Zero to Delicious in Six Minutes

We were invited to dinner at a friend’s house Saturday night and being that I never like to arrive empty-handed as a guest, I offered to bring dessert and they graciously accepted.

But what to bring? The dreaded baker’s dilemma.

This couple we are having dinner with has begun a food journey, if you will, and they have nearly eliminated or at least minimized their meat consumption and have been “flirting with” veganism. And since I have gone gluten-free, I needed something that would accommodate all of our food issues.

Recently, I came across a gluten-free food blog, Elana’s Pantry, and I am smitten. Elana lives in the cool community (pun intended) of Boulder, Colorado, and I love that her desserts are made with grapeseed oil rather than butter and maple syrup and honey as opposed to sugar. Finally, a healthy fix that makes my baking addiction and sweet tooth seemingly not-so-bad-for-you or me!

I printed several recipes that I liked and decided that the flourless Double Chocolate Orange Torte would be the chosen one for this occasion.

Honestly, I knew it was going to be a winner, so I took pictures in preparation for this post and within six minutes—I am not kidding—the dessert was ready to be poured into a prepared (buttered) springform pan.

If you have a food processor and six minutes (actually, it’s probably less time if you’re not taking pictures), you, too, can whip up this magnificent dessert and impress your friends just as I impressed mine.

And to do it without any butter and sugar made it that much more special!

Buen provecho!

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Flourless Double Chocolate Orange Torte

This uber-easy, gluten-free dessert is so decadent and delicious, I actually felt guilty about how quickly it came together in a food processor. I reserved about a dozen of the heaping 1/2 cup of dark chocolate discs at the end and just dropped them onto the top of the batter when it was in the pan for added richness.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate cake, gluten free

Prep Time 6 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 46 minutes

Servings 8

Author The Cowgirl Gourmet slightly adapted this recipe from Elana's Pantry

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate 73% I used discs
• 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 3 farm fresh eggs
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate 73% reserve about a dozen pieces or so of which I reserved and just stuck on top of the batter once it was in the springform pan to give it extra chocolate richness
• 1 tablespoon orange zest for garnish
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar sifted, for garnish

Instructions

1. Pulse 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or discs in a food processor until coarsely ground to the texture of gravel.
   
2. Pulse in almond flour, cacao powder and salt and process until well combined, about 10 seconds.
   
3. Add eggs (please note how incredibly orange the yolks are...that's farm fresh eggs) to food processor and pulse again, then add in agave, grapeseed oil and orange zest.
   
4. Pulse all ingredients together until smooth.
5. Remove "bowl" from food processor (and remove blade) and stir in second 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips or discs using a spoon or spatula.
6. Transfer batter into a well oiled or buttered 10" springform pan and drop in another dozen or so discs on the top for added texture and richness.
   
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
   
8. Serve at room temperature. I sprinkled a little more orange zest on top and a dusting of powdered sugar for presentation.