Chocolate, Bourbon & Espresso Cream Flourless Torte

Half fill a medium-sized saucepan with water and place on high heat. Top with a heatproof bowl (this is also known as a double boiler). Add in the chocolate, butter, bourbon and coffee, mixing every few minutes until the butter and chocolate are both melted and well incorporated. Turn off the heat and leave to cool at room temperature.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 165C/330F. Spray the bottom and sides of a 20cm (8”) springform cake tin with cooking oil spray and line with baking (parchment) paper.

Once the butter and chocolate mixture is cool, whisk in the egg yolks. Set aside.

Place the egg whites into a bowl of a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites on medium speed until white and fluffy. Slowly add in the sugar, one-quarter cup at a time, and turn speed up to high for a further 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl, sift the almond meal, baking powder and salt (I like to do this three times to ensure there are no lumps and the mix is as fine as possible). Slowly pour in the melted chocolate mixture and gently fold ingredients together until just combined. It’s important not to overmix as you don’t want to knock all the air out.

Now gently fold in one-third of the egg white mixture, folding by the remaining two-thirds.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the cake is cooked through (you’ll know it’s cooked when you insert a skewer into the centre and it comes out clean). Don’t panic if the centre flops down and cracks – that’s the look we’re going for! Leave to cool in the tin.

Meanwhile, let’s make the espresso cream. Using a stand mixer stainless steel mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, add in cream, sifted icing sugar and coffee. Turn onto medium-high speed and mix until firm peaks form. Set aside.

Once the torte is cool, carefully remove from the tin and transfer to a cake stand or serving plate. Sprinkle or use a sieve to dust cocoa powder over the top of the torte until there is a generous coating. Top with espresso cream. Now it’s ready to enjoy!