I’m always on the look out for different ideas and inspiration in terms of the vegan recipes I develop. I like to play around with flavours and try out fresh new ingredients that go so deliciously together- whilst remaining healthy. So you probably know that I love chocolate, and you can read the great health benefits of using cacao in a previous blog post I did. So whilst deciding on a new chocolatey concoction, it then came to me: chocolate-orange. A flavour you can find in decadent chocolate boxes, and of course, terry’s chocolate orange! So then I thought, why not make a bread that flavour. I, myself have never come across a recipe like this one, so I was excited to start from scratch with a recipe that I was so unfamiliar with, and after a few tries, it turned out pretty tasty!
Chocolate and orange- a delicious combination, and despite how indulgent this vegan loaf is, it is surprisingly light on your stomach! I added walnuts to this recipe for some extra nutritional value. Although is this treat is a healthy one- moderation is key, and just because something provides us with nutritional value, doesn’t mean we can eat as much as we want. To achieve such an organic dark chocolatey flavour I used cacao powder, and mixed fresh orange-zest to mix for a fruity twist. This is a really great vegan bread recipe… I hope you enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 cups of self-raising wholewheat flour
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 1/2 cup of cacao powder
- 1/4 cup of coconut sugar
- 1 1/4 cup of soya milk
- 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
- 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (plus extra for decoration)
- 1 small mashed banana
- 1 orange (for grated zest and juice)
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a 1lb loaf tin with coconut oil.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cacao, ground almonds and baking powder. Gradually add the soya milk to the mixture until you have blended it smoothly. Then add the coconut oil and mashed banana.
- Grate the orange skin and mix in the zest. Squeeze 2 tablespoons of juice from the orange. Then gently fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and line the top of the mix with walnuts (see pictures).
- Bake in the oven for 1 hour- until the knife comes out clean. Once it is baked through, remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin.
This is prefect for sitting down with a cup of tea as an afternoon treat, and will stay fresh for up to 5 days. I find by keeping it in some sort of cake tin or tupperware it stays moist for a lot longer!
Enjoy!
SHK x
