These sweet cake bars are topped with sour cherries to provide a nice contrast in flavour, but they would also work well with ripe peaches, plums, apples or raspberries.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260 g) unbleached spelt flour
- ½ cup (65 g) plain wholemeal/whole-wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of/baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon bourbon vanilla powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- few pinches of ground turmeric
- ½ cup (80 g) hazelnuts or almonds, chopped
- 1½ cups (360 ml) plain soy yogurt
- ⅔ cup (170 g) pure maple syrup
- ½ cup (100 g) coconut, safflower or other good-quality oil
- 1 freshly grated squeezed lemon juice and zest
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups (350 g) pitted sour cherries or cherry plums
- 23 x 30-cm/9 x 12-in. baking pan, lined with baking parchment
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F) Gas 4.
- Sift together the flours, bicarbonate of/baking soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla powder, cinnamon and turmeric. Add the nuts and mix everything together.
- In a separate bowl, mix the yogurt, syrup, oil, lemon juice and zest and vinegar. Pour into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix gently with a wooden spoon. Do not overmix.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking pan and spread level with a spatula.
- Scatter the cherries or plums over the surface of the cake mixture, making sure there is some space between the fruit – you don’t want to overload the cake with fruit otherwise it will turn out soggy.
- Bake the cake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan. Slice into squares and drizzle maple syrup over the top to serve.
