Chocolate, walnut and avocado sponges

I recently made a beetroot cake for the first time and was quite impressed by the subtle flavours and moistness it offered. Carrot cake is another favourite of mine as, again, I like the subtle flavour the carrot brings as well as great texture. I always make cakes with fruit in but I have never tried making a dessert with avocado due to its lack of sweetness but as my beetroot cake was a success I thought I would give it a go. Whilst avocados are not sweet, they have a high fat content, which makes them a great addition to a dessert; in my recipe I use a small amount of butter but it can be left out altogether if you prefer. I did not have a problem finding ripe avocados in our house as my daughter is currently weaning and loves them. Avocados do have a high fat content so we should never eat them in abundance but as with all foods ( in my opinion) everything in moderation is good for you, whether that be on the body or the mind. There are lots of great vitamins to be found in avocados and you can make great salads, sandwiches and savoury treats with them but for this recipe I have gone for the full on treat that will give you a different chocolate fix. This recipe also includes vanilla essence to give an extra dimension to the cake. I used Ndali vanilla, which is a great fair-trade product that I came across when reading Vanessa Kimbell's experience of spending a week in Uganda visiting Ndali.

Ingredients

For sponge

125g self-raising flour
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
50g butter
1 avocado
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla essence
50g chopped walnuts

For filling

1 avocado
150-200g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, until sooth then mash in the avocado until fully combined.
2. Add in the eggs and whisk together then add in the vanilla, milk cocoa powder and walnuts
3.  Fold in the flour and baking powder to complete your mix
4.  Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and place 6 greased stainless steel ' finishing ' rings ( I used rings that were 8cm ) onto the sheet. Fill each ring until 2/3 full and cook in an oven preheated to 180 degrees/gasmark 4 for 15 minutes.
5. Whilst the sponge is cooking, make the creamy filling by mashing the avocado with the vanilla essence then adding in the icing sugar bit by bit until you get a soft mixture that is thick enough to spread onto cake.
6. Once out of the oven allow the cakes to cook slightly then carefully remove rings. Slice the cakes in half through the middle of the cake, top the bottom half of the cake with the avocado cream then place the top half on top of the cream and dust the top with icing sugar.

A growing community

If you read my last post about going local, you will know that I love everything about supporting independents and growing your own. For me, it is always great to hear about local events and projects that encourage awareness of what we eat.  When looking for something to do on a sunny Saturday recently, I came across an event at a local community centre that was holding an Eco fun day. The event was held by Windsor Grass roots, Green shoots, ' a creative urban growing collaboration between  Squash Nutrition, Windsor primary school, Toxteth TV, Toxteth library and local green-fingered activists, to ' green-up ' get growing and cooking lovely food in the Windsor street area '. On entering the event we were given a very warm welcome by the organisers and invited to eat free food, pick up free plants and learn all about what they do. Chatting to different people from the community and seeing the passion they have for the work they are doing was great; really inspiring. I realise that sounds a bit gushy but in the age of ready meals and self service check out, it's great to people really getting involved with food and sharing their love.

There was also a free ' veggie tombola ' in which everybody won a prize, mine being this lovely beetroot grown on the lovely on site allotment

I quickly made a lovely Chocolate and Beetroot cake and a quick beetroot, feta and walnut salad. I got the cake recipe from BBC Good Food and for the salad I simple peeled and sliced the beetroot, cooked it in the oven with oil and balsamic vinegar for 20 minutes, added feta and walnuts then put back in the oven for a further 5 minutes so the cheese warmed through; delicious.

Throughout 2012, Squash will be working on various projects as well as providing great courses where you can go along and learn all about cooking, preserving and even beekeeping. There really is a lot of great work going on around our city, with lots of projects interested in getting people involved. I have just registered with Project Dirt and am looking forward to getting involved with some of the projects and events in and around Liverpool, so why not take a look, get involved and bring back a sense of community.