This recipe was a bit of a last minute attempt at a birthday cake, and it actually worked out very well! My non gluten free/vegan family were all very impressed with it, and you could even jazz it up with a ‘buttercream’ icing made from coconut oil/icing sugar/cocoa powder, or make a raw icing from blended dates/cacao powder/coconut oil/water. It’s up to you! It was so deliciously moist and rich that all we did was decorate it with fresh raspberries on top.

Serves 8-10

You will need:

3 cups almond flour

100g melted dark chocolate (70% +)

1/2 cup coconut sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup almond milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice (left for 15 minutes to curdle and thicken slightly)

1/4 cup flax + 1/2 cup water (mixed and left overnight to gel up to form a flax ‘egg’)

Preheat your oven to 170C and combine the almond flour, baking powder and coconut sugar in a bowl. Then in a jug, mix the flax ‘egg’, curdled almond milk and vanilla extract together. Form a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour the liquid ingredients in bit by bit, stirring well. Once combined, add in the melted dark chocolate and fold in gently. Grease and line a round cake tin about 20cm and pour the cake batter into the tin. Bake for approximately 35-50 minutes or until it is crispy on top. Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin. You can then ice it or just eat it with fresh raspberries and coconut yoghurt like I did!