Magdalena Chávez of El Piano tells us how to make a naturally sweet summer treat.

I HAD never liked fruit much for all that they tell us how good it is for us. Too acidic. Too cold. Too much... by which I mean berries are okay, but I am often over-faced by a whole piece of fruit. I find I can often enjoy it when it’s chopped into a fruit salad.

Even so, summer desserts can be lovely and even more lovely when they have no added sugar and look beautiful. In El Piano we make a number of desserts using just fruit. From time to time, even not being much of a dessert person I will indulge in a slice of poke or luna or fruit tart and surprise myself with how good they can be. 

The luna cake is layers of fresh fruit with a polenta/corn meal mix in a 1500 mould and then baked slowly and on a low heat for about an hour. We use silicone moulds in El Piano. They are non-stick, easy to wash, require no oiling and, provided they are 100 per cent silicone (and not cheap laminates), they are completely non-toxic as they are made from sand and silica, just like glass...

• Choose four or five fruits. Slice the bigger fruits thinly.
• Start with a fruit layer – this prevents the cake from sticking to the base and also gives a wonderful top finish when the cake is turned out at the end
• Now a thin layer of the corn mixture:
• 2 marg tubs (500g size) of polenta, 2 capfuls of real vanilla, 1/4 marg sunflower oil or similar light oil, 2 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt and 1L warm water or fruit juice
• Keep layering the fruit with the corn mix finishing with a fruit layer
• Bake in a slow oven – this means whatever your dial, choose the mid point. Now set the temperature at 3/4 of the way between off and the mid-point.
• Leave it an hour, maybe longer, until you can see that the polenta has cooked – it will be solid, more golden – a deeper yellow
• Cool and turn out.

The sweetness is the fruit but also the vanilla which fools the tongue into thinking there is sugar in the mix.

Enjoy!
 

- Magdalena Chávez is the founder of El Piano, award-winning plant-based and gluten-free eatery. El Piano won the the York cafe of the year award in 2012, was a finalist in 2013 and winner again in both 2014 and 2015. It uses no palm oil or solid mixed fats, or nuts, except coconut, nor seeds, except sesame.