Get raiding the hedgerows to make this moussey, intense and complex flourless chocolate cake
T
his year’s bumper crop of blackberries has kept me busy foraging the hedgerows and left our kitchen and fridge full of berries to turn into new recipes. Inspired by the glut, I returned to an old favourite, my beetroot nemesis, a twist on the River Cafe’s famous chocolate nemesis cake in which I use the whole beetroot, including its candied magenta stems. Blackberries have a tendency to turn squishy, but even when they’re soft, they’re still juicy and fine to cook with. Determined not to let this bounty go to waste, I’m using some of the surplus in this heavenly, complex, adult dessert, which is rich in antioxidants and endorphin-boosting flavonoids.
As a recipe developer of predominantly seasonal recipes, I’m always on the lookout for simple dishes that can be tweaked with the seasons. Flourless chocolate cakes have an intense flavour, yet provide a blank canvas for all sorts of additions and/or substitutions. With our hedgerows producing untold thousands of tonnes of wild blackberries annually, there’s rarely been a better time to embrace seasonal adaptations of this kind. To keep berries for longer, store them in a sealed container in the fridge with a sheet of kitchen towel in there to soak up any excess moisture.
