Greg’s Gluten-free Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake with Dairy-free Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Instructions

1. Bake the cake. Preheat the oven to 160°C/340°F. Lightly grease the sides of two 20cm/8″ round, loose-bottomed cake tins with olive oil, and line the bottoms with baking paper.
2. Place the chocolate and honey in a heatproof bowl, and set over a pan of simmering water. Do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the water, or any steam to come into contact with the chocolate, as this will cause the chocolate to seize into a grainy lump (so use a bowl that has a wider diameter than the pan). Once the chocolate has completely melted, set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. In a small bowl, measure out the dry ingredients (ground almonds, cacao powder, baking soda and salt).
4. In a large mixing bowl, measure out the wet ingredients (egg yolks, olive oil and almond milk).
5. Put the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl and whisk with an electric whisk for 2 minutes, until soft peaks form.
6. Mix the wet ingredients with the same whisk, until pale yellow and aerated. Add the dry ingredients, and stir until blended using a wooden spoon. Add the chocolate mixture and stir until blended.
7. Lighten the mixture by stirring in one-third of the whisked egg whites. Tip in the rest of the egg whites and gently fold in using a spatula: cut down the centre with the side edge of the spatula; scrape across the bottom of the bowl and up the side, scooping up the mixture as you go so that it is turned over and under; rotate the bowl 90° and repeat until fully blended. Be careful not to overwork the mixture and knock out the air, but make sure the bitter egg white is fully blended.
8. Divide the mixture evenly into the two prepared tins. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes, until a crust has formed on top and the cake starts to pull away from the side of the tin. The centre may still feel slightly squishy, but should not be wobbly (the cake will firm up as it cools in the tin).
9. Wait until the cakes have cooled for 10 minutes before running a palette knife around the sides and turning out onto a wire cooling rack.
10. Frost the cake. Meanwhile, make the raspberry puree. Combine the honey, lemon juice and raspberries in a saucepan. Heat over a high heat, stirring constantly and mashing until the puree thickens – about 8 minutes.
11. Make the chocolate fudge frosting by combining the dates and 2 tablespoons of the almond milk in the small bowl of a food processor (if using dried dates rather than fresh dates, soften first by steeping in boiled water for 10 minutes then draining). Blitz to a smooth paste, gradually adding the rest of the almond milk a tablespoon at a time to loosen the mixture. If it starts to seize, scrape down the sides. Add the cacao powder and salt, and blitz until fully blended.
12. Spread one half the raspberry puree over the top of one of the cakes. Spoon and spread about one-third of the chocolate fudge frosting over the raspberry puree. Sandwich the other cake on top, and repeat. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, but serve at room temperature so that the chocolate will melt on the tongue and release its flavour.