These delicious dairy-free chocolate desserts not only look beautiful, they taste amazing, too. From Trine Hahnemann’s new book Scandinavian Green
IMAGE: COLUMBUS LETH
I love cake and both eat and bake it a lot; sometimes I bake more than I can eat. It is relaxing for me, as I’m very interested in the process of baking and love to develop recipes. It needs concentration and discipline, because it requires precision, so it is a way for me to leave my busy life and get 100 per cent absorbed. You will need a large muffin mould for these; each hole in mine is 6cm (2½in) in diameter.
Vegan Chocolate Cakes
Servings: 8 cakes
Ingredients
For the base
- 200 g (generous 1 cup) pitted dates
- 140 g (generous 1 cup) hazelnuts
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
For the chocolate-coconut ganache
- 250 ml (generous 1 cup) coconut milk
- 150 g (½ cup) blackcurrant jam
- 300 g (10½ oz) dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa solids) chopped
- 75 g (⅓ cup) coconut oil
For the topping
- 75 g (⅓ cup) granulated sugar
- 100 g (⅔ cup) almonds
- red sorrel leaves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- For the base, blend the dates, hazelnuts and salt into a rough mixture and divide it equally between the 8 moulds, pressing it in firmly. Bake for 5 minutes, then leave to cool while you make the ganache.
- For the chocolate-coconut ganache, pour the coconut milk into a saucepan, place it over a high heat and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, stir in the jam and chopped chocolate and leave to cool. Mix in the coconut oil and blend the mixture to a smooth paste. Pour it over the bases and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
- When ready to serve, get a sheet of baking parchment and keep it to hand next to the stove for the topping. Melt the sugar in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until golden brown, add the almonds and mix well, then tip out on to the baking parchment. Leave to cool, then chop and place on top of the cakes with the sorrel leaves before serving.
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