This Flourless Chocolate Olive Oil cake, is dense, rich and absolutely heavenly.

Who has two thumbs and turned 30 this week…

Yeah, this girl! So in recognition of this daunting, yet happy milestone, I wanted to share 30 pearls of wisdom with you. 30 lessons I have learned over 30 years of inhabiting this beautiful planet. They range from the cliche (#3, #28), to the downright practical (#9, #20), and then the obvious-but-I’m-going-to-say-it-anyway (#12, #19). And if you make it to the end… there’s a recipe for some really good cake!

1. Home is more about people than bricks and mortar: In my first 30 years, I have lived in nine different cities in five different countries. What has this taught me is that your family and friends are the people that anchor you to a place more than anything else. But..
2. Make home a haven, the world is a stressful place, create a space that is calm and happy to retreat to.
3. Experience > Things: Sure, I love my KitchenAid mixer, but far more precious to me are my memories of watching the sunset over the Sierra Nevada, trekking through the jungle in Malaysia, riding a moped through the streets of Hanoi.
4. Not everyone is going to like you, and thats ok. Do you like you? Do the people you respect like you? Thats whats important.
5. Your life won’t look like you thought it would: Having goals and dreams are very important, but life has a way steering you in unexpected directions. Instead of lamenting over what could have been, reframe, readjust and focus on new goals.
6. Don’t turn on the computer without a plan: just don’t.
7. Its not about what your body looks like, it’s what your body can do– If only I could have back the hours I spent worrying about the length of my legs and how frizzy my hair is. It wasn’t until my mid twenties when I starting running and paying attention to my food, that I realised that how healthy and strong I feel is about 1 million times more important. Having my son reinforced this tenfold.
8. Work really hard at what you love, but not so hard that your personal relationships and health suffer.
9. Salt & Pepper are both cheap and underrated, use it liberally.
10. Read more, nothing bad ever came from that. But similarly,
11. A little telly won’t hurt but pick quality over quantity
12. Stretch often
13. Pound a wear: If you’re not sure if you should buy that £300 coat, ask yourself, will I wear it 300 times? If the answer is yes, buy it! But don’t spend £100 on an aztec print romper that you will wear for one summer. And similarly-
14. Strive to buy quality over quantity, your bank account will thank you in the long run
15. Don’t smoke because we all know better than that
16. Don’t be afraid of change, after all, it is the only constant.
17. Judging others will only serve to make you feel worse about yourself
18. Do not pluck above your eyebrows, only below 🙂
19. Drink a lot of water because its the easiest, cheapest way to improve your health
20. Cleaning is a grim but necessary task make a rocking playlist, pick a day, and jam it out without distractions
21. Agree to disagree and move on, accept that you will have people in your life that you may never see eye to eye with. Don’t waste energy trying to change them, rather, listen to them as respectively as you can, and move on with your life.
22. Your health is the most valuable asset you have, most of us are fortunate to be born healthy, make good choices
23. You don’t need everything now, be patient, life is long
24. Learn to listen to your gut, and more importantly, learn to follow it
25. Life is too short for drying dishes. AIR DRY THEM.
26. Life is too short for bad coffee, wine, beer, cheese, bread, chocolate.
27. Life is too short for bad people, but…
28. People are inherently good, most of the time. So assume the best, and they will probably deliver.
29. Don’t compare your life to others’ it really is the most pointless waste of time and energy. And remember, you are only comparing yourself to the edited version that
30. It’s ok to not have it all figured out just yet, and I hope I never do

YOU READ THEM ALL? Aces! Please do tell me some of your pearls of wisdom, or if any of these resonated with you! And now, CAKE! Flourless Chocolate Olive Oil Cake to be exact! This cake is rich, dense, and absolutely perfect for Chocolate Lovers. I like to serve it with an orange flavoured mascarpone which is the perfect compliment to cut through the intensity.

Enjoy!

30 lessons for 30 years (and birthday cake!!)

 

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Prep time

8 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

53 mins

 

Author: Emma

Serves: 6-8 slices

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup boiling water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ cups almond meal or flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• pinch of sea salt
• ⅔ cup olive oil
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• 3 large eggs
• Orange Mascarpone:
• 1 cup mascarpone
• zest and juice of 1 orange

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325F/170C
2. Grease a 9 inch spring form tin with a little olive oil, and line the base with parchment paper, set aside
3. Measure cocoa powder into a large jug, and pour in the water and vanilla. Whisk until a smooth paste forms, and set aside to cool
4. In a small bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside
5. In a large bowl, combine olive oil, sugar and eggs. Beat vigorously until well combined and airy. I like to use my kitchenaid mixer for this, but an electric whisk will work fine too.
6. Turn the whisk to low and slowly mix in the cocoa mixture. Tip in the almond flour mixture and continue whisking on low until fully combined.
7. Tip mixture into the prepared tin, and bake for 40-45 minutes until the edges of the cake are set, but the center is slightly soft
8. Remove the cake, and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then allow to cool completely on a wire rack
9. Make the orange mascarpone: tip mascarpone, orange zest and juice into a bowl, and whisk until fully combined
10. Serve cake at room temperature with the whipped mascarpone

3.5.3208

Adapted from Nigella Lawson.

This cake keeps fairly moist for about 3 days baking.

Melted, coconut oil can be used in place of olive oil, but make sure it is cool enough to not scramble the eggs when you mix them. I would also advise using room temperate eggs so that they don’t re-solidify the coconut oil and make a lumpy batter.