Preheat an oven to 170°C.
Grease a spring-form cake tin with olive oil and line the base with baking paper. Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl, then whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth paste. Whisk through the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool. In another bowl, combine the ground almonds with the bi-carb soda and pinch of salt.
Place the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat vigorously for 3 minutes until you have a pale, aerated texture. Turn the speed down and pour in the cocoa mixture. Once combined, slowly add the ground almond mixture.
To finish – pour the batter into the cake tin. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the sides are set but the centre on top still looks slightly damp (a cake tester should come up mainly clean, with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it). Leave to cool on a wire rack, then remove from the tin, slice and serve with cream or ice cream.
200ml olive oil
70g quality cocoa powder
3 teaspoons quality vanilla extract
200g ground almonds
¾ teaspoon bi-carb soda
270g caster sugar
4 large eggs
170ml boiling water
1 pinch of salt
ice cream or cream, to serve