Last week I launched the Vegan Nutrition Course which, by the way, is brilliant . In the first module I mention discretionary food. Food that, by all means, is not every day food. Food that should only be eaten on those special occasions, like birthdays and celebrations.
The recipe I share with you today is certainly discretionary food. While it is gluten free and when I made it, it had all organic ingredients, it does contain some sugar in the chocolate and then some added coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is better than refined sugar but is still sucrose, so very much an occasional food. All of the sugars:
White sugar
Coconut sugar
Rapadura sugar
Agave
Maple syrup
are all still sugars, and for a healthy life I certainly wouldn’t be eating these on a daily basis. The only one that is slightly better, and does actually have some health benefits, is maple syrup, as it contains small amounts of manganese, potassium, zinc and calcium.
Now all that nutrition stuff aside.
There are certainly times that we celebrate and need to eat discretionary food, and this cake really is worth making. It is incredibly delicious and moist.
The photo of the cake is a double size cake and as it is so rich it will make 20 slices.
So, I have put the two quantities. You use the same sized cake tin for both cakes. The single size cake for 10 people will just be flatter.
I used a 20 cm spring form cake tin.
Note: gluten free cakes need to be treated gently. The more you mix them or bang the mix, the flatter they become.
Chocolate fudge-like cake
INGREDIENTS
For 8–10 slices For 18–20 slices
250g pitted dried dates 500 pitted dried dates
1 tsp bicarb 2 tsp bicarb
1 cup boiling water 2 cups boiling water
200g vegan chocolate 400g vegan chocolate
1½ cups almond meal 3 cups almond meal
1 cup self-raising gf flour 2 cups self-raising gf flour
½ cup coconut or rapadura sugar 1 cup coconut or rapadura sugar
½ cup soy milk (may need more) 1 cup soy milk (may need more)
For the icing
9 medjool dates pits taken out 18 medjool dates pits taken out
100g melted vegan chocolate 200g melted vegan chocolate
100ml or more of soy milk 200ml or more of soy milk
1 tbsp raw cacao 2 tbsp raw cacao
Optional Jam
¼ cup Ooray plum jam or other red jam (same amount for both cakes)
Garnish
Strawberries
Note: make the icing just before icing the cake, as it will firm up too much if you leave it to ice later and then it will be hard to spread.
METHOD
For the cake
1. Place the dried dates in a bowl with the bicarb and boiling water. Let sit for 20 minutes.
2. Line the tin with baking paper.
3. Melt the chocolate by placing it in a heat-proof bowl and setting it on top of a saucepan that has boiling water in it. Put it on the stove on a medium heat until the chocolate is completely melted.
4. In a bowl, add the almond meal, gluten free flour and sugar and mix with a whisk.
5. Heat up the oven 160°C on fan forced.
6. Once the 20 minutes is over, remove the dates from the water but DO NOT throw the water away, we use that in the cake. Squish the dates to make sure there are no stones in them and put the dates in a food processor and blitz, then add the water to the food processor and blitz a bit more. Add the date mixture to the flour and sugar. Don’t stir yet.
7. Add the melted chocolate and gradually pour in the plant milk as you stir the cake with a spatula. You want a moist cake, so you may need to add more plant milk. Sometimes in the small cake I have added a full cup of soy milk.
8. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then turn around and bake for a further 10 to 20 minutes. Use a skewer to test the cake. If it comes out clean it is cooked.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a cake rack and leave in the tin. Cool down completely before taking out of the tin.
For the icing
10. Make the icing by cutting the dates super small and putting them and the other ingredients in a blender and blend until super smooth. You may need to add some more milk if it’s not blending well.
Take the cake out of the tin and put it upside down on a plate and then spread on the jam then the icing. Decorate with the strawberries.
