Hi everyone! Happy Easter! I hope that you are all ok, despite the difficult times we are living in at the moment. I am trying to keep busy despite the quarantine and am doing as much as I can to help where I can.

My blog has been neglected again recently but I need to put that right. I have done lots of baking and unfortunately my waistline is now suffering for it. Thankfully the weather has been lovely for our daily exercise! But today, being Easter I thought I’d share a recipe with you that we have had for our Easter lunch. We don’t eat roast lamb at Easter (I think lamb stinks when it’s cooking) so I don’t bother. We’re having roast chicken with all the trimmings instead. For dessert we are having this Flourless Chocolate Easter Cake. Although it could be eaten at any time of the year, this is just so appropriate at the moment.

For a start, this cake doesn’t contain flour and that’s handy if you’ve been struggling to get flour when doing your food shopping. I have been fine so far but I couldn’t find any more baking powder or bicarbonate of soda last week when I went to my local Morrison’s. Instead of flour, this recipe uses ground almonds.

Ingredients:

175g unsalted, softened butter

200g plain/ dark chocolate (use one with high cocoa solids if you can)

140g caster sugar

3 large free range eggs (separated)

90g ground almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp almond extract

Mini eggs, chocolates or sprinkles to decorate.

You will a need loose bottomed, 18cm/ 7″ diameter cake tin.

1. Preheat your oven to 180oC/ 350oF or Gas 4. Fan oven, preheat to 160o.

1. Grease your tin with cake release spray or some butter and line the base with a baking parchment circle.
2. Melt half the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Leave this to cool down.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, cream 115g of the butter and all of the caster sugar together. One by one, add the egg yolks and beat well.
4. Then beat in the chocolate as well as the almond extract.
5. Fold in the ground almonds and the baking powder with a metal spoon.
6. In another clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture.
7. Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and then bake for 25 minutes.
8. Let the cake cool on a wire rack in its tin. When it is completely cool, turn it out.
9. Melt the remaining chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
10. Cool slightly and then spread over the top of your cake.
11. Decorate your cake with your chosen treats!

I chose to use Galaxy Enchanted Mini Eggs for my decoration. I just love Galaxy chocolate and saw these a few weeks ago. They were put away out of sight or I would have scoffed them there and then! All it needs is a spoonful of cream to go with it.

Happy Easter and Stay Safe! Xx