Dairy-free chocolate & coconut loaf

This recipe combines dark chocolate with coconut for a tasty, dairy-free cake made with coconut milk for its delicious richness (and much lower fat content than butter or margarine).

MAKES 1 LARGE LOAF CAKE 400ml full-fat coconut milk 175g desiccated coconut groundnut oil, for greasing 225g golden caster sugar 2 eggs, beaten (weighing about 100g) 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 230g self-raising flour 75g dairy-free dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), grated (or 50g cocoa nibs) 15g toasted coconut flakes, to decorate

DAIRY-FREE CHOCOLATE ICING 170g dairy-free dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), broken into pieces 90ml water 220g golden icing sugar

1 In a mixing bowl, pour the coconut milk over the desiccated coconut and leave, covered, for 10 minutes to absorb. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3. Grease and line the base and sides of a 900g loaf tin. 2 Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla to the soaked coconut and stir with a metal spoon. Sift in the flour and fold in the chocolate. 3 Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 20-30 minutes until golden brown and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out and leave to cool completely. 4 To make the icing, place the chocolate and water in a small heavy-based saucepan and heat gently until melted. Remove from the heat and beat in the icing sugar until the icing is smooth and all the lumps have gone. To decorate, reheat the chocolate icing if needed, then brush the icing over the top of the loaf. Scatter with the toasted coconut. STORE for up to 3 days, uncovered, in the refrigerator but serve at room temperature. Not suitable for freezing. VARIATION To make a raspberry and coconut loaf, replace the chocolate with 180g fresh raspberries and add the grated zest and juice of 1 lime. Top with 4 tbsp raspberry jam and scatter with desiccated coconut.