Chocolate cake with avocado chocolate ganache

" After a time that evil mood passed away, and I made up my mind to live, but to wear gloom as a king wears purple: never to smile again: to turn whatever house I entered into a house of mourning: to make my friends walk slowly in sadness with me: to teach them that melancholy is the true secret of life: to maim them with an alien sorrow: to mar them with my own pain."

De Profundis, Oscar Wilde 

Last week, or was it the week before or many months ago, I am oblivious to time, I gave up on someone. Someone who was everything all my being  has ever wanted.

And now I don't know who I am. I don't know what I do. I float on life. I am so light now even if I wanted I could not dive. That someone was the big stone I hung on to submerge myself in life. Will my giving up set me free from his thrall?

I've got a few recipes I want to post (falafel burgers, apple tartelettes, black tahini rice pudding, Guignolet cherry panna cotta, Earl Grey madeleines...) but I cannot bring myself to do it. Yet I'm posting this cake, photographed with my phone. I'm a mess really. This post is glum, forgive me. The chrysanthemums on the picture don't help (in France, mums are mostly used on graves).

This cake is rich (and very dark, you've been warned) and the avocado chocolate ganache is a new favourite of mine. 

Chocolate cake
(vegan, grain-free)

75 g coconut flour
50 g raw cacao
pinch of salt
7 g baking soda
105 g cocoa butter
100 g agave syrup
120 ml coconut milk
120 ml water

Preheat oven to 190°C.

In a bowl, sift together coconut flour and raw cacao. Stir in the other ingredients and mix well until combined. Brush  a 20-cm springform cake tin with coconut oil and pour batter into tin. Bake for 40 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting with the ganache. Sprinkle with roughly chopped hazelnuts (I did not toast the hazelnuts but I should have so do!)

Avocado chocolate ganache
(vegan, gluten-free)

1 medium avocado
125 ml coconut milk
52 g coconut oil
10 Deglet Nour dates, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes (or use Medjool)
55g raw cacao

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. This yields twice the amount of ganache you need to frost the cake. The ganache can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days (if you can restrain yourself from eating it...).

Gâteau au chocolat
(végétalien, sans gluten)

75 g farine de coco
50 g cacao cru en poudre
pincée de sel
7 g bicarbonate de soude
105 g beurre de cacao
100 g sirop d'agave
120 ml lait de coco
120 ml eau

Préchauffer le four à 190°C.

Dans un bol, tamiser la farine de coco et le cacao cru en poudre. Ajouter les autres ingrédients et mélanger jusqu'à ce que la pâte soit homogène. Huiler au pinceau un moule à manquer avec de l'huile de coco. Verser la pâte dans le moule et cuire 40 minutes. Laisser refroidir complètement avant de démouler et de glacer le gâteau.

Ganache à l'avocat
(végétalien, sans gluten)

1 avocat de taille moyenne
125 ml lait de coco
52 g huile de coco
10 dattes Deglet Nour, mises à tremper dans de l'eau chaude 15 minutes avant (ou des dattes Medjool)
55g cacao cru en poudre

Mettre tous les ingrédients dans un blender mixer jusqu'à obtenir un mélange lisse. La ganache se garde au réfrigérateur pendant 2 jours.