Quinta do Souto Slices
Olà todos! We’ve recently made the move to the beautiful region of Tomar, nestled in the heart of central Portugal. Our new home is a charming farm surrounded by peaceful landscapes and rich history. This place has already begun to feel like a sanctuary, and I’m excited to share this first blog post from here.
As we packed our Mercedes cabrio in pouring rain, it became clear that, along with boxes, blankets, a violin, various kitchen utensils, shoes, a camping chair, and more, we’d also managed to fit in something dear to me: our stock of homemade chestnut cream. Chestnuts have been a staple in our kitchen over the last weeks of mountain experience, and I was glad we could take the cream jars with us.
To celebrate our arrival, I created a cake inspired by our new surroundings and the bounty we brought with us. The result was a vegan cacao sponge cake, filled generously with chestnut cream, and topped with a quick coating of vegan chocolate. The flavors melded beautifully, and it became an instant favorite with everyone who tried it — our hosts, their sons and the farm’s owners, alike.
There’s something about the combination of these ingredients, that captures the essence of both the farm and our journey to this new chapter. With the chestnut cream made high up North, the chocolate manufactured in the Northern Portuguese city Viana do Castelo, and the preparation here in the Quinta, this cake is a fitting tribute to both our past and present — bringing a little bit of our old home to our new one.
Enjoy!
Quinta do Souto Slices
Equipment
- 1 rectangular cake tin xxx
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup neutral oil plus some extra for greasing the tin
- 1 cup plant milk
- 3/4 cup cane sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus some extra for dusting
- 1/4 cup oat or whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda (alternatively another tsp baking powder)
- 4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃. Grease and dust the baking tin.
- Mix the oil, milk, sugar, zest and juice.
- In another bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and soda, and cocoa powder.
- Sieve the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, folding them in with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the tin. Bake the cake until a toothpick comes out clean (approximately 25-35 minutes).
- Carefully cut the cake horizontally in half.
- Spread the chestnut cream evenly over the bottom layer. Place the top layer on top, press slightly.
- Cut the cake into cubes.
- Melt the chocolate over bain-marie, coat the cake cubes with the chocolate.
- Refrigerate until hardened.