I’m writing this blog post on Mother’s day 2020 and for the first time in 44 years nothing special has been planned. This isn’t to do with the COVID-19 pandemic separating us from the people we love, but rather me experiencing a loss that essentially means dying to my old life and being reborn into a new one.
For a long time, I’ve jokingly complained that John and I suffer from ‘attention deficit disorder’ so for us, the government’s instruction to self-isolate is not a big deal. In fact, we feel more a sense of togetherness knowing that everyone is in the same boat as we are.
It seems as if this pandemic is divine intervention reminding humanity that all life lives and breathes as one. When it’s done with us, will we honour that truth or will we continue to grab ‘what’s mine’ and forever ask: “What can I have more of? How can I feel more safe?” Scrambling over each other for money, power, status and in the current crisis, toilet rolls, not only harms the other - including trees and all of nature - it harms us too. Like it or not, we’re a global community and we’re all in this together. The coronavirus doesn’t respect boundaries but it does provide an opportunity to reflect on the truth that like a virus, each of our thoughts, words and deeds has an energetic force that passes through the air waves into the collective consciousness. We’ve all contributed to the carnage and chaos that besets the planet, thus telling us that it’s time to raise our game. We can either marvel at and be humbled by an entire world in ‘lockdown’ and emerge from the experience with more compassionate, open-hearts or else distract ourselves with booze and entertainment until we can get back to ego-centric, self-serving normality.
My intention is to stay sober and console myself with cake! On a practical note, I’m going it alone for this blog post because Mirror Imaging isn’t available to take professional photos today. Forgive me if my images look a bit meh in comparison! And although Mother’s Day will have been and gone by the time I post up this recipe, it is less than three weeks to Easter Sunday and a rather lovely teatime treat for birthdays too.
That said, do you need an excuse? There aren’t many better things you can do than bake a cake when you’re forced to stay home. Spread the love and enjoy.
Chocolate Cherry Celebration Cake (serves 12)
Ingredients - for the cake
325g organic ground almonds
75g organic fine tiger nut flour
150g organic dark chocolate (at least 80% cocoa solids) See Notes below.
225g organic unsweetened sour dried cherries + an extra handful for decoration (I used these)
⅔ tsp Himalayan pink salt
1⅓ tsp baking powder
1 tsp organic ground cinnamon
1 tsp organic ground ginger
1 tsp organic nutmeg - freshly grated
125g organic unsalted butter + a little extra for greasing the tins - melted
3 tbsp organic brandy
6 tbsp organic maple syrup
4 large organic eggs - beaten
1½ tsp organic vanilla extract
Instructions - for the cake
Grease and line with non-stick baking parchment the base and sides of two x 15cm (6 inch) loose bottomed cake tins. Then lightly grease the lining paper.
Pre-heat the oven to 175℃ / 350℉/ Gas mark 4
In a large bowl, add the ground almonds, the tiger nut flour, cherries, chocolate, salt, baking powder and the spices and mix together well.
In a separate medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, brandy, maple syrup, beaten eggs and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until a smooth, soft cake batter forms.
Divide the mixture equally between the two cake tins, pressing the cake mix down into the tins and levelling it out with the back of a metal tablespoon.
Bake on the middle shelf of pre-heated oven for 40 mins.
Whilst the cakes are cooking, make the chocolate butter icing below.
When the cakes are cooked, remove from oven and leave for 10 minutes in their tins. Then carefully transfer to a wire cooling tray, remove the baking parchment and leave until completely cooled.
When cold, add some of the frosting to the top of one cake and put the other cake on top. Then add the rest of the icing on top of the second cake, roughly swirling it with the tines of a fork. Decorate with extra cherries, if liked.
Ingredients - for chocolate buttercream icing
60g 85% organic dark chocolate
1 tbsp organic coconut oil
115g organic unsalted butter, softened
85g organic full-fat soft cheese
60g Sukrin Icing - sifted
2 tbsp organic cacao powder - sifted
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
Instructions - for chocolate buttercream icing
In a medium heat-proof bowl, melt the chocolate and coconut oil together over a pan of gently simmering water. Once melted, remove the bowl and set aside to cool down to room temperature.
In a large bowl, preferably using a hand-held electric beater, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
Gradually add the powdered sweetener and cacao powder (a couple of tablespoons at a time) to the buttercream mixture, beating together after each addition until well combined.
Pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and beat until very smooth.
Notes
For the cake I used 100g of Pacari’s 85% dark chocolate & 50g of Pacari’s 70% chocolate because these dinky chocolate drops save you the hassle of chopping chocolate and messing up your kitchen worktop. Always a bonus!
Admittedly, Chocolate Cherry Celebration Cake is a bit heavy on the carbs but it’s still only the equivalent of eating a medium sized banana.
Fat 30g Protein 6g Carbohydrate 26g - per serving of cake including buttercream icing