I love the combination of chocolate and cherries, so I put them into my favourite vehicle: a loaf. Refined sugar and dairy free, also gluten free if you use buckwheat flour.
Ingredients
75g dark chocolate
75g coconut oil
1 tablespoon almond butter
150g coconut sugar
2 eggs
150ml milk
1 tablespoon coffee powder
150g ground almonds
50g plain or buckwheat (gluten free) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g cacao powder
100g frozen cherries
50g cacao nibs
Glacé cherries (optional)
Method
1. Preheat oven to 160°c. Melt chocolate, coconut oil and almond butter until smooth.
2. Whisk the coconut sugar and eggs until thick and paler in colour. Slowly pour in the chocolate mix, add in the milk and whisk again until smooth.
3. Whisk in the coffee powder, ground almonds, flour and cacao powder and fold through the cherries and cacao nibs.
4. Transfer to a loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper (I use a 2lb tin). If using, scatter the glacé cherries over the top.
5. Bake for about one hour, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. I start checking after 45 minutes.
6. Leave to cool in the tin for about an hour before turning out onto a cooling rack.