When you have a super sweet tooth like me you find yourself baking loads of cakes. Appalling for the waistline, but freaking delicious!!
Since I started eating wheat, gluten, dairy and sugar free (essentially a Paleo diet) I despaired of ever eating anything tasty again. As you can see by most recipes on here that hasn’t been the case (thank god).
When I say sugar free I mean the nasty refined version. In very limited quantities I enjoy honey, maple syrup, organic coconut sugar and those kinds of things.
These cupcakes are a Nigella Lawson recipe, but I subbed honey where she uses sugar and made them as cupcakes, rather than a cake (to trickle the treats rather than having me eat the whole cake).
Husband took some to work and all declared you wouldn’t know these were ‘free’ of anything!
GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL CUPCAKES
Recipe by: Nigella Lawson
Ingredients
⅔ cup regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
6 tablespoons good-quality unsweetened cocoa (sifted)
½ cup boiling water
2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
1 ½ cups almond meal
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1 cup honey
3 large eggs
Method
Preheat your oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325ºF. Grease a 22 or 23 cm/ 9inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking paper (or place patty pans in cupcake tray like I did – you don’t have to grease anything, just pop them in).
Measure and sift the unsweetened cocoa into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.
In another smallish bowl, combine the almond meal with the baking soda and pinch of salt.
Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.
Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.
Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.
Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.
Enjoy,
CC xx
