Tuesday 28 April 2015

Chocolate Aubergine Cake


Yes you read the title correctly. The main ingredient in this cake is aubergine! I've baked with vegetables before mostly carrot, courgette, parsnip and beetroot but I've never tried using aubergine. I got the recipe from Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache which is a lovely book by Harry Eastwood. She writes beautifully and the recipes are naturally gluten free. She uses vegetables and a combination of ground almonds and/or rice flour which makes the cakes healthier. This replaces the usual butter and sugar that goes in cakes. I really liked the title of this cake which is Chocolate heartache. I decided I had to bake it as it's named in the title of the book. Plus I was looking for a gluten free cake that contained chocolate for a celebration. The cake was really dense and chocolatey and you definitely can't taste the aubergine in the cake. Everyone could not believe that the cake was gluten free and contained vegetables! The cake was so good I baked it twice in the same week. The first time I made a simple chocolate icing to go on top but felt it was a little too rich to go with the already rich cake. The second time I covered the cake with fat free greek yoghurt and that worked really well as it helped to cut through the denseness of the cake. 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month. Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedgecombers. The theme this month is chocolate. 

Extra Veg hosted this month by Jo from Jo's Kitchen on behalf of Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food For Families. This cake is definitely a sneaky way to get extra veg into your diet!


Recipe of the week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.



Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy from Supergolden Bakes.



Tasty Tuesdays guest hosted by Mel from Le Coin De Mel on behalf of  Vicki from Honest Mum.



Bake of the week hosted by Helen from Casa Costello



 baking powder, cocoa powder, ground almonds, honey, dark chocolate, eggs and aubergine. 

 cook the aubergine in the microwave then peel off the skin and puree the aubergine in a food processor. Add dark chocolate and allow to melt or  blitz gently until mixed. 

 adding the chocolate aubergine paste to the remaining ingredients

 ready to bake 

 a lovely chocolatey fudgy cake 

 with chocolate icing 


 with fat free greek yoghurt 




Recipe is from Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood. If you click on the amazon link, you can 'look inside' the book. The recipe is available to view online. If I get permission from the publisher then I will publish the recipe here.

19 comments:

  1. Really amazing!! Look wonderful!
    Nice idea!

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  2. I love her book. It is so inspirational isn't it? Who would think you could bake with so many vegetables. That cake looks divine and happens to be one of the ones I haven't ever tried! I think I might have to now!

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    1. It's one of my favourite books particularly for gluten free recipes.I highly recommend this cake and I can't wait to try every single recipe in the book!

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  3. Looks utterly gorgeous and good for you. Like you I've cooked with loads of vegetables in cakes and sweet dishes, but not yet with aubergine - though I do have a couple of sweet recipes bookmarked. I have this cookbook and need to rediscover it again.

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  4. This is so clever. I love sneaking in veg into desserts! #recipeoftheweek

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  5. FAB idea for a recipe and it has been added to the Tea Time Treats recipe round-up! THANKS Ros! xxxx

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    1. Thanks Karen, much appreciated! Will have a look at the round up soon x

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  6. Wow what a great way of sneaking veggies into baking, you'd never know!

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    1. You definitely can't taste the aubergine in the cake.

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  7. Ooh, aubergine in cake, that's a new one to me! The cake looks lovely. #bakeoftheweek

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    1. It's a great cake as theaubergine soaks up the chocolate flavour.

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  8. Oh I love that book! I used to bake from it weekly when it came out and although I haven't made this recipe I have tasted it as a colleague brought it in to work. It is absolutely delicious! Thanks for linking with #CookBlogShare

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    1. It's a brilliant book and I can't wait to try other recipes from it.

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  9. this looks amazing - I once baked chocolate biscuits with an aubergine puree and they were great so I am already sold on this cake

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    1. I like the sound of chocolate biscuits with aubergine puree!

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  10. Hi, just wondering whether you doubled the recipe from the book in order to get such a high cake? Other pictures I've seen have been of quite a low torte style cake. Also, wondering what your thoughts are on whether this cake might freeze well (since I hear it is quite moist)? Thanks!

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