Olive oil chocolate cake with figs and hazelnuts recipe
This delectable chocolate cake recipe is just the thing to brighten up a drab January day. It was created by food writer and historian Angela Clutton, author of Borough Market: the Knowledge. And, though it looks impressive, it's surprisingly easy to make – and it tastes delicious too.
"This is a pleasingly elegant cake to serve as a dessert," says Angela. "It’s not overly rich, and has a lovely tangy bite from the yogurt topping, with hazelnuts giving that topping crunch as well as flavour.
"This is the place for using a good, but not necessarily the absolute best, olive oil. You want something with a mild flavour that isn’t going to overwhelm the other elements."
Please note: To make this cake, you'll need a 23cm (9in) springform cake tin.
Ingredients
- 150 ml mild olive oil
- 60 g carob flour or cocoa powder
- 2 tsp hazelnut liqueur
- 200 g golden caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 125 g self-raising flour
- 1 pinch of fine salt
- 200 g thick Greek yogurt
- 2 ripe figs
- 100 g skinned hazelnuts, toasted
- 5.3 fl oz mild olive oil
- 2.1 oz carob flour or cocoa powder
- 2 tsp hazelnut liqueur
- 7.1 oz golden caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 4.4 oz self-raising flour
- 1 pinch of fine salt
- 7.1 oz thick Greek yogurt
- 2 ripe figs
- 3.5 oz skinned hazelnuts, toasted
- 0.6 cup mild olive oil
- 2.1 oz carob flour or cocoa powder
- 2 tsp hazelnut liqueur
- 7.1 oz golden caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 4.4 oz self-raising flour
- 1 pinch of fine salt
- 7.1 oz thick Greek yogurt
- 2 ripe figs
- 3.5 oz skinned hazelnuts, toasted
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Cake
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 40 mins
- Serves: 10
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/gas mark 5. Grease the sides of the cake tin with a little of the oil, and line its base with baking paper.
- Sift the carob flour or cocoa powder into a bowl, then whisk in 125ml boiling water and the hazelnut liqueur. Set aside.
- Put the sugar, the rest of the olive oil and the eggs into a large mixing bowl. Use an electric whisk to beat them together until thickened: you are trying to get lots of air into the mix. Beat in the carob flour/cocoa powder mixture, then sift in the flour and salt. Gently but thoroughly fold the flour in – you don’t want to lose all the air you’ve just beaten in – then pour the mixture into your prepared cake tin.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until just about set. Remove from the oven, cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and leave to cool some more.
- Once the cake is cool, spoon the thick yogurt on top. Slice the figs and arrange those on top too. Chop the hazelnuts, scatter over and slice.
- You can bake the cake ahead of time and store it without the topping in an airtight tin. It will keep well unadorned like that for up to 3 days. Once topped with the yogurt, figs and nuts it is best eaten that day.
Recipe extracted from Borough Market: The Knowledge by Angela Clutton (Hodder & Stoughton, £27). Photography by Kim Lightbody.
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