Decadent Sugar-Free Chocolate Orange Cake

Only 20 days to go until Easter Sunday…for those of you who have given up refined sugar, I have an amazing recipe allowing you to enjoy a guiltless chocolate cake! In Bear Gryll's cookbook (Fuel for Life), he has a recipe for a chocolate cake, which I've adapted by adding orange juice to make the cake have a lovely terry's chocolate orange tang (as well as varying some of his quantities of ingredients as I felt his base was way too thick).

This cake is quite cheesecake-like in texture, with the topping soft, smooth and luxurious in it's healthy chocolate-y-ness. It really does pack the shot of chocolate a lot of us need after a hard day.

The cake is really easy to make, and requires no baking. The only requirement is a food processor.

Makes 1 20cm cake

Ingredients:

For the base:

• 100g cashew nuts
• 55g dessicated coconut
• 40g dates, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp melted coconut oil
• Pinch of salt

For the topping:

• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 75ml maple syrup
• 50g coconut oil, melted
• Zest of 1 orange
• 60ml juice (from 1 large orange)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp water
• 150g cashew nuts

To finish:

• 12 cashew nuts

Method:

1. Prepare your cake tin by greasing the base of a 20cm springform cake tin. Line the base with greaseproof paper.

2. Make the cake base. Pour the cashews, coconut, dates, coconut oil and salt in to a food processor, and pulse until a sticky ball is formed (you may need to add a little water to the mixture, depending on the dryness of the dates). 

3. Place the ball in the cake tin, and use the back of a spoon (or your hands) to flatten the ball over the base of the tin, making sure it is level. Set aside.

4. Make the filling. In a large bowl whisk together the cocoa powder, maple syrup, coconut oil, orange zest, juice, vanilla and water, until smooth. Blitz the cashew nuts in a food processor until it is mostly finely ground but some larger chunks remain (you can make it completely smooth if you prefer).

5. Stir the ground/chopped cashews into the chocolate filling until evenly incorporated. Pour onto the base of the cake.

6. Cover the cake tin with cling film and freeze the cake for at 2-3 hours, until set. Top with the reserved cashew nuts. The cake can then be left in the fridge and will last at least one week.

7. Enjoy!