Paul learnt this recipe while staffing at a meditation retreat center which has particularly clean guidelines for food preparation. It’s a winner of chocolate cakes with no flour and no refined sugar. The sweetness comes from dates and the main substance of almond flour and eggs.

Makes a 9” cake

Ingredients

Cake mix

• 1 1/2c almond flour
• 1/2c cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt

Date paste

• 1 1/2c dates, deseeded (important!)
• 1/2c hot water for soaking the dates

Fat

• 3 eggs
• 3 Tbs extra virgin coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Soak the dates in the hot water, giving them time to soften.

Preheat the oven to 170 deg C.

Cut a shape of baking paper to line the bottom of the cake tin.

Make the date paste - the best tool to do this is food processor. It doesn’t have to be super smooth.

Next, add the eggs, oil and vanilla extract and process just until smooth.

Next add the cake mix ingredients and process until just mixed. At this point, if you want a nutty chocolate cake, 1/2 cup of walnuts or hazelnuts might be good to throw in, along with another couple of pulses on the food processor. If you don’t want nuts, the batter is done.

Transfer the batter to the cake tin and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean-ish.