Dark Chocolate, almond and coffee cake

An easy, delicious flourless cake but packed to the brim with nuts and chocolate. It’s one of my favourites and a spin, really on the classic Torta di Capri. The coffee grounds addition really adds moistness and a sublet coffee aroma. Serve with yogurt, crème fraiche, mascarpone or ice cream.

 Serves 10

175g blached whole almonds

175g ground almonds

350g 70% dark chocolate

250g caster sugar

225g unsalted butter

100g used coffee grounds- can be replaced with 100ml espresso

5 eggs separated

100ml grape must

100g Crème fraiche or mascarpone to serve

grease and line a 20cm cake tin

heat an oven to 150oc

place the whole almonds and chocolate in a processor and blend to a coarse paste.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer, lower the speed and then add the egg yolks in one by one. Now beat in the ground almonds and coarsely ground chocolate and almond mix. Fully incorporate.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.

Fold 1 quarter of the whites into the chocolate- nut-egg yolk mix and then transfer (fold) this mix back into the white. It will be quite stiff.

Spoon the mix into the tin and then place in the oven for around 45minutes, or until set.

A skewer inserted into the torte will come out clean when cooked. Cool in the tin and then serve with crème fraiche or mascarpone and drizzle over the grape must.