Vegan chocolate cake and easy midweek one-pots that even meat lovers will adore

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp sesame seeds

• 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

• 3 tbsp maple syrup

• a good pinch of dried chilli flakes

• the zest and juice of an unwaxed lemon

• 2 x 400g bunches of asparagus

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 2 heads of greens or 200g sugar snap peas

• 4 nests of egg or rice noodles, cooked

• For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• a pinch of dried chilli flakes

Method

1. For the brittle, toast both types of seeds in a dry frying pan until they start to give off their aroma. Once toasted, add 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, a good pinch of salt and the chilli flakes and cook for another minute, until the syrup begins to bubble up around the seeds and thicken (but not darken).

2. Take off the heat and transfer to a plate lined with baking paper, sprinkle over the lemon zest and leave to set.

3. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and put to one side.

4. Cut off the asparagus tips and set aside, then cut the stalks into 5cm pieces on the diagonal up to the last 3cm from the base. Discard these end pieces or keep in the freezer for vegetable stock.

5. Wipe out the frying pan with kitchen paper and put it back on a high heat. Once it’s very hot, add the teaspoon of sesame oil, the asparagus tips and stalks and the greens or sugar snaps and cook for 3—4 minutes, until the edges char and the asparagus softens slightly. Pour in the sauce and add the noodles and cook for a further minute.

6. Roughly chop the brittle and serve the noodles with the maple seed brittle on top, and quarters of the lemon for squeezing over.

   Seasonal variations 
   Spring – asparagus or podded broad beans
   Summer – courgettes or runner beans
   Autumn – kale or peeled, thinly-sliced squash
   Winter – purple-sprouting broccoli or frozen green veg

   Extracted from One pot, pan, planet by Anna Jones, published by Harper Collins. Photography © Issy Croker

Total Time

1 hours 10 mins

Ingredients

• For the icing:

• 100g olive, coconut or vegetable oil

• 65g dark muscovado sugar

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

• 200g dark chocolate finely chopped

• For the cake:

• 200g plain or light spelt flour

• 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 75g cocoa powder

• 250g dark muscovado sugar

• 75g olive, coconut or vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing

• 1 ½ tsp vinegar (I use cider)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C/16O°C fan/gas 4. Grease a 20cm round springform cake tin with oil and line the base with baking paper.

2. Put all the icing ingredients except the chocolate into a saucepan with 60ml cold water. Heat until everything is melted, making sure the mixture doesn’t boil, then turn off the heat, add the chocolate at once and leave it to sit. After about a minute, the chocolate should have melted. Whisk until you have a thick icing and set aside. It should be cool by the time the cake has baked and cooled.

3. For the cake, whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda, a good pinch of sea salt and the cocoa together in a bowl. Make sure there are no lumps of bicarbonate of soda.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, 375mI of just-boiled water, the oil and vinegar. Stir the mixture into the dry ingredients, then pour into the prepared tin (it will be quite a wet batter). Bake for 30-40 minutes.

5. When it is ready, the cake should have pulled away from the edges of the tin and a skewer inserted into the centre will come out clean. Cool for 30 minutes in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Spoon over the icing and decorate as you like.

   Decoration ideas: 
   Grated chocolate
   Fresh flowers
   Chopped candied nuts
   Chopped stem ginger
   Crumbled chocolate
   Flakes of sea salt

   Extracted from One pot, pan, planet by Anna Jones, published by Harper Collins. Photography © Issy Croker