Sometimes you just can’t beat a slice of homemade cake and chocolate is the preferred flavour for many people.

While some recipes include complicated layers and buttery frosting, Nigella Lawson has something much more simple that’s worth a try.

Sharing a recipe from her cookbook Nigellisima, the British chef revealed her secret ingredient for a “meltingly good” cake – olive oil.

The naturally dairy and gluten-free formula is made with ground almonds instead of flour and olive oil to replace the butter.

Nigella said: “Although I first came up with this recipe because I had someone coming for supper who — genuinely — couldn’t eat wheat or dairy, it is so meltingly good, I now make it all the time for those whose life and diet are not so unfairly constrained, myself included.”

Easy chocolate cake recipe

Ingredients

150ml olive oil (plus more for greasing)

50g good-quality cocoa powder (sifted)

Two teaspoons of vanilla extract

150g ground almonds (or 125g plain flour)

Half a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

A pinch of salt

200g caster sugar

Three large eggs

Method

First, preheat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas mark 3, then grease a nine-inch springform tin with a drizzle of olive oil and line with a round of baking parchment.

Now sift the cocoa powder into a bowl and whisk in 125ml boiling water to form a smooth paste that’s still slightly runny. Whisk in the vanilla extract for a hint of sweetness and flavour, then seat the mixture aside to cool.

Take another small bowl and combine the almonds (or flour if using) with the bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Sea salt flakes are good for an edge to the final taste.

Now add the sugar, olive oil and eggs to a mixing bowl and beat vigorously for three minutes (or a little longer if whisking by hand), to form a pale, aerated and thick cream.

Turn the speed down if you’re using an electric mixer, then pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go. When all of the chocolate mixture is scraped in, you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.

Stir the bowl a little with a spatula then pour the cake mixture into the greased tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre still looks slightly damp on top.

A skewer should come up mainly clean when inserted into the cake with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin. Slowly and carefully ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin.

Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream.