Call me old fashioned but I think Morello cherries are classy.  Combine them with a sweetened spongey batter and you get the cake equivalent of the Bentley limousine. Read more

This delightful little raspberry cake is so soft and light I want to lay my head on it.  It’s a perfect Summer cake. Read more

It’s Mid-Summer and I’ve become obsessed with raspberries.  I think I need to check myself into a 12 step raspberry recovery programme.  It’s the delicate fragrancy of their flavour that gets to me.  And here they are esconced in brownie goodness.  What a winning combination -  squidgey dark chocolate gooey sponge with the light, Summery flavours of raspberries.  Yin and Yang in cake form.

3 eggs
200g no added sugar plain chocolate*
150g butter (or coconut oil)
1 tbsp xylitol or erythritol
150g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
50g chopped walnuts
100g frozen raspberries
Fresh raspberries for topping
10g pistachio nuts
1 tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

Whizz the eggs with sweetener and vanilla essence.
Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Add slowly to the egg mix.
Stir in the ground almonds and baking powder.
Add pinch of salt.
Add chopped walnuts and frozen raspberries.
Spoon the batter into a 23cm cake tin lined with baking paper.  Add the fresh raspberries to the top of the cake.
Bake at Gas Mark 4 – 350F/180C for 25-30 minutes until just cooked – just a little squidgy still in the middle.  Scatter chopped pistachio nuts on the top.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin.  Then keep in the fridge

* I used Sainsbury's no added plain choc for this recipe.   Or alternatively I sometimes use Montezuma 100% dark chocolate and add a little extra sweetener to the cake mix.

When the season for clementines comes round, what better, more constructive way to spend your time than making a refined sugar free cake out of them, then wolfing down a piece with a fellow cake friend?  Leaving out the table sugar doesn’t have to mean austerity and this winner couldn't be further from it. It's the cake equivalent of a soft Winter duvet.Read more