Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's website. It is not quite vegan but still phenomenal. This was made for Derrick's birthday party. We had a great time celebrating at his house on a day that was finally not freezing! Yay, Pittsburgh Spring is here! I personally love the fruity taste of extra virgin olive oil, so I didn't mind the extra flavor in the cake. For less flavor, use normal olive oil.

1 cup good cocoa powder
½ cup hot coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups almond meal
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raw cane sugar
3 large eggs
⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Grease a 9 inch round baking pan. Line the bottom with wax or parchment paper if you plan to unmold the cake.
2. Measure the cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk in the hot coffee until you have a smooth, chocolatey mixture.
3. In another bowl, whisk the almond meal with the baking soda and pinch of salt.
4. Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a thickened cream. I personally just mixed until my arm hurt and then called it a day. Then add in the vanilla.
5. Add in the cocoa mixture until well mixed. Then add the almond mixture a little bit at a time until it is all incorporated.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very center still looks slightly damp. A toothpick should end up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.
   

This cake is so great while still warm. It sinks a little in the middle so it makes a perfect little well for toppings. We drizzled some salted caramel spread on top of the cake because that's the kind of cake Derrick asked for! It was perfect and we ate it up pretty quickly!