CHOCOLATE AVOCADO CAKE

A year ago I would not have considered making a cake like this, but when I was trying out recipes for a Delicious Diet Days class, I liked the idea of a cake that tasted great but was more healthy. We had a lot of fun cooking this. One lady’s eyes lit up at the thought of her two favourite foods, chocolate and avocado, in the same dish! As she is also gluten intolerant, she was delighted that it worked so well with buckwheat flour, which is gluten free. We made plums poached with sweetener and cider to accompany the cake. Needless to say, there was none left.

Serves 2

• Butter-flavoured cooking spray

• 120g white buckwheat flour or wholewheat flour

• 140g xylitol or granulated sugar

• 100g mini chocolate chips (optional)

• 6 tbsp raw cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder

• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

• ½ tsp fine sea salt

• 60g yogurt of choice

• 60g mashed ripe avocado, measured after mashing

• 180ml water

• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1Preheat the oven to 180°C. With the cooking spray, grease a 20cm square or round baking tin or two mini loaf tins. It works best in small tins as it does not rise much.

2Put the flour, xylitol or sugar, most of the chocolate chips (if using), cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl and stir well to combine.

3Whisk together the yogurt, mashed avocado, water and vanilla in a separate bowl.

4Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined (don’t over-mix). Pour the batter into the greased tin and scatter over the reserved chocolate chips (if using).

5Bake in the oven for 25–40 minutes, until the cake is well risen and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. This could take as little as 25 minutes, but I find that it often takes closer to 40. Set aside on a wire rack to cool completely before running a knife around the edges of the tin and turning the cake out of the tin.

6Put the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before taking even a single bite to allow it to firm up and the flavour to develop. Trust me!

TIP

You could double the recipe to make a double-layer cake. Try a filling of mashed avocado, yogurt and sweetener.