In my guise as a young personal chef one of my squirm moments was when a client challenged me to bake a tasty vegan chocolate cake, unfortunately the challenge didn’t stop there, it too was requested that it be gluten free. I reluctantly agreed to at least attempt to bake them something edible. I had trained with French pastry chefs, who’s love of butter, sugar, eggs and cocoa solids knew no end, vegan gluten free baking was unfamiliar territory. The cake wasn’t every going to be a crowning glory moment in my career; I was quite unaware of how to bake vegan styli, back then. Now is a different story, I love baking things that are ramp packed with goodness but just taste delicious.

Chia seeds - these little South American seeds are loaded with nutritional superness. They are abundant in omega, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium, plus zinc and potassium. They are rich in protein, just by adding chia to a recipe you are dramatically boosting its nutritional value!!

Why I love them aside from their nutritional benefits is their ability to mimic an egg in baking when mixed with water. Don’t mistake me, chai mixed with water is never going to make a poached egg or an omelette but used in baking they are incredible. They keep the cakes moist and soft.

Lucuma gives the cake a wonderful caramel flavour, without the heady sweetness. Lucuma of course is another South American superfood, which provides 14 essential trace elements.

It helps our skin to heal as well as helping with its anti ageing process.

A great way to celebrate the summer ripe apricot, other than eating them raw, is poaching them and serving them as a compliment to an almond cake. Almonds are an apricots culinary friend, so here is a recipe marrying the two with a super food twist. Find the recipe here