GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH LEMON AND ORANGE CREAM

Melt the chocolate over low heat, then add the coconut oil and mix well to incorporate. In a bowl, break the eggs and beat well together with the sugar and salt powder. In another bowl, mix the flour, cocoa and baking powder. In the meantime, we stir from time to time the melted chocolate that we took off the heat and let it cool a little, because we are going to pour it over the beaten eggs and we want to make a cake, not scrambled eggs. When it stops burning on your finger, it’s perfect, so we pour it over the eggs, incorporate, then add the flavors. Finally we add the dry ingredients, that is the mixture of flour, cocoa and baking powder, and our batter should be fluid and sticky, ready to pour into the oiled and floured form. Among the amazing discoveries I made in the pantry when I renovated was a pan that was much touted in my TV days, which has a removable handle and can be used in the oven, and has a hole in the middle. I thought it was interesting to make a cake with a hole in the middle and because it has the right diameter, 26 cm, I used it this time. We put the pan in the oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius and leave it for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool before removing our sponge from the pan.

Grate the oranges and lemon, then squeeze. Melt the coconut butter in a not too big saucepan, about one liter, in a bain-marie, that is, in another slightly larger saucepan with water boiling on the stove. After it has melted, add the sugar, lemon and orange zest and juice, then the well-beaten eggs. Stir continuously until it starts to thicken. Mix for a few more minutes, until it thickens a bit more and refrigerate. Stir for a few more minutes, because the coconut butter tends to rise to the surface. After it has cooled, even if it has not hardened yet, there is no longer any danger of curdling the butter, so it can be poured over the sponge.

In a saucepan (I have a saucepan that I only use for melting chocolate) melt the sugar and chocolate, together with plant based milk and cocoa, over low heat. Turn off the heat and add the coconut butter and mix until incorporated. Hard, but not impossible. I put it in the fridge and kept stirring every 5 minutes. When it has the consistency of soft plasticine, it is ready to be poured over the cake.

Now that we know all the components and ingredients let me tell you how I put it together. I made the sponge the day before, cut it as soon as I took it out of the pan and let it rest until the next day covered with a towel. The next day I prepared the cream and glaze and while waiting for it to cool, I placed the first layer of the sponge on the plate and syruped it with a homemade strawberry syrup mixed with a little water. I put the cream and placed the second layer of the sponge, syruped it as well, then poured the glaze, which settled very nicely. I filled the hole in the middle with chopped fruits from the compote mixed with whipped cream. I garnished with whole strawberries and that’s it. I worked on it for 2 days and it was eaten in 5 minutes :).