Chocolate, orange and black raspberry cake

When everyone likes it, you have to share!

We recently celebrated my boyfriend’s birthday. It’s doubly thanks to him that this recipe came into the world, first because I wanted to make him a birthday cake, and then because he encouraged me to transcribe and share my culinary inspiration.

Having just picked a lot of black raspberries in a beautiful organic orchard, I baked him this cake with what we had on hand, and it turned out well. So well that I repeated the feat three times, from pure greed, but also to please him and to perfect and record my recipe (I hadn’t taken notes the first two times). It remained a sheer delight each time, and gifted me in addition with a recipe to share.

Organic, vegan, made with whole kamut flour, sweetened only with fruit, containing no cholesterol or trans fat, and low in sodium, this cake is suitable for diabetics and probably everyone else except for the gluten intolerant, for whom you can swap in gluten-free flour.

So with no further ado, here’s the recipe for one of the best vegan sugarless cakes I’ve tasted in my life!

Liquid ingredients:

• 1 cup pitted dates
• 2¼ cups almond milk
• 2 tbsp. ground flaxseed
• ½ cup olive oil

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups whole kamut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder without alum or sodium bicarbonate
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsp. dehydrated orange zest powder
• 1 tsp. powdered ginger
• ½ tsp. dehydrated grapefruit zest powder

Magic ingredients:

• 2 cups black raspberries
• 1 cup chips or pieces of dark chocolate, 80% (organic and fair trade)

For the glaze:

• 4-6 dates to taste
• 2 tbsp. coconut oil
• 2 tbsp. cocoa (organic and fair trade)
• One inch of vanilla bean, or a few drops of vanilla essence
• 6 tbsp. water

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. Oil and sprinkle with a little flour a medium-size cake pan.
3. Whizz the liquid ingredients, including ground flax seeds, in a blender until they have a smooth and silky texture. Reserve. No need to wash the mixer, because it will be reused for the glaze.
4. Mix the dry ingredients well.
5. Combine the liquid ingredients and the dry ingredients. Mix well, but lightly.
6. Stir the magic ingredients in quickly.
7. Bake for about 50 minutes. If you cover the cake for the first half hour, it will have a softer texture and surface.
8. Mix glaze ingredients in blender. If it’s cool (below 20°C), prewarming the coconut oil in a double boiler will make mixing easier. Or you can use warm water and wait until the coconut oil melts. Adjust quantities to taste.
9. When the cake has cooled, pour glaze over it slowly. Serve with all the raspberries you want. The berries shown in the photo are frosted because they were still frozen. We had to wait a few minutes after the shooting to taste the cake!

If you are missing ingredients:

Don’t panic! You can replace:

• Dates with other dried fruit (apricots, raisins, figs)
• Almond milk by any other milk substitute, homemade or commercial
• Olive oil by some other vegetable oil, such as sesame or sunflower seed
• Kamut flour by any other wholegrain flour
• Ginger by some other strong spice, clove for example. Ditto for the orange peel powder.
• Black raspberries by any other kind of raspberry or berry
• Chocolate chips with nuts or other magic ingredients
• Coconut oil by cocoa butter or avocado. Then maybe add a little extra vanilla

Isis Gagnon-Grenier