Buckwheat Bundt Cake with Cranberries and Dark Chocolate
This gluten-free recipe for a show-stopping buckwheat bundt cake perfectly balances the fresh and tart cranberries with a decadent dark chocolate glaze, topped with delicious fresh figs for a majestic finish.
From the book
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Introduction
In the Celle region in Lower Saxony, Germany, buckwheat cake with lingonberries is a real classic, but cranberries are a good substitute. Here we have reinterpreted the traditional recipe in bundt cake form. The cranberries keep the buckwheat sponge moist, a chocolate glaze adds the finishing touch, and the whole cake is crowned with fresh figs.
Ingredients
| For the cake mix: | |
| 5 | eggs |
| 150g (5½oz) | dark muscovado sugar |
| 250ml (9fl oz) | mild vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing |
| 2-3 drops | vanilla extract |
| 175g (6oz) | buckwheat flour, plus extra for dusting |
| 75g (6oz) | cornflour |
| 150g (5½oz) | ground hazelnuts |
| 5 tsp | baking powder |
| A pinch | salt |
| 175ml (6fl oz) | almond milk |
| 200g (7oz) | frozen cranberries, thawed |
| 50g (1¾oz) | dark chocolate, 70 per cent cocoa content, roughly chopped |
| Also: | |
| 30g (1oz) | dark chocolate, 70 per cent cocoa content, roughly chopped |
| 3 | fresh figs, quartered |
Essential kit
You will need: a bundt tin (diameter 22cm/8½ in).
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl for several minutes with an electric whisk, gradually adding the oil and vanilla extract as you go. In a second bowl, combine the flour, cornflour, hazelnuts, baking powder, and salt. Add this in batches to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk and mixing everything gently. Add the chocolate to the mixture, carefully folding it in along with the cranberries.
Grease a bundt tin (diameter 22cm/8½in) with oil and dust with the flour. Transfer the cake mix into the tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 50–55 minutes, until risen and golden brown. When an inserted wooden skewer comes out clean, the bundt cake is ready. Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
To make the icing, melt the chocolate over a bain-marie. Decorate the bundt cake with the chocolate glaze and arrange the figs on top.
Tip: To make a lactose-free version, you can use vegan dark chocolate. Instead of cranberries, you could also use sour cherries. To make sure the decorative figs stay in place, you can secure them using toothpicks that have been cut in half.
