The Best Nut & Raisin Chocolate Cake

I love cooking and I enjoy it even more when I have the time for it. I don’t need to follow recipes and I love experimenting and creating new dishes. I am not the one to follow strict measurements, I just throw stuff in, mix it up and hope for the best :-). To me, there is no rule when it comes to plant-based cooking. It’s all about having fun!

Baking, however, is a different story to me. For baking, you usually follow strict measuring guidelines and that does not agree with me. I think it’s mainly because I don’t own scales or measuring cups and often I find that you can’t bake unless you have all the ingredients, which doesn’t really apply to cooking. With cooking you can experiment and replace ingredients if you need to, with baking not so much.

Inspiration behind this recipe

For this post I was inspired by my mum’s old recipe which I fully veganised, using all plant-based ingredients. I also added a few little extras, simply because why not!?

I have loved this cake ever since I was a child and out of all the baking my mum used to do and still does, this one has most definitely always been my absolute favourite! Whenever I bake this, the smell takes me back home, making me feel like a little kid again.

I N G R E D I E N T S :

• 200g of flour (I usually use wholemeal flour but you can use any)
• 150g of caster sugar (I usually use about 120g-130g and still find the cake sweet enough)
• 1 tbsp of milled flax seeds to 2 tbsp of water (egg replacement)
• 2 tbsp of strawberry jam
• 1 heaped tbsp of chocolate/cacao powder
• 1 tsp of cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 250ml of any plant-based milk
• 100ml of oil (I usually use sunflower oil)
• 2-3 tbsp of shredded coconut (optional)
• Handful of walnuts
• Handful of raisins or dried fruit of your choice

Topping

• Ice cream of your choice (I stuck with the chocolate theme using The Original Oatly but vanilla would taste just as good)
• Dairy-free cream (I used The Original Oatly again which is just the best cream ever!)
• Nuts + dried fruits for garnish

M E T H O D :

In a bowl, big enough to comfortably mix in, simply add all your measured ingredients in and mix well! That’s how simple it is!

If you do, however want to go the extra mile, feel free to add all your wet ingredients into the mixing bowl first, then through a sieve add all dry ingredients, mixing coconut, walnuts and dried fruits in right at the end.

Bake for 20-30 minutes on 180°C degrees. Depending on the type of oven, you might have to wait a little longer. The best way to check, is by piercing the middle of the cake with a skewer, aiming not to feel any sticky residue.

I used The Original Oatly for both toppings and it worked out PERFECT!

Don’t forget this is another recipe free of animal products as I try to encourage cruelty-free living as much as possible, leaving our animal friends off our plates :-). So, try and use dairy replacement in a form of plant-based milk and if you don’t have flax seed as a replacement for an egg then you can just skip that step! Same applies to toppings ;-)!

Thank you for living kindly & enjoy 🙂 x x