How To Make Gluten-Free Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

When it comes to sweet stuff, we all crave the classics. A gooey brownie, crisp at the edges. Chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven. Freshly baked pies stuffed with fruit filling and crowned with generous scoops of vanilla ice cream. And, life being the tricky business it is, all of us should get to enjoy these comforting stalwarts from time to time — dietary restrictions notwithstanding.

Enter baking genius Aran Goyoaga. Born to a family of professional bakers in Bilbao, Spain, she went gluten-free a few years back after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. Ever since then, Goyoaga has developed a roster of incredible gluten-less recipes. Here, courtesy of our friends at ChefSteps, she shares one for a tender and moist chocolate cake. It gets its structure from whipped egg whites and is sophisticated while being both decadent and light. Consider it an utterly classic dessert ingeniously reimagined for the modern diet.

Serving size: 1 gluten-free cake

Ingredients

170 grams bittersweet chocolate, gluten-free

4 eggs

2 teaspoons lemon zest, from about 1 small lemon

½ cup olive oil, plus extra for greasing

200 grams sugar, divided

25 grams almond flour

½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Brush your cake pan with a little bit of olive oil, and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.

Get your ingredients ready: Chop the chocolate into small pieces, separate the eggs into two small bowls and zest the lemon.

Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof, medium-size bowl. Fill a pot partway with water, and bring it to a simmer on the stove. Turn off the heat, and put the bowl on top of the pot. Stir gently as the residual heat melts the chocolate.

Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the olive oil, sugar and lemon zest. Add the egg yolks one at a time, whisking to combine. Whisk in the almond flour and salt.

Using a whisk or stand mixer, whip the egg whites until they start to firm up but haven't yet formed stiff peaks. Now start slowly sprinkling in the remaining sugar as you continue to whip. Keep whipping until the egg whites form stiff peaks.

Fold one third of the meringue into the chocolate base to start. This will lighten the color and texture of the mixture. Carefully fold in the rest of the meringue. The key here is to be gentle — you want to keep as much air as possible in the mixture.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. You'll know the cake is done when the center is set and a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. Be careful not to bake too long — the chocolate can burn easily. Let the cake cool slightly in the pan, then invert it onto a cooling rack.

Scoop up your favorite ice cream, cut up some berries, hand-whip some cream — whatever floats your velvety-chocolate-cake boat — and serve!

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