Chocolate Almond Olive Oil Cake

This recipe is: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Low Fodmap, Suitable for Interstitial Cystitis, Paleo, Refined Sugar Free and Grain Free
Scroll to the bottom of this post for ingredient tips

This makes a beautiful moist but decadent cake. It has a lovely texture and a rich taste and is easy to make. I decorated mine as I was serving for a special occasion but I like it on its own too with a spoonful of coconut yoghurt!

Ingredients - makes one large cake or a smaller cake and 7/8 cupcakes

• 150ml Olive Oil 50g Raw Cacao Powder
• 125ml Boiling Water
• 1tsp Rose Water Extract
• 3 eggs
• 100g Coconut Sugar
• 150g Ground almonds
• 1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• Pinch of Salt

Method

1. Preheat Oven to 160 C Fan, Gas Mark 3 or 170 C non-fan oven
2. I used a silicon circular cake tin measuring 13.5cm in diameter and some silicone cupcake cases. If using a normal cake tin grease the bottom and sides then line just the bottom with grease proof paper and put out your paper cupcakes on a baking tray.
3. Mix together the ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda and salt and set aside.
4. In a separate bowl crack eggs into a bowl and then add coconut sugar and olive oil. Blend with an electric whisk for about 2 minuted until the mix is slightly thickened
5. Put the cacao powder in another bowl and whisk in the boiling water to form a smooth paste. You will probably need to use a spatula to bring down the mixture from the sides during this process
6. Leave to cool and stir in rose water extract.
7. Pour the cooled chocolate mix into the egg mixture and whisk until incorporated (about 10-20 seconds)
8. Finally stir the almond mix into the chocolate/egg mix until well combined
9. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and cupcake cases
10. Bake the cake for 25-28 minutes the cake should feel firm and not give under finger pressure (if making one large cake bake for 30-35mins)
11. Then bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes
12. Leave cakes to cool completely as the 'sponge' is quite delicate while hot and it would be a shame for it to fall apart
13. Once cool I actually, with not too much effort, managed to cut in half and fill with my macadamia cream and top with my chocolatey topping - find the recipes here.

INGREDIENT TIPS

- ALMOND MILK 
Try and buy a brand with no preservatives or sweeteners added such as Rude Health, Plenish or Provamel or make your own
- GROUND ALMONDS 
I have to activate my nuts to release some of phytic acid which I find difficult to digest so I soaked, dried and ground my own almonds. I ground them to a course meal as I wanted a nutty texture but a smaller ground almonds work just as well and make a much smoother cake.
- DECORATIONS
Dried rose petals, fresh strawberries, strawberries dipped in dark chocolate, freeze dried strawberries (Waitrose/Ocado stock these as well as the dried rose petals), dry your own strawberry crisps or you can buy versions of strawberry crisps from supermarkets (often in children's section, check to make sure they only contain fruit ingredients not added sugar, preservatives or anything to bulk them out), crushed nuts, coconut cream or yoghurt.
- CAKE TIN AND BAKING TIME
You can make one larger cake with a 23cm/9inch cake time. This will bake for about 30-35 minutes.
- ACCESSING SPECIAL INGREDIENTS 
All my ingredients were as pure, unrefined and organic as possible. They are all gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free. It is much easier than it used to be get hold of these types of ingredients these days. You can get a version of all of these ingredients from Ocado, but also some good shops to also look at, which you can find online, are Holland and Barret, The Raw Chocolate Shop, The Raw Chocolate Company and Raw Ecstasy. Of course if you can get to your local independent health food shop they will probably be help you with these ingredients too. 
- QUALITY
All my ingredients were suitable for Coeliacs and mostly organic. By the best quality ingredients you can afford but most importantly check the labels to make sure what you are buying is as natural as possible for a better tasting cake and, of course, good health.

Ground Almond's (with bicarb): I ground my almonds fairly coarsely. You can grind them for longer  to match the texture of shop bought ground almonds.

(N.B. I love to bake but due to being house and bed bound most of the time it's not that easy so all the recipes are on here are a collaboration between my mum and I. Most of the time that means me wrapped up in a blanket and instructing her as she goes along, but it seems to work and is a lot of fun doing it together.)