Chocolate cake with seasonal fruits!

Autumn fruits have ripened early this year and the hedgerows are laden with blackberries, sloes, elderberries  and hawthorn. The nights have  begun to set in and there is a sense of turning as we gather in the fruit bounty. Here’s the recipe for my favourite chocolate cake topped with fruits of the season.

Chocolate cake

180ml oat milk

10ml apple cider vinegar

125g naturli vegan spread

200g chestnut puree

100g chocolate

100g ground almonds

100g chestnut flour

25g raw cacao powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

125 rapadura sugar

1 teaspoon bicarb of soda

Preheat oven to 180C/350F.

Grease and line a 23cm loose bottomed cake tin or use 24cm bundt tin. (as in image)

Combine oat milk and lemon juice and set aside.

Melt chocolate, naturli together and blend in the chestnut puree.

Place ground almonds, chestnut flour, cacao powder, baking powder and sugar into a large mixing bowl.

Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the milk and add to the flour along with the chocolate, naturli and chestnut mixture. Stir well to combine.

Tip into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes or until lightly coloured and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. When cold cover with chocolate and pile on the fruits.