Author Notes
This is a wonderful recipe from Mario Batali that I revised a bit by adding fresh orange zest and replaced the butter with olive oil. I love serving it with my chocolate-dipped orange segments & sea salt. —cucina di mammina
Continue After Advertisement
Ingredients
- torta al cioccolato (flourless chocolate torte)
-
a bit more than 1/3 cup olive oil (less than 1/2 cup)
-
1 1/4 cup
cup granulated organic sugar
-
6
large eggs, seperated
-
5 tablespoons
instant espresso powder
-
6 tablespoons
good quality dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
-
5-6 tablespoons
good quality rum
-
1 1/2 cups
ground blanched almonds (or purchase already ground almonds at health food stores, called “almond flour”)
-
flour (for dusting the baking pan)
-
confectioner’s sugar for dusting (prior to serving)
- chocolate-dipped orange segments with sea salt
-
2-4
small cuties or halo oranges (peeled and stripped of all fibers)
-
2-3
squares of 80% dark chocolate bar
-
2-3
squares of semi-sweet chocolate bar
-
sea salt
Directions
-
In a glass bowl over softly boiling water (double-boiler method), heat the olive oil to just warm and slowly whisk in the sugar until blended and then the egg yolks. Cook for about 5 minutes while blending until the eggs become ribbon like and lighter in color (do not overcook or they will scramble!)
-
Keeping the bowl on low to medium heat over the water, now whisk in the instant espresso coffee until well blended. Add in the cocoa powder, rum and ground almonds or almond flour and blend until combined. The mixture will result in a smooth creamy chocolate blend.
-
Remove from the heat and place in a large bowl and set aside.
-
Grease and flour a 9? or 10? cake pan (depending on how tall you wish this torte to be, I baked mine in a 10? springform pan which is what you see in the photos.) Set aside.
-
In your mixer bowl, whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks, stop beating before they begin to form hard peaks. Slowly fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture until all is well combined.
-
Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes (or until the sides of the torte come away from the pan.)
-
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Remove torte from pan and flip over. Dust generously with confectioner’s sugar and decorate with some of the chocolate-dipped orange segments.
-
To make the orange segments:
Place the orange segments on a greased piece of wax or parchment paper or lightly oiled baking sheet. Place the chocolate squares in a microwave safe deep bowl and heat until melted and smooth (1-2 minutes or so.)
-
Blend with a fork and begin dipping the orange segments and lay them on the oiled surface to set. Sprinkle very lightly with the sea salt to taste (just a few grains, do not over salt.)
-
Allow to set for a few hours or place in the refrigerator to set rapidly. Place them on the servings of the torte di cioccolata and serve immediately.
See what other Food52ers are saying.