Almost Flourless Dark Chocolate Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
with Vanilla Bean Candied Kumquats
with Blood Orange Olive Oil
In heavy 4-quart saucepan, dissolve sugar in water. Slowly bring to simmer over medium low heat. Add sliced kumquats and lower heat. Bring to gentle simmer (be very careful sugar syrup does not foam up and overflow). Cook at gentle simmer 30 minutes. Add vanilla bean and cook additional 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Separate kumquats from syrup using strainer, discard vanilla bean, and place syrup back in saucepan. Reduce syrup to one cup over medium-low heat. Cool syrup reduction and pour over candied kumquats.
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack positioned in middle. Line bottom of a 9" round deep cake pan with parchment paper. Put chocolate in large stainless-steel bowl and melt over simmering water. Whisk until smooth. Add olive oil, whisking in steady stream. Whisk 2/3 cup sugar, egg yolks, then flour and salt. Put egg whites in bowl of stand mixer and beat on medium speed with whisk attachment until they start to foam. Add about a third of remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Beat until whites become opaque, then add another third of sugar. When the whites begin to increase in volume and become firmer, add rest of sugar and turn mixer speed to high. Beat until whites form soft peaks when whisk is lifted from bowl. They will still look slightly wet.
Fold whites into chocolate mixture in two additions. Pour batter into pan and bake until cake is puffed and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (or with only a few crumbs clinging to it), 35-40 minutes.
Let cake cool completely in pan, on rack. It will deflate as it cools. Run table knife around edge of pan and invert cake onto serving plate. Peel off parchment paper. Lightly dust top of cake with powdered sugar. Serve at room temperature, with spoonful of candied kumquats and reduced syrup and/or dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 8 servings.