Cuisine: Vegan
Serves 7

For those of you who enjoy chocolate cake and spice will love this bold, and sexy combination using chipotle powder topped with roasted seasonal cherries. There’s an element of smoky, spicy surprise balanced by the sweetness, and crunchy nuts. The cake is very moist and wonderful on it’s own or take it up a notch with your favorite nice cream or coconut whipped cream.

Note: you can swap out the chipotle powder for ancho or ¼ teaspoon less if using cayenne depending on the heat of your spice.

Banana is used as binder here, but the taste is masked by all other flavors

• Banana is used as binder here, but the taste is masked by all other flavors o ignored
• spelt is a whole grain flour more nutritious and less refined than white flour, contains less gluten and has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor.  Can be found in natural food stores, and some supermarkets o ignored
• some unrefined brown sugars are course – grinding them into powder using spice grinder dissolves better in the cake. o ignored
• because the cake is eggless the vinegar used in recipe creates a nice rise and crumb while leaving no aftertaste.

Ingredients for Cake

• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 ½ tsp aluminum free baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp chipotle powder
• 1 ½ tsp fine ground coffee – grind with sugar if course
• 1/3 cup unrefined brown sugar such as coconut, sucanat or muscovado, grind to make
• powder using spice grinder
• 1 1/4 cup very hot filtered water
• 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 4 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1/3 cup cold pressed olive oil
• 1 ½  tsp pure vanilla extract
•  

Method for Cake

Pre heat the oven to 350 with rack in the middle.

1. Lightly oil the bundt pan and dust with cocoa powder
2. In a large bowl sift the whole wheat pastry flour, spelt, sea salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, cinnamon, chipotle powder, ground coffee, and sugar, once passed through stir it again.
3. In a medium bowl combine the mashed banana, vinegar, maple syrup, olive oil and vanilla extract and mix well, add the hot water and combine well, now add this to the flour mixture and using a whisk mix until just combined, do not over mix, quickly add to the bundt pan and bake for 43 minutes at 350 degrees. Toothpick inserted should come out clean and cake slightly firm to the touch. When done let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a wire wrack, after 10 minutes carefully flip the cake out of pan and continue to cool on rack before adding the ganache.

Roasted Cherries
Ingredients and Method
Raise oven to 400 degrees

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. 1.5 cups fresh cherries pitted and sliced in half
3. Roast cherries for 10 minutes, remove from oven and transfer to a bowl, let cool

Maple Salted Pecans
Lower heat to 325

• 1 cup pecans lightly chopped
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• ¼ tsp fine ground sea salt

Method for Pecans

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss to coat – taste for seasoning
2. Bake for 7-8 minutes at 325

Chocolate Ganache

• 3.5 oz 70-72% chocolate chopped into small pieces
• ½ cup almond or coconut milk
• 1 tsp pure maple syrup
• Pinch chipotle or cayenne powder
• Small pinch sea salt

Method Chocolate

• Chop the chocolate into small pieces and add it to a stainless steel bowl
• Heat the milk until bubbly hot and pour it over the chocolate and let sit one minute undisturbed.
• Stir the chocolate until melted then add the maple syrup, chipotle powder sea salt and mix well.
• Let the chocolate sit for 5-10 minutes to thicken but still pourable.
• Drizzle the chocolate on the cake on all sides and especially near the opening at top so the cherries and nuts can stick to it.
• Now add the roasted cherries and pecans to the top of the cake.