Ingredients (serves 8–10)
- 175g unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing
- Green & Black’s Cocoa powder, for dusting
- 200g Green & Black’s Dark 70% chocolate, broken into squares
- 175g ground almonds
- 4 large eggs
- 100g soft brown sugar
- 75g unrefined caster sugar
- Pinch of salt
- For the almond topping
- 100g whole, skin-on almonds
- Finely grated zest of half an orange
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 50g golden granulated sugar
- 6–8 fresh bay leaves
Method
Preheat the oven to 170C/340F/gas mark 3. Grease a 23cm spring-form cake tin and dust the inside with cocoa.
Place the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl with the cubed butter. Set this over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl, and allow the chocolate and butter to melt. Remove from the heat and stir in the ground almonds, then leave to cool a little.
Meanwhile, separate the egg whites from the yolks. Stir both sugars and the salt into the yolks, then mix this in with the slightly cooled chocolate almond mix.
Whisk the egg whites in a large clean bowl until they hold soft peaks. Mix one dessertspoonful with the whole almonds, orange zest, salt and granulated sugar in a small bowl.
Fold the remaining whipped egg white into the chocolate and almond mixture as lightly as you can, to keep in as much air as possible.
Spoon the rich batter into the cake tin, then evenly scatter the sugary, orangey almonds. Nestle the bay leaves in and around the nuts, pressing them down into the batter a little. Bake in the centre of the hot oven for 35 minutes until set and slightly springy. Leave to cool completely, then serve with cream, ice-cream or thick, plain yoghurt.
