Today it's Virtual Vegan Pot Luck around the world and this year I'm taking part too! 

The best (and pretty clever) part of this 'party' are the links below to each blogger both before and after me in the chain... you'll be able to hop from blog to blog to check out the dishes that have been brought to the party. The dishes have also been linked and ordered as you would eat your meal... appetiser, beverages, breads, soups, salads, sides, mains, desserts,  I guess it was obvious which one I was going to pick!!

So before you flick down to check out the links below, let me tell you about my dish- it is the perfect recipe for a lazy weekend!

Since I am on a super healthy kick in the lead up to Christmas I wanted to create a dessert style cake that was full of chocolate and fruits whilst being sugar free and also low in fat. This most definitely ticks all those boxes. It started off based loosely based on these chocolate pillows  and the choc-courgette cake but I wanted even more fruity indulgence going on! The berries on top give the cake a moist dessert like feel, and really compliment the 'fat free' sponge which to some people feel can be a little lacking in texture- oh no, not here! 

You will note that I've used oat flour. I'm pretty sure buckwheat or other GF flours of choice would work well as a substitute as would spelt if you prefer. The cake is quite dense and the sponge is not designed to be light and fluffy so various flour choices work well here. 

You can also add a little extra sweetness if you prefer. I used stevia along with the fruits to create a 'dark chocolate forest fruit cake' but feel free to taste the batter and add a little syrup/sweetener of choice to adjust to taste before baking. 

This cake is great served either hot or cold- it tasted a little 'lighter' served warm and that was my preference. It will last in the fridge for a couple of days.

 Recipe: Dark chocolate forest fruit cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup oat flour

• 1/4 cup starch (I used potato starch)

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

• 1 cup apple puree (2 cored apples blended) 

• 1/2 cup berry juice (i.e cranberry juice)*  

• 1/2 tsp pure stevia

• 1 heaped cup of mixed frozen berries- for top (use frozen so the fruit does not burn) 

Method: 

Blend the apples until smooth, add the stevia and cocoa powder. Mix through the flour and starch and lastly the juice to form a smooth thick batter.

Spoon the batter into a 8" cake tin and roughly smooth the top. Pile the frozen berries on top of the batter and lightly press.

 Bake at 180C for approx 35 minutes- check the cake after 20 minutes and if the top is already golden but centre still requires extra time, loosely cover for the final 15 minutes or so. 

Serve hot or cold, with custard or cream (vegan of course)! 

*Note: i used apple juice the first time it is tasted slightly too appley for my taste but was still fine. I would suggest using a berry juice to compliment the berries on top. 

Click the buttons above to hop through the potluck party... or if you want start at the very beginning and go though in order then you can do here!