Chocolate Olive Oil Cake (Gluten-Free)

Hot tea.

Eggs for breakfast.

Magazine reading.

Coffee.

Swimming.

Chocolate cake making with my nine year old son Joey.

Deep and meaningful conversations with Joey while making chocolate cake.

More coffee.

Book reading.

Chatting and chocolate cake eating with Joey - the best part of the day.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake (Gluten-Free)

from Nigella Lawson's Nigellissima

150 ml regular olive oil plus more for greasing (don't use extra virgin, the taste is too strong)
50g best quality cocoa powder, sifted
125ml boiling water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
150g ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
200g caster sugar
3 eggs

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C. Grease a 22cm springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking paper.

In a small bowl, add the cocoa powder and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, runny paste. 

In another small bowl, combine the ground almonds with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.

Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and beat together on medium speed for about 3 minutes until thickened.

Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly add the ground almond mixture until incorporated.

Scrape down the side of the bowl with a spatula, then pour the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then run a butter knife around the side of the pan  and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream.