Extracted from The Clever Guts Diet Recipe Book by Dr Clare Bailey with Joy Skipper, published by Simon & Schuster Australia, RRP AU$39.99  Photography © Joe Sarah

Chocolate Eggplant Cake with Pear and Walnuts

Serves 8

1 medium eggplant skin on, diced

150g dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces

60g coconut oil

60g pitted dates, chopped

½ tsp salt

3 eggs, beaten

1 tsp baking powder

80g ground almonds (or 100g gluten-free brown flour)

80g walnuts, chopped

1 ½ pears, cubed

• DAIRY-FREE
• GLUTEN-FREE OPTION

370 Calories

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper.
2. Steam the eggplant for 15 minutes or until it is soft. Then place it, still hot, in a bowl. Immediately add the chocolate and coconut oil and stir until they have more or less melted. Then mix in the chopped dates.
3. Blitz with a hand blender to obtain a smooth paste. Add the salt, eggs, baking powder and ground almonds and whizz one more time, then stir the walnuts and pears into the mixture.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake it for 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack.