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.
Elisabeth says
Elana – I could only find Bob’s Red Mill almond flour locally. Although I have ordered your recommended flours, I thought I would take a stab with Bob’s Red Mill. I made the cake per your recipe, but instead of baking it right away, I placed the batter in the ring form in the refrigerator for a few hours while I ran some errands. When I first put it in the form, admittedly, it was a very runny batter. However, after being chilled for a few hours, it was thick. I baked it per your instruction and it came out beautifully!
Chris says
Another great recipe :), i prefer to use raw honey as the sweetener instead of agave syrup though.
Ira says
Elana, I finally had the chance to make this dessert tonight. Thank you so much for the recipe. Delicious and easy to make. Happy Passover 2013 to you and your family!
Jay says
Tried this today ! It was awesome. Didn’t use the orange. Might want to wrap the pan with foil shiny side out to keep the outside from getting a bit burnt.
avtar says
i made this a couple days ago for a friend who doesn’t eat grains and it was a big hit! i am curious though, if i left out the orange zest and wanted it to to have a different flavor – say raspberry, or caramel, or almond – have you experimented with other flavors to compliment the chocolate?
thanks for the great blog and recipes!
Gilda J. says
Try grating a small apple into it — did it and couldn’t believe the great result! Also it was lighter and more moist. :)
Marta Scragg says
The antibiotics don’t stop with meat and chicken. They are in any product that comes from these animals such as butter, milk, eggs etc. And added to that is the inhumane way these animals are raised, in a cage not big enough to turn around in, or tied to a feedlot until they are big enough to be slaughtered (which is also sometimes brutal). But as you say that is another story altogether. I suggest buying only organic and if you can’t afford it, eat less and fill up on locally grown vegetables. It’s much healthier anyway.
Kristen says
I just made this torte. It came out so good, so good I had to eat a piece while it was warms. Thanks!
Kristen says
*warm, hehe! i should re- read before I post.
Renee says
Fantastic! Made it today and it is absolutely delicious!!
joanne says
I was encouraged by so many people having success with this recipe but mine came out dense, heavy and less than 1/2 inch thick. Where did I go wrong? Has anyone else had the same problem?
Angelfeathers says
Mine was like that too, Joanne, but absolutely yummy and a huge success with hubby and 6 year-old son! Bit rich for me so I have to have lots of cream with it! :-)
I did make a few changes, so I don’t really know what affected it most. My chocolate drops were really tiny so probably melted in more, and I subbed melted butter for the oil and used less agave.
It came out more like I would expect a torte to be, though, than the picture above, so I’m not too disappointed!
Vicki Bradley says
I made the Double chocolate Orange torte last week for Ed’s 83rd BD. It was so good.
And the appearance was excellent. I made it with hazelnut flour and organic chocolate chips. I don’t have a spring form pan so I used a 10 inch cake pan lined with oiled parchment paper. When it was done (about 25 minutes), I let it cool in the pan on a wire rack. Then I removed it to a glass footed server. Paired it with a small scoop of cappucchino coconut ice cream and some fresh frozen chopped cherries I had thawed out. Tasted divine and looked spectacular. The guests were very impressed. Thank you for working so hard for all of us who have issues or just want to eat better.