Ingredients

Method

For the torte:
• 200 g dark chocolate (70%), roughly broken
• 200 g caster sugar
• ½ cup olive oil
• 6 large free-range eggs, separated
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 60 g hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
• 1 T cocoa powder
• ½ t salt
For the cream:
• ½ cup cold fresh cream
• 2 T caster sugar
• 1 t vanilla extract
For the fruit and decoration:
• 100 g fresh cherries or blueberries
• 100 g fresh raspberries and strawberries
• 1 T cocoa powder
• honey

Method

Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Spray a 21-cm springform tin with non-stick spray and line the inside wall of the tin with baking paper.

2. Half-fill a medium-sized pot with water and place it over medium heat. Place a heatproof glass bowl over the pot to create a double-boiler, then add the chocolate to the bowl. Melt the chocolate while stirring. When the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the sugar and olive oil. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, hazelnuts, cocoa powder and salt, and whisk to combine.

3. Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and mix to combine, but do not overmix. Pour the batter into the springform tin. Reduce the oven’s temperature to 160ºC and bake for 25 minutes until a knife comes out mostly clean, but with some fudgy batter still on it. Allow the torte to cool before popping it out of the tin.

4. Add the cream to a clean mixing bowl. Whisk until it begins to thicken, then add the rest of the ingredients. Continue whisking until soft peaks form. Spoon the cream onto the torte and top with fresh cherries and berries. Dust with the with cocoa powder and drizzle over some honey before serving.

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Extracted with permission from "The Good Stuff" by Karl Tessendorf and published by Penguin Random House South Africa.