Date, chocolate and sweet potato cake
2 HOURS + SOAKING | SERVES 14 | EASY
sweet potatoes 300g
dates 250g (after stones removed)
cold-pressed rapeseed oil 75ml
almond milk 350ml
cider vinegar 1½ tbsp
wholemeal self-raising flour 350g
cacao powder 50g
bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp
dark chocolate 150g, roughly chopped, plus 10g, grated
orange 1, zested, juiced to make 1 tbsp
1 Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Pierce the sweet potatoes in several places, then put on a small tray. Bake for
1 hour or until soft throughout, then remove from the oven and leave until cool enough to handle.
2 Put the dates in a medium bowl and cover with just-boiled water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes. Drain, reserving 2 tbsp of the soaking water, and put the dates and reserved water in a mini food processor. Blitz until smooth.
3 Oil the bases and sides of two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins using ½ tsp of the oil, then line the bases with baking paper. Put the almond milk in a jug, add the vinegar and leave to sit. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the puréed dates, almond milk, oil and vanilla. Beat well until smooth. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out cleanly. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
4 Scrape the insides of the sweet potatoes into a medium pan. Add the chocolate and, on a low heat, continuously mix until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is mostly smooth. Transfer the mixture to a food processor while still warm, along with the orange zest and juice. Blitz for 2 minutes until completely smooth. If the mixture looks too thick, add 1-2 tbsp of just-boiled water and continue to beat until smooth. Leave to cool, then spread all over the cake. Decorate with the grated chocolate.
PER SERVING 284 kcals | fat 11.2G saturates 3.3G | carbs 38.4G | sugars 18.5G fibre 3.9G | protein 5.2G | salt 0.5G