A chocolate and pear cake

This cake is inspired by a recipe from the my darling lemon thyme blog.  Emma’s dark chocolate, pear and rosemary cake can be found here http://www.mydarlinglemonthyme.com/2014/04/exciting-news-dark-chocolate-pear.html

Over the weekend I picked up a couple of kilos of pears for a good price at my farmers market. I was then searching for inspiration and stumbled across this gorgeous cake. It looked divine and I knew immediately what to do with my pears! I didn’t have all the ingredients so I adapted the recipe to suit what I had in the pantry and it worked out rather deliciously.

I served the cake with my chocolate olive oil sauce which you can find a couple of posts back.

Chocolate pear cake

Ingredients

3/4 C brown rice flour

3/4 C quinoa flour

1/4 C cacao powder

1 t baking powder

3/4 C coconut sugar

1/4 C chia seeds

1/2 C dairy free dark chocolate, roughly chopped

a pinch of salt

4 small pears

3 organic free range eggs

3/4 C coconut oil

1/4 C plant milk

1 t vanilla bean extract

1 t rosewater

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a 27 cm round cake tin with baking paper.

Sift the flours, cacao, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the coconut sugar, chia and dark chocolate.

Grate 2 of the small pears and place in a separate bowl. Chop the other 2 into small cubes, roughly 2 x 2cm, and add to the dry ingredients bowl.

Crack the eggs into the bowl with the grated pear, add the coconut oil, plant milk, vanilla extract and rosewater. Give a good whisk.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold through until just combined. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack.

Serve warm with chocolate olive oil sauce and coconut cream. Will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 week.

Enjoy!

Pancakes and the best ever chocolate sauce

Okay, I know it’s a big claim to make about my chocolate sauce but it’s seriously delicious!! I have used a mandarin infused extra virgin olive oil and it just takes the sauce to a new level. Its creamy, rich, tangy, sweet and full of ingredients good for you. All you need is raw cacao, EVOO and pure maple syrup. Cacao is the raw cocoa bean cold pressed which keeps all the living enzymes in tact. Raw cacao is full of antioxidants and minerals to help your body protect itself against toxins. It also makes you feel happy and loved! If you can’t find any mandarin or citrus infused olive oil perhaps try infusing your own with the rind of an orange, otherwise plain EVOO will work perfectly but without the lovely citrus flavours.

The pancakes I have made bring some more lovely flavours to the dish creating a beautiful combination that almost tastes too good for breakfast. This dish is defiantly a little indulgent so perfect for lazy weekend mornings. I like to serve mine with lots of fruit and tea and slowly much away on them while enjoying my surrounds. The pancakes are also delicious without the sauce and I have taken them like this on morning picnics.

Chai spiced berry pancakes

1/2 C buckwheat flour

1 t baking powder

1 t chai spices, freshly ground ( I used cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and star anise)

2 eggs

1 banana

1/3 C plant milk

1/4 C berries (I used blueberries)

Method

Place the buckwheat flour, baking powder and chai spices in a bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl mash the banana then add the eggs and milk and whisk well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk well. Stir in the blueberries.

Heat a flat skillet pan on high heat, turn down to medium and add 1 t coconut oil. Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes until bubbles form, flip and cook for a further minute.

Serve with fresh fruit and Olive oil chocolate sauce, recipe to follow.

Serves two.

Olive oil chocolate sauce 

1 T extra virgin olive oil, infused with citrus

1 T (heaped) of raw cacao

1/2 T pure maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a small cup and stir until lovely and smooth.

Drizzle over the pancakes.

Serves two.

Also lovely to dip strawberries in and drizzled over coconut ice cream. I am currently thinking up a cake recipe I can serve with this sauce as I love it!

Enjoy!