A gluten free chocolate cake

I have a friend who is has to follow a gluten free diet.  She's a good friend and so I find myself reading recipes and food labels in detail trying to find anything suitable for a meal.  It isn't always easy.

I have decided it's preferable to work with recipes that have acceptable ingredients rather than using what I call "made up" recipes with odd substitutes.  Desserts can be quite problematic but I was delighted to find that my old friend Gateau Lawrence is perfect.  It contains no flour at all, and you don't have to use anything called gum.  It isn't even complicated.

Ingredients

for the cake:
180g (6.5 ounces) good dark chocolate
175g (6 ounces) butter
125g (4.5 ounces) brown sugar
200g (7 ounces) ground almonds
4 eggs

for the topping:
50g (almost 2 ounces)milk chocolate
75g (2.5 ounces)dark chocolate
125ml (4.5 fl ounces) double cream
OR
100g (3.5 ounces) dark chocolate
50g (almost 2 ounces) butter

The sugar says unrefined sugar which could be anything from golden granulated sugar to dark muscovado.  The muscovado gives a deeper and richer taste (and takes forever to mix in) but I prefer a lighter sugar.

You're supposed to use a loose bottomed or spring-form tin but I used a silicone bakeware (I can't very well call it a tin).  It's supposed to be 25 cm but mine was 22 cm, say 9.5 down to 8.5 inches.  It should have meant a longer cooking time but it didn't seem to.  Maybe that was down to the silicone bakeware.  Even though you aren't supposed to need to, I did line the "tin" with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water.  It doesn't have to be boiling water, but getting close.

Beat the butter and sugar until they are light and creamy.  It's easier if the butter is soft or at least at room temperature before you start.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites and add the yolks, ground almonds and melted chocolate to the mix.  Beat again until evenly mixed.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff then carefully add to the cake mixture, mixing them in quickly and lightly with a metal spoon.

Pour into the baking tray of choice and cook in an over set to 150° C/300° F/gas 2 for 35 minutes.  It should have a crust on top but be quite squishy to the touch.

Leave to cool a while before removing from the tin.  It breaks rather easily, so care is needed.

Melt the chocolate and butter, or chocolate and cream, over hot water and spread over the cake.

If you can wait that long, I think it's better the next day.  It's meant to serve 6 but it's very rich and can very easily stretch a lot further.