Recipe and images extracted from Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman, photography by Lisa Linder. Published by Jacqui Small (£20).

This isn’t just any blackberry and apple cinnamon crumble cake, it’s also gluten and refined sugar free, just one of the recipes in Henrietta Inman’s newly published Clean Cakes recipe book. Filled with over 75 recipes made using whole, natural and nourishing ingredients which are free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar the book contains stunning photos and great advice by the pastry chef author, on how to replace gluten, dairy and refined sugar in the diet whilst still having delicious and gorgeous looking treats.

Whilst initially excited to receive the book, it really is visually stunning to look through, the number of ingredients in most of the recipes were, for me, quite daunting. I don’t do complicated and some of these recipes aren’t for the faint-hearted. A lot are also made using ingredients I have either never heard of, or are very hard to get hold of. Certainly not available in most supermarkets anyway and from specialised shops they can be very expensive to buy, making a lot of these recipes quite costly to make.

I have to admit to taking the easy option and made dark bittersweet chocolate truffles because I had all the ingredients already. Made using ingredients including coconut milk, cacao powder and maple syrup these went down a treat with the family.

The following recipe is from Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman.

Blackberry Apple and Cinnamon Crumble Cake recipe…

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Blackberry and Apple Cinnamon Crumble Cake

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  30 mins

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 120 g (41⁄4 oz/11⁄8 cups) walnuts, preferably activated dried (see page 25)
• 1 tbsp milled flax seeds
• 3 tbsp filltered water
• 
100 g (31⁄2 oz/1 cup less 2 tbsp) ground almonds (almond meal)
• 
70 g (21⁄2 oz/1⁄2 cup) chestnut flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1⁄2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• Zest of 1⁄2 lemon
• 
60 g (2 oz/1⁄4 cup) easy apple purée (see page 32)
• 
80 g (23⁄4 oz/1⁄4 cup) maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50 ml (13⁄4 oz/scant 1⁄4 cup) EVCP rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing
• 2 dessert apples such as Cox or Granny Smith (250–300 g (83⁄4–101⁄2 oz) total weight)
• 250 g (83⁄4 oz/21⁄2 cups) blackberries fresh or frozen

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3.
2. Line the bottom of an 18–20 cm (7–8 inch) loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment and grease the sides with a little oil.
3. Place the walnuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 5–8 minutes until beginning to colour. Leave to cool.
4. Finely chop 80 g (23⁄4 oz/3⁄4 cup) and set aside the remaining walnuts.
5. Combine the milled flax seeds with the water and leave for 15 minutes to form a gel, stirring occasionally.
6. In a large bowl, mix together the finely chopped walnuts, ground almonds (almond meal), chestnut flour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), salt and lemon zest. Make a well in the centre and add the flax gel, apple purée, maple syrup, vanilla extract and oil and mix to combine.
7. Divide the mix equally in two, place half the mix in the cake tin and spread it out with a palette knife (frosting spatula). It should be about 1 cm (1⁄3 inch) deep and weigh about 250 g (8 3⁄4 oz).
8. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. Spread them over the cake mix, overlapping them in a circle, followed by the blackberries and top with the rest of the cake mix.
9. The mix will be sticky so use your fingers to dab small bits of the mix over the blackberries. It doesn’t matter if some berries are still showing, but try to cover most of them.
10. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts over the top of the cake, breaking them up roughly between your fingers as you do so. Press them into the cake mix slightly.
11. Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through baking.
12. It is ready when the top is firm to touch and a rich golden brown, the nuts will be well toasted and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out almost clean. If the top is looking a bit too dark, turn down the oven to 160°C/310°F/Gas Mark 21⁄2 for the last 10–15 minutes.
13. Serve warm with an extra dusting of cinnamon or mesquite (see page 54) if you like and natural yogurt. This is best eaten fresh but will keep for up to five days in a sealed container in the fridge.

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If you are taking  a clean diet very seriously then this is definitely a book worth purchasing if you still like to indulge in the occasional treat from homemade chocolate, to everyday muffins and bars to the more decadent courgette, basil, lime & pistachio cake and chocolate torte as pictured above. Unfortunately for me, I would love to eat all of these recipes but would much rather someone else make the more complicated and time-consuming ones.

Disclosure: I was sent a review copy of Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman but all words and opinions are my own.