunks of sweetness. Losing water concentrates the strawberry flavour and every bite feels loaded with the intensity of mushy fruit. If you want to amp up the strawberry, serve the cake with strawberry compote.
Slim and light
This is a slim cake. No leavening ingredients in the recipe make this cake a flattish one. That said, this flourless chocolate cake is anything but dense. Eggs ensure that the crumb remains light and moist. The speed at which it was consumed in my house, is a testament to its lightness. If you’re watching your calories, this chocolate strawberry cake is a useful one to include in your recipe file.
Chocolate Strawberry Cake
Ingredients
- 300 g fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
- 90 g dark chocolate, roughly broken into pieces
- 64 g olive oil
- 90 g almonds, toasted and ground
- 75 g caster sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 tbsp dark rum
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 25 cm springform or loose-bottomed pan and line the base with greased baking parchment.
- Melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over (not in) gently simmering water. Whisk the olive oil into the warm chocolate and set aside.
- Whisk the egg yolks with caster sugar in a separate bowl until pale and creamy.
- Fold the chocolate and rum into this followed by the ground almonds.
- In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites into soft peaks. Vigorously whisk a tbsp of the egg whites into the almond mixture loosen it. Then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and arrange the halved strawberries (cut side down) in concentric circles to cover the surface of the cake.
- Bake the cake for 40 mins or until you insert a toothpick into the cake and it comes out clean with no wet batter clinging to it. Cool the cake in the tin for 10-15 mins and then unmould and cool fully on a rack.
2 Comments
Simi bali
December 25, 2021 at 10:22 pmHi! Tried this cake for xmas , everyone loved it & so easy to bake .Thanx for sharing the recipe. Just one thing though , how to substitute white sugar with sugar free?
quichentell
December 26, 2021 at 12:54 pmHi Simi,
Really happy you liked the cake. I haven’t tried baking with sugar-free but I thin a 1:1 substitution should be ok.