Date Sachertorte- vegan

The pics show milk chocolate as the topping as it was all I had; substitute this for plain or soya chocolate

So here I am, back with a brand new laptop and another vegan cake recipe for you...
The twist in this one is the date syrup; while it does contain some sucrose as well as fructose, date syrup is a much more natural product than sugar, and has a great flavour.
300g self-rasing flour
200g ground almonds
4 rounded tabs cocoa
4 tsps baking powder
150ml rice bran oil
2 tsps natural almond essence
400ml soya milk
200ml date syrup
200g chocolate (plain or vegan "milk")
Ground almonds to decorate

• Measure out and mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
• Mix the wet ingredients with a balloon whisk to ensure the date syrup does not separate from the rest and end up as sludge in the bottom of the container.
• Put into a cake tin the same size as for Agave Almond Slice (ie: medium square tin or about 9" round) and bake in a preaheted oven at 180C for 20-30 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• While still hot, top with small pieces of chocolate; they will melt rapidly and you can spread it evenly. Then decorate with a pattern of sprinkled ground almonds. Leave to cool and set, then carefully remove from tin or cut into portions in the tin.

Simple to make, and very delicious... turns out very almond-y, but quite light and fluffy too. Great with a mug of redbush tea or hot chocolate! I will try a version of this made with bajri (millet flour) and post the results; wheat/ gluten-free is the next step, as I have a few friends who are sensitve to wheat/ gluten.