Autumn is a time to enjoy what's left of summer fruit and flowers. At our place, the passionfruit has been doing its final drop, so we thought this would be perfect as an Easter cake. With the wow of yellow and dark brown of the chocolate layers, it's a lovely centerpiece for the table. It's also wholesome, with no dairy or gluten needed. Of course, you can substitute the flax for an egg and the coconut cream for cream.

This is a three-layer cake, and it is best to make one layer at a time in the order below. The layers are all temperature-sensitive, so each one needs to be cooled before adding the next. The timings and temperatures make a difference.

Serves:    8          Prep Time:      1h                 Difficulty: A bit tricky. 

Cake Layer

INGREDIENTS

30g sunflower seeds ground + 30g flaxseeds ground, set aside with ¼ cup water

1 ¼ cups almond flour (120g)

¼ cup tapioca flour (30g)

1/8 cup rice flour (20g)

3/4 cup coconut sugar (100g)

1/2 cup cocoa powder (45g) (preferably do not use cacao power as not suitable for baking)

1 level tsp baking powder.

½ tsp salt

½ cup coconut cream

¼ cup olive oil

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1tsp vanilla extract

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 180.
2. Grind sunflower and flax seeds together, add water and set aside.
3. Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients with a spatula. Place in an 8-inch round cake tin with a removable base. Line base with baking paper
4. Bake for 25 minutes (or until cooked through the centre). Remove from the oven and cool.
5. Flip the cake onto a cooling rack, reline your cake tin sides with double baking paper, and place the cake flat side up back in the tin. (You may want to shave off the top, as it needs to be flat.) Place in the fridge. The next layer will now be ready to be added.

 

Chocolate Ganache layer

INGREDIENTS

200g Bennetto chocolate (we won’t know if you use any other organic brand of dark )

100g favourite type of butter chopped and cooled from the fridge– we use vutter

100g coconut cream at room temp

 

INSTRUCTIONS (in this order and in one go)

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over pot of hot water (double boiler method)
2. Once completely melted and still very warm, remove the chocolate from the heat and throw in the butter pieces, stirring until the butter is also melted. This also cools and thickens the chocolate.
3. Check that all the butter is melted through. Lastly, add the coconut cream and stir quite quickly. It will become thicker and glossy.
4. Pour into the cold cake layer still in the tin. The cake must be cold. Ensure you line the sides so the chocolate does not seep down the layers.
5. Place in fridge and allow to set. Next, prepare the passionfruit layer

 

Passionfruit layer.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups fresh passionfruit pulp, including seeds from about 10 passionfruit or 250g frozen cubes.

1 cup coconut cream

1 tsp agar agar

¼ cup maple syrup.

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. mix all ingredients from cold, including the agar, in a pot.
2. Stir and bring the mix to a simmer. Simmer and stir for just 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Add 3/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder for colour.
4. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove seeds while still warm.
5. Allow to cool and keep stirring so it is cooling but not setting.
6. When still liquid enough but not too hot to melt the chocolate layer, pour it onto the chocolate layer still in the tin.
7. Place in fridge to set for an hour or two.
8. Take the cake out and decorate it with seasonal flowers and fruit. (hopefully, you used a tin with a removable base)