Meera Sodha’s recipe for vegan chocolate, passion fruit and olive oil cake

The chocolate cake of my dreams is a Swedish one called kladdkaka, which I ate in Stockholm, where I lived one spring. It was sticky, rich and barely able to contain itself: when cut, it oozed out on to the plate. I’d eat it with fruit, for balance (and decency) – the sharper the better. Although this cake isn’t quite that one, it is just as rich, a little fruity, and a sweet little throwback to that springtime in Stockholm.

Chocolate, olive oil and passion fruit cake

A dairy-free creme fraiche such as Oatly’s creamy oat fraiche is a good sidekick for this.

Prep 10 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 8

160ml extra-virgin olive oil
100g vegan dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
200g plain flour
200g caster sugar
60g cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting (optional)
¾ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
175ml almond milk
3 passion fruit, pulp scraped out and pushed through a sieve, seeds discarded

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/ gas 6 and line a 22cm cake tin with baking paper.

In a small saucepan over a low heat, warm the olive oil for a couple of minutes, then turn off the heat. Add the chocolate, leave to melt, stirring gently now and then, then set aside.

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa and salt into a large bowl. Whisk with a fork until well combined, then stir in the chocolate mixture, vanilla extract, almond milk and passion fruit pulp. Use a large spoon to mix to a smooth batter, then scrape into the cake tin.

Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Dust with more cocoa, if using, slice and serve.