Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

Cook Time 1 hour and 30 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, approx 1kg, roasted in its skin and slightly cooled

85g dark chocolate
3 free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
200g almond meal
½ cup cacao powder
2 cups coconut sugar (brown sugar also works)
1½ tsp gluten free baking powder (regular is also fine)
3 tsp cinnamon
Salt

Raw chocolate glaze
1 cup cacao powder
1 cup water
6 tbsp runny honey or maple syrup (raw cacao can be bitter, so you can add more to taste)
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Berries, to serve

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C, then grease and line a 23cm springform or loaf tin with baking paper. Slice the cooked sweet potato in half and scoop out the flesh, transferring it into a bowl. Mash the sweet potato roughly and set aside.

Bring a small saucepan half filled with water to the boil. Once boiling, place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and carefully place on top of the saucepan. Once melted, remove from heat and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the almond meal, coconut sugar, cacao, cinnamon, baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl with the mashed sweet potato and stir to combine. Add the olive oil, eggs and vanilla, then pour into the bowl of dry ingredients. Fold everything together until combined - the batter will be lumpy.

Transfer the cake batter to the lined baking tin and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Once baked, remove from oven and set aside to completely cool before icing.

For the glaze, combine the cacao powder, water, maple syrup (or honey), vanilla and cinnamon over a medium high heat, whisking until the mixture thickens. If the mixture is too thick to begin with, add a little more water to loosen it. Once thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove the ganache from heat and vigorously whisk in the olive oil until smooth and glossy.

Once the cake is cool, remove it from the tin, turn upside down (as the underside will be smoother), then pour over the glaze and top with berries.