NATURALLY LEAVENED HAZELNUT MAPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE
Prep: 15 mins. Fermenting: 6–10 hrs. Cooking: 1¾ hrs. Serves 10–12.
100g pitted prunes
250ml just-boiled water
2⅓ cups (300g) unbleached white
spelt flour
100g dutch-process cocoa powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
200g maple sugar or grated palm sugar 2⅔ cup (125g) light brown
muscovado sugar
75g ground hazelnuts
100g float-tested leaven*
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped or 2 tsp vanilla extract
250g unsalted butter, ghee or coconut
oil, melted, cooled to room temperature 5 eggs (about 60g each), beaten Raw honey glaze 100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), broken or chopped into small pieces 1½ cups (175g) raw honey, at room temperature
1 Soak prunes in boiling water for about 10 mins, or until softened. Grease and line a 24cm springform cake tin.
2 Sift flour, cocoa, cinnamon and a pinch of sea salt into a large bowl. Add both the sugars and ground hazelnuts and combine. Pour in leaven and use your fingertips to rub it into dry ingredients, forming a slightly crumbly mixture.
Place prunes and their soaking water into a blender or food processor along with vanilla, cooled melted butter and eggs and blitz to form a smooth mixture.
3 Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Gently fold together ingredients until no dry bits remain, but don’t overwork. Pour mix into prepared cake tin and cover loosely with a damp cloth. Leave to rise in a fairly warm spot for 6–10 hrs (ideally at 24–28˚C).
The mixture is not likely to rise at this stage (it will rise when baked), but if you break the surface you may see small pockets of air.
4 Preheat oven to 150˚C (130˚C fan). Cover cake with a sheet of foil and bake in centre of oven for 1½ hours. Uncover and test by inserting a skewer into the centre – if it comes out clean but with a few moist crumbs attached, it is ready. If not, leave uncovered and continue to bake for a further 10–15 mins, testing again after this time. Remove from oven and let cool in tin for a few minutes. Carefully remove cake to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
5 Glaze While cake is cooling, make the raw honey glaze. Melt chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan half-filled with simmering water (make sure base of bowl does not touch the water). When chocolate is melted, remove from heat and allow to cool briefly. Add honey and a tiny pinch fine sea salt and stir to combine. While still warm, pour glaze over cooled cake and set for about
1 hr before serving.
*NOTE This cake uses an active leaven instead of chemical raising agents, which renders the flour more nutritious and digestible.