Joyless Cake

This is my current favourite. It is a vegan no-sugar cake bake with oat flour, chopped dates and orange. Chewy and delicious. But don't take my word for it - listen to the food critics:

"it is like a cake but with all the joy taken out of it"

 (an Aldershot resident)

So here is how to make it:

Ingredients

1 mug oat flour
1 mug wheat bran (or oat bran)
The grated peel of a large orange
The inside of a large orange
1 mug of chopped dates
1/2 mug of water

What To Do

Put everything in a food mixer and mix it up until it is the consistency of one of those premium cat foods.

Cooking

Then spoon into a large baking tray and put in the oven for 25mins on 180C.

Let it cool completely before tasting.

Storage

Store in the fridge.

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter

185g dark chocolate

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

50g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

3 large eggs

275g golden caster sugar (other sugar does just as well)

What To Do

Butter & Dark Chocolate Mix

Melt butter and the dark chocolate in a saucepan. 

It is best to break up the chocolate into pieces first!

Melt on a very low heat - I turn on the gas ring to warm the pan then turn it off again. It takes time but avoids burning the chocolate.

Egg & Sugar Mix

Break the 3 eggs into a large bowl and beat until smooth

Stir in the sugar

You can use an electric mixer for this if you like.

Pour Butter/Choc Mix Into Egg/Sugar Mix

Stir well.

Flour & Cocoa Powder Mix

Mix the flour and cocoa powder together in a small bowl.

Add Flour/Cocoa Powder Mix To The Rest

Add the flour/cocoa into the rest and stir. It is best to add the flour/cocoa mix a bit at a time to avoid it going lumpy. Keep stirring until the whole thing is smooth.

Add White/Milk Chocolate Chunks Too

Break up the white and milk chocolate into chunks.

Stir the chunks into the mix

Cooking

Pour the mixture into a ceramic dish - make sure it is not too large or too small. 

The depth of the mix should be about 8cm or thereabouts (3 inches in old time) - too thin and it will over-cook, too thick and it won't cook in the middle.

Cook on 180C for about 25mins. You did pre-heat the oven, didn't you?

Attribution

This is a much abridged/mangled version of this recipe:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/best-ever-chocolate-brownies-recipe