This gluten free Double Chocolate Orange Torte will make a nice treat for Passover, which is rapidly approaching! My family, however, needed no holiday or excuse to devour the entire cake on a Sunday afternoon. This treat is easy to make and even easier to eat. Go ahead, try some and see for yourself.
Double Chocolate Orange Torte
Ingredients
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup agave nectar or honey
- ½ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place ½ cup chocolate chips in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground to the texture of gravel
- Pulse in almond flour, cacao powder and salt and process until well combined, about 10 seconds
- Add eggs to food processor and pulse again, then add in agave, grapeseed oil and orange zest
- Pulse all ingredients together until smooth
- Remove "bowl" from food processor and stir in second ½ cup of chocolate chips using a spoon or spatula
- Transfer batter into a well oiled 8 inch springform pan
- Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
I adapted this torte recipe from a site called Mandelininc.com which has yummy ideas for almond flour goodies. The recipe I based mine on is called Chocolate Citrus Almond Torte.
Finally, I just wanted to share some disturbing information that I garnered from an article in this Sunday’s New York Times. Nicholas D. Kristof wrote a very informative piece on the use of antibiotics in factory farming. According to his article we, “need to curb the way modern agribusiness madly overuses antibiotics, leaving them ineffective for sick humans.”
Did you know that 70% of the antibiotics used in this country are administered to healthy farm animals. Why is this done? It helps the animals grow faster and bulk up, making them, of course, more valuable. Meat is sold by the pound –think quantity, not quality.
The danger of this practice? With antibiotics so prevalent, new “super bugs” are developing that are resistant to all existing anti-biotics. According to Kristof, more than 18,000 people are dying each year from these new strains of disease that are now untreatable with even the most powerful antibiotics. Pretty scary to think that after close to a century of antibiotic use we could slip back into a world where bacterial diseases (such as tuberculosis) are untreatable and ravage our population on a large scale as they once did.
What can we do? First, if you can avoid all animal products from CAFO farms (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). These types of farms crowd animals into unsanitary conditions, creating infection and of course increasing the need for the administration of prophylactic antibiotics. If you can, purchase organic meats/eggs/dairy from a farmer/rancher in your area (grass fed meat is actually best, however, that’s another story altogether).
And for all you vegans out there –kudos for not supporting the animal product industry in any way, however, these antibiotic resistant infections are contagious to everyone. They originate in a farm and can mutate to our bodies in many ways, not just by eating meat.
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I am hardly an expert on this issue, nor do I claim to be. So please, those of you that have more information, leave a comment and let’s figure out what else we can do to change this frightening trend.
Diane says
I made this yesterday for a party, and it was a big HIT! I subbed honey for the agave, and coconut oil for the grapeseed oil, and it worked just fine. Elana, your blog is quickly becoming my go to reference for desserts!
KB says
Delicious recipe!
This is easily adapted for a regular blender by chopping whole chocolate blocks into slivers with a knife, and starting by putting the wet ingredients in first. I also added 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne for a spicy “Mayan” flavor. Plus it works nicely for a 12 cupcake recipe if you fill the cups no more than half full and bake 20 min.
Martina says
Dear Elana, my name is Martina and I’m writing you from Hungary. There are almost 5 months we have started paleo diet with my boyfriend. Fortunately I have found you site which is really wonderful!!! I already baked this double chocolate orange torte, chocolate chip cookies and the paleo bread! They are wonderful! Thanks for the great recipes and please don’t stop!!! :))
Kind regards,
Martina
S says
as i LOVE the combo of choc n orange, i made this with the following changes:
– choc bar instead of chips (for the last step i just smashed it with the end of my rolling pin into chunks) and
– butter instead of the grapeseed oil
– i also added a drizzle of orange juice to it
– and i wanted height in my cake so i baked it in a 7″ springform tin.
because it was more liquidy than i suspect it should be, and because it was in a smaller tin, it took longer to bake – after 40 minutes it was still slightly liquidy in the center, but after another 5 minutes i took it out because the sides were set; this turned out to be a great decision because the cake turned into a molten lava/chocolate fondant cake, with an oozy center but otherwise solid. my family all loved it hot with a splash of cold double cream.
it is a very rich cake, and though i have a die-hard sweet tooth i was unable to finish even one slice. my 9 year old loved it and wants it next week for his birthday (but then, molten lava cake IS his favourite dessert of all time). and ive just tasted it cold – very fudgy with bits of solid chocolate coming through. brilliant.
elana, i have a Q for u if i may: when all the ingredients except the eggs were in, i tasted the batter and it was heaven in a processor – the taste and texture were perfect. then, when i added the eggs, the texture went all liquidy and the taste became a bit bitter (the orange taste that is). my Q is – do we even need eggs in a cake recipe? what exactly is the role of eggs? what would happen without them? i know a lot of vegans make eggless cakes, have you ever tried making one?
and a Q for the readers – if anyone has made elana’s black n white cake as well as this one, pls tell me – which one do you think would be better for a birthday party (yes, my son’s is coming up next week)? i could bake it and find out but am trying to avoid making (and more to the point, EATING!) too many cakes. as it is, my daughter’s birthday was last week and we taste-tested 4 different cakes for that, so i am all caked out to be honest!
thx elana for a lovely recipe.
Meghan says
So I just bought this blood orange infused olive oil at an olive oil tasting store. Great place. Was wondering if I could substitute the grape seed oil and orange zest for the blood orange olive oil. Thanks!
KathyinMD says
This was wonderful and tasty! I could not get my chocolate chips to grind down very much even though I pulsed the food processor for a long time, but that didn’t matter. The cake came out well and it was delicious. Thank you!
Jackie Booth says
This is AMAZING. Everyone in my “Books & Chocolate Literature Group” Loved it. and since several of us are gluten free participants we ALL enjoyed this recipe. Thank you !!!
And now I plan to make it again for my daughter Holly’s 40th birthday just before Christmas with a holly sprig on top! Hugs to you and your family, Jackie B.
Eve says
I made this for our second Seder as well.
I had done a trial run earlier, and discovered that my husband does not like the taste of orange peel—alas. So I did another trial with coffee extract to add another flavor, and that tasted too sharp.
(I had to find alcohol-free extracts to be kosher for Passover.)
In the end, I skipped the orange peel and added some vanilla extract, and that was lovely.
Now that Passover is over—I think I’ll try a drop of almond extract and some cinnamon, and call it Mexican Double Chocolate Torte. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Anna says
elana,
thanks for this recipe (and all of your others too)!! i made it for our seder, serving it with candied orange peel, and it was very much enjoyed… since we only had four people, i’m still nibbling on the cake! i put it in the fridge, and i think eating it cold cuts the richness factor (somehow!) thanks again!
anna
i-geek says
I made this as the dessert for our Easter dinner and wow! Everyone loved it. I didn’t have grapeseed oil on hand so I subbed in a stick of unsalted butter but otherwise followed the recipe. It’s a keeper. Thanks so much for sharing.