Deliciously Ella’s Pb & J Cake

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 1 tbsp tablespoon coconut oil, plus more for the tins 
  • 150g oats 
  • 150g ground almonds 
  • 200ml brown rice milk 
  • avocados, peeled and pitted 
  • 10 medjool dates, pitted 
  • 10 tbsp raw cacao powder 
  • 8 tbsp maple syrup 
  • 5 tbsp coconut sugar 
  • 5 tbsp peanut butter 
  • 4 tbsp chia seeds 
  • small over-ripe banana, peeled and mashed 
  • A pinch salt 

For the icing

  • 100g cashews, (soaked for 2-4 hours) 
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup 
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder 
  • 1/2 tsp coconut oil 
  • 1/2 tsp coconut sugar 
  • 3 tbsp peanut butter 

For the raspberry layer

  • 250g raspberries, plus more to serve 
  • 2 tbsp coconut sugar, plus more to serve 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C). Oil 2 x 20-22cm cake tins with coconut oil.
  2. Tip the oats into a food processor and blend until a flour forms. Add all the other ingredients- not forgetting the 1 tablespoon of coconut oil- and blend until a thick chocolatey mix forms. Fill each of the prepared tins with half the batter.
  3. Place the cakes in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes; a knife poked in should come out clean. Let the cakes cool in the tins, they’ll finish setting while they cool.
  4. Meanwhile, make the icing. Drain the cashews and tip out into a blender. Add all the other ingredients with 60ml of water. Blitz then scrape out into a bowl and let it sit in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to firm up.
  5. For the raspberry layer, mash the raspberries on a plate, stirring in the coconut sugar.
  6. Finally, spread half the icing over the flat side of the least attractive cake, then spread half the mashed raspberries over it. Place the other cake on top, flat bases together, and do the same again. Arrange some raspberries over the top. I like to sprinkle a little extra coconut sugar on the top as a final flourish, as it looks beautiful.
  7. Recipe extracted from Deliciously Ella with Friends by Ella Mills, published on26 January by Yellow Kite, £25 © Ella Mills 2017