Vegan Chocolate Cherry Cobbler

The idea for this post came from this amazing recipe from The Littlest Anchovy. As soon as I read the recipe I knew I had to veganise it and try it! I've never thought of adding chocolate to a cobbler topping before but now that I've tried it it makes sooooo much sense! These little cherry cobblers are particularly decadent and very rich so are perfect for a special occasion when you want to impress and indulge. The other thing about cobbler is that it is so easy to make but so special to eat! This one makes a slightly more cakey-style cobbler than the traditional American ones, so has more of a pudding-y texture to it. I love the crunch of the top and the soft rich pudding and fruit underneath!

First - let's mention chocolate and veganism. You might think that they are incompatible but you would be wrong. Chocolate and Vegans are a match made in heaven and I'm NOT talking about substitutes (by which I mean 'dairy free' milk chocolate etc.), what I'm talking about is dark chocolate. Any dark chocolate which is over 70% SHOULD NOT contain any milk or any butter fat. I'm not saying that they all don't, however it should be. If you pick up a block of dark chocolate and you read the ingredients and it says 'butter fat' on the back then you know the company is being cheap and it is not good quality chocolate (and I'm talking about Cadbury and Lindt and a lot of others). Butter fat is used in dark chocolate as a cheaper alternative to using cocoa butter. 

Having said that the Lindt 70%+ varieties are all vegan friendly (however the flavoured ones are not). I still wouldn't buy Lindt though because it isn't fair trade and I don't like to think that I am putting money into child slave labour. My pick of the chocolates is Green & Black dark chocolate. It's incredibly delicious, it's fair trade and it doesn't have any cheap butter fat in it - and that's my holy trinity of chocolate!

Ingredients:

500-600g fresh cherries, halved and pitted

2 tsp sugar

3 tbsp cherry brandy or kirsch

1 tsp flour

1 cup wholemeal flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bi carb soda

1/4 cup caster sugar

7 tbsps nuttelex (or other non dairy butter or margarine)

100g dark chocolate (check to make sure it's vegan)

2/3 cup soy milk

1 tsp lemon juice

To Make:

1. Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and set aside to macerate for at least 30 mins (preferably about an hour).

2. Add the lemon juice to the soy milk and set aside to curdle slightly. 

3. Mix the flour, baking powder, bi carb and sugar together. Cut the butter into the mix and mix with an electric hand mixer. 

4. Add the soy milk. Mix well again.

5. Finely chop the dark chocolate into small pieces Add this to the mix as well and fold in using a spoon.

6. Distribute the cherries amongst 6-8 ramekins (depending on the size of your ramekins) - or alternately use one big baking dish.

7. Distribute the topping evenly amongst the ramekins, just blob it on top and don't worry about spreading it our evenly as the topping will expand while it cooks to form an even smooth crust.

8. Place the ramekins on a large baking tray and bake at 180 degrees C for about 30 minutes.

Makes 6-8 mini cherry cobblers (serves 6-8).