Chocolate aubergine cake with pear & walnuts

SERVES 8 (370 calories) 1 medium aubergine skin on, diced

150g dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), broken into pieces 60g coconut oil 60g pitted dates, chopped ½ tsp salt 3 eggs, beaten 1 tsp baking powder 80g ground almonds (or 100g gluten-free brown flour) 80g walnuts, chopped 1 ½ pears, cubed PREHEAT the oven to 180c/gas 4. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Steam the aubergine for 15 minutes or until it is soft. Then place it, still hot, in a bowl. Immediately add the chocolate and coconut oil and stir until they have more or less melted. Then mix in the chopped dates. Blitz with a hand blender to obtain a smooth paste. Add the salt, eggs, baking powder and ground almonds then whizz one more time, before stirring the walnuts and pears into the cake mixture. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before transferring it to a wire rack to cool.