Flour-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe

Fill and boil your kettle, and preheat your oven to 160°C (140°C fan/Gas Mark 3). Grease the base and sides of an 8-inch (20cm) loose-bottomed cake tin, then line it with baking parchment.

Pour hot water from your kettle into a medium saucepan so that the water comes about 5cm up the sides of the pan, and place the pan over a high heat; as soon as the water is boiling, reduce to a simmer and sit a heatproof bowl over the pan, ensuring the water is not touching the base of the bowl. Put the chopped chocolate and butter into the bowl and let them melt, stirring gently from time to time. When melted, remove the bowl carefully from the top of the pan and sift in the cocoa powder and vanilla essence, then set aside to cool.

Crack the eggs into a clean, non-plastic mixing bowl and tip in the sugar, then use an electric whisk to beat them together until the mixture is fairly thick and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted out – this will take about five minutes, possibly a little longer. When you’ve finished whisking, take the cooled chocolate mixture and use a metal spoon to fold it carefully into the eggs and sugar, stirring gently to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin, then put it in the centre of the hot oven and bake for about 55 minutes, or until the top is dry and the cake doesn’t wobble if you give the tin a gentle shake. Leave the cake to cool in its tin on a wire rack for at least half an hour, longer if you can. To serve, remove the cake from its tin, peel away the parchment and place the cake on a serving plate. Tumble the raspberries on to the top of the cake and dust over the icing sugar. Ta da!