Chocolate and date torte

At a local cafe recently I spied an interesting chocolatey, nutty, cakey thing and decided I must try it.  It was the most delectable chocolate nut torte, with a smattering of dates, of all things.  Their chewy earthy sweetness melted beautifully with the chocolate and I immediately went home to try making one myself (the cafe would not give up their recipe!).  This recipe is a mish-mash of a few different torte recipes found all over the internet, but I think this is one of the simpler ways of throwing it together on short notice.

Ingredients:

1 cup roughly chopped pitted dates (or any other dried fruit you like)

1 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate (or choc bits)

1 cup almond meal

4 egg whites

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or any other nut)

Method:

Pre heat oven to 180C (or 160 fan-forced).  Line the bottom of a springform cake pan with baking paper. 

In a medium bowl, throw together the dates, chocolate, almond meal and nuts.  

In another bowl, beat together the egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form.  

Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue, then spread into the cake pan.  

Bake for approx 45 minutes until lightly browned on top.  Cool, then remove cake from pan.  Serve with cream or ice-cream and a strong coffee.