Konjac Cake

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 50 g erythritol
• 10 g cocoa powder
• 10 g konjac flour
• 1 g cream of tartar

Method

Heat the oven to 150°C. This is a chiffon-style cake held up entirely by whipped egg white — no fat, no chemical leaveners — so your aeration technique and oven temperature are non-negotiable.

Separate the eggs while cold; cold yolks are less prone to break, and cold whites whip to greater volume. Use scrupulously dry bowls and beaters for the whites. Even a trace of yolk or grease will collapse your egg-white foam before it sets. Add the cream of tartar to the whites — it stabilises the proteins and lets you push the foam further without risk of overbeating into grainy, separated curds.

Whip the whites on high speed until large, loose bubbles form (about two minutes), then add the erythritol in a steady stream while continuing to whip. This gradual incorporation dissolves the sugar into the foam rather than weighing it down. Keep beating on medium speed until stiff peaks form — the whites should stand upright when you lift the beaters and cling to an inverted bowl without sliding. This is your structural foundation.

Fold the yolks into the whites with a few gentle strokes — do not attempt to fully homogenise them. The yolks will blend in as you fold the cocoa and konjac flour. Sift the cocoa and konjac together beforehand to avoid lumps, then add them in two additions, folding with a spatula in deliberate motions: down through the centre, across the bottom, up the side, over the top. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn between each fold. Stop the moment you see no streaks of dry flour — overworking deflates your carefully built aeration.

Pour into a parchment-lined tin and tap it gently on the bench twice to release large air pockets. Bake for 25 minutes. The cake is done when a skewer inserted into the centre meets slight resistance and the top springs back from a light finger press. The crumb should feel barely set; it will firm as it cools.

Invert the tin immediately onto a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes upside down — this counterintuitive step prevents the delicate sponge from collapsing under its own weight as steam escapes. Turn it upright to cool completely before slicing.