You know you're a gluten-free baker of a certain age when just a few of your storecupboard staples are coconut flour, coconut syrup and cacao nib.  I worry I'm becoming one of those "Posho" type chefs we are taught to despise, but the problem is, if you're gluten-free, you have to find different flours to work with in order to make recipes work.  I, of course, want to make gluten-free cake accessible to everyone, and all the ingredients I use are easy to obtain (and hopefully not too cost prohibitive) but there are some times when only coconut flour will do!

​So this recipe, borne out of a need to use up 3 rather sad rapidly darkening bananas and a love of banana bread of Brobdingnagian proportions, was created.  I am also currently utterly obsessed with this Bali Nutra coconut syrup which adds an almost caramel treacliness to the finished loaf.  This recipe marries together flavours you might be more familiar with in a cocktail, but I think they work here so perfectly.  A dense and satisfying loaf cake which is both subtly sweet and enticingly nutty.  Whilst I am not a vegan, I have provided vegan substitutes below as this recipe is too delicious not to share with everyone.  It's like I always say... "let them all eat cake"!


INGREDIENTS
4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 egg (or the equivalent of egg replacer)
50ml coconut syrup (I used Bali Nutra)
4 tbsp natural yoghurt or dairy-free yoghurt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
150g coconut flour
165g gluten-free plain flour
1 tsp gluten-free baking powder
15g cocoa powder (I used Food Thoughts)
100g coconut sugar
50g dark chocolate chips (check the chocolate you are using is suitable for vegans if you are making this vegan)
10g cacao nib
3 tbsp coffee, cooled
Pinch free-flowing salt

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 190c/170c fan/gas 5
2. Grease (with coconut oil) and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin
3. Whisk together the egg (or egg replacement), coconut oil, coconut syrup, 50g of coconut sugar, banana and coffee together in a large bowl
4. In another bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and salt
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and stir well to combine.
6. Add in the remaining 50g of coconut sugar, the chocolate chips and cacao nib and fold through
7. Pour and scrape into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes.
8. After 30 minutes cover the top with foil then bake for a further 30 minutes until the loaf is cooked through.  Remove to a wire rack for 20 minutes, then turn out to cool completely.
9. Eat this slathered in salty butter or dairy-free spread and drizzled with a little more coconut syrup.  Or just as it is (it is anything but plain) with a steaming cup of your favourite coffee.

NB: This is a stock photo, as I annoyingly didn't have time to photograph this loaf before it was consumed by a horde of hungry BBQ-goers

After a slightly boozy chat about brownies with some of my favourite foodie friends a little while ago, I spent ages thinking about how versatile these gooey traybakes are.  So simple to make and incredibly satisfying to eat, the humble brownie really is what I would deem a superfood!  


As if to solidify my thoughts on how truly fantastic they are, a few days ago my sister sent several photos to our family WhatsApp group of her children making brownies, and this then inspired my dad to have a go himself.  He wanted a recipe that he could try that he knew I could eat so he sent me a text to ask if I had a recipe.  "Of course I have a recipe!" was my immediate response, and proceeded to send it over to him.  I realised at that moment that while I have posted a video on my YouTube channel of me making these delicious dense delights, I hadn't actually posted the recipe here!  How could I be so silly!?

So, here it is, in its full chocolatey glory...

Makes 16-20

Ingredients:
150g unsalted butter
150g dark muscovado sugar (or 75g each of light muscovado and dark brown sugar)
150g golden caster sugar
75g Food Thoughts cocoa powder
125g gluten free plain flour
25g raspberry powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp xanthan gum
4 eggs
75g chopped chocolate of your choice (dark or milk preferably)
75g chopped hazelnuts (or any nut of your choice)
*you can also add dried fruit, and use caster sugar instead of the dark sugars if this is all you have*


Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190c/170c fan/gas 5 and line a 25cm square cake tine with foil
2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a gentle heat
3. Once melted add the sugar stirring to help it combine
4. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, bicarbonate of soda, xanthan gum, raspberry powder and a pinch of salt and stir into the melted butter and sugar mixture
5. Remove from the heat then thoroughly mix in the eggs – do this one at a time to ensure they are fully combined
6. Stir in the chopped chocolate and nuts – make sure they are evenly distributed – then pour and scrape the brownie batter into your prepared cake tin
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top starts to look dry and cracked but the insides are still wobbly and gooey
8. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before turning out and slicing into brownie squares.  You can dust them lightly with a mixture of icing sugar and raspberry powder before slicing if you so desire