Vegan truffle brownies
22 January 2018
I’ve long been of the opinion that cake minus egg just doesn’t really work but I’ve managed to prove myself wrong with this recipe. Recently I’ve been getting into the swing of using silken tofu (not to be confused with the firm tofu you’d use cut into chunks to make a curry, for example). I love the way silken tofu will blend to a creamy consistency making it perfect for creamy desserts such as cheese cakes and little vanilla-flavoured pots layered with berries. So anyway, I decided it might work as a sort of egg substitute in a healthy brownie… and this is the result. I was so pleased with it that I made another batch yesterday. All three of my teenage boys approve and – to be brutally honest – that’s not easy these days. They are most suspicious of my cakes and “what’s in them”.
Wet ingredients
- 250g of baked sweet potato scooped out
- 200g silken tofu
- Pitted dates up to the 500ml mark in a measuring jug: soak overnight and then drain and blend
- 100g of 85% (or higher) chocolate - melted
- 2 tablespoons of coconut butter – melted
Dry ingredients
- 100g ground almonds
- 50g of a gluten free flour such as gram (chickpea) flour, teff, buckwheat or rice flour. I used teff the second time round and gram the first time. Don’t use coconut flour as you will need to adjust the measurements
- 40g cacao powder
- 20g ground flaxseed
Ganache topping
- A bar of 85% chocolate chopped into pieces
- Thick tinned coconut milk
- Maple syrup to taste
Step 1
Melt together the chocolate and coconut butter over a bain marie
Step 2
Blend together ALL of the wet ingredients
Step 3
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl before adding to the blended wet ingredients ad mixing thoroughly.
Step 4
Put into the oven at 180°C and bake until set – the edges will have pulled away from the cake tin a little. If you put a skewer into the centre it will still come out sticky and gooey – that’s OK. In fact, that’s what you want. I use a square 21cm tin greased with coconut butter.
Step 5
Once the brownie has cooled, make the topping by heating up some tinned coconut milk in a saucepan along with a dash of maple syrup. Bring it to the boil before pouring it over the chopped chocolate. Stir gently until the chocolate has melted and amalgamated with coconut milk.
Step 6
Thickly spread the ganache over the top of the brownie
A few things:
- When I first made this brownie I added baking powder but on reflection I really like the dense consistency of it without the baking powder. It’s up to you!
- Keep the brownies in the fridge because of the fresh ingredients.
- My youngest suggested adding raspberries through the mix. I haven’t done it yet but I think he’s onto something. So next time I plan to double up on the quantities, put half the mixture into the tin, sprinkle with raspberries and then top with the remaining cake mixture. I’ll keep you posted!