Gateau au Chocolate - Flourless French Chocolate Cake

One of my favourite things to do is to create healthy desserts that taste really decadent. The kind of desserts you can serve to your nine year old boy and your sugar-addicted friends, and they'd never know it was healthy! This cake is a rich, dark, moist 'gateau au chocolate' which I found on Debra Lynn Dadd's website, http://www.sweetsavvy.com/. A serving of one-eighth of the cake has only 12 carbs, but don't worry, it doesn't taste like it!

This recipe has a dark, bittersweet chocolate taste which I love. But if you prefer a sweeter cake, just add more Rapadura (evaporated sugar cane juice, available from health food stores).

I use a Thermomix for most of my cooking - an amazing cooking machine that is a food processor, grinder, cooker, steamer, and much more. (For more information, go to www.thermomix.com.) If you don't have a Thermomix, you will need an electric mixer and a blender.

In case you get confused, you'll need five eggs for this recipe, but two of the yolks won't be used. Store them for later and use in custard or when making your own pasta.

1. Preheat oven to 150° C (300° F).

2. Grease a 7" springform pan with butter, and set aside.

3. Mix on high speed in blender or Thermomix until powdered:
- 1/2 cup Rapadura Tip into a bowl and set aside.

4. Melt over low heat (either on stove in pan, or in Thermomix ):
- 10 tablespoons of butter

5. Remove from heat and add the Rapadura, and:
- 9 tablespoons organic cocoa (or the best dark cocoa you can afford)
Stir until blended, then set aside to cool for 15 mins.

6. Crack and separate:
- 4 eggs
Place the whites into a mixer bowl, and place two of the yolks in a storage container and place in fridge for another recipe.

7. Beat the 4 egg whites in mixer bowl with electric mixer (or Thermomix with butterfly attachment) until they form stiff peaks. Tip into another bowl and set aside.

8. Tip two egg yolks into the mixer bowl (or Thermomix). Add:
- 1 whole egg Beat the yolks and the whole egg together until they are light and foamy. Slowly add the cocoa mixture, beating the whole time, until it's well mixed.

9. Pour the butter/cocoa/egg mixture into the egg whites in the large bowl, and fold together with a spatula until well incorporated, but don't overmix!

10. Pour batter into the springform pan and bake for about an hour. The cake usually rises high, cracks open, then deflates a little. The centre should be set, but doesn't need to be dry.

11. Allow to cool completely on a rack, then remove sides of pan.

You can serve this delicious cake plain, but it tastes absolutely amazing if you pile it with Berry Nougat... this is my favourite way to serve it! (Besides, if it deflates too much, no one will notice if it's covered in berries!)


Berry Nougat
This recipe is one I know from memory, but it was originally from a raw cookbook by Serene Allison - the amounts can vary to taste, so don't stress too much about measuring.

1. In a big mixing bowl, tip in:
- about 300g of frozen mixed berries
- a handful or two of raisins or sultanas (for chewiness)
- a handful of raw almonds (or your favourite nuts), roughly crushed in blender or Thermomix
- a few splashes of pure maple syrup (to taste - make sure it's still tangy, not too sweet)
- a few blobs of almond (or mixed nut) butter

You can let the berry nougat thaw a little, or have it still mostly frozen - I like it thawed, as it's juicier and has more flavour. Berry nougat is delicious on it's own too, thawed or frozen, or on cheesecake (if you eat dairy).

This is making my mouth water - I'm off to make some berry nougat for a snack!