I first became a chef officially in 2010 after finally realising that the academic publishing world was not for me. I discovered the website for the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, decided that I had to go there, and handed my notice in shortly after. I don't miss it.

I set up WOCA Cafe at the West Oxford Community Centre in March 2012 with the aim of making healthy food with real ingredients at a price that would be affordable for anyone. Fortunately people responded well, despite the odd request for chips. My cooking style is fairly simple, but I like strong flavours. I have a lot of different influences so what I’m cooking depends on what I’ve been reading, where I’ve been eating, what mood I’m in, but mostly what vegetables are available as they’re the foundation of most of my dishes. I probably change my menu too much to have a signature dish, but my customers might say the brownies!

Cherry cheesecake brownie

This was inspired by a recipe featured in The Guardian's Cook series for a raspberry goat’s cheese swirl brownie. It recently became my new favourite thing to eat, and everyone else’s who tried a piece – the combination of cheesecake and brownie might sound over the top, but the contrast is quite addictive. I’ve adapted it to feature the beautiful ripe cherries that are around at the moment and switched the brownie layer for a healthier version with unrefined natural sweeteners and spelt flour, an ancient species of wheat which many people find more digestible than modern wheat. So now you can enjoy it even more!

Makes 16 brownies

For cherries:

  • 450g cherries
  • 2tbsp kirsch, cherry brandy or whatever other booze you fancy

For brownie layer:

  • 65g butter s 100g dark chocolate
  • 125ml maple syrup
  • 65ml agave or brown rice syrup
  • 65ml strong black coffee s 65ml milk
  • Half tbsp vanilla extract
  • 100g white spelt flour
  • 50g cocoa
  • Three quarters tbsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt

For cheesecake layer:

  • 240g cream cheese s 120g mild soft goat's cheese
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg
  • Few drops almond extract s 3 tbsp honey

Preheat the oven to 160C and grease a 23cm square brownie tin.

De-stalk and stone the cherries – this is easiest with a cherry stoner, but you can also pull them apart with your fingers as you don’t need them intact for this recipe. Put them in a saucepan with the kirsch or other alcohol, bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer. Simmer gently for about five minutes, until they have softened slightly. Crush them lightly with a wooden spoon.

For the brownie, melt the chocolate and butter together gently in a large saucepan. Add the maple syrup, agave or rice syrup, coffee, milk and vanilla extract and stir together.

In a bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Pour in the wet mix and whisk it all together so there are no dry bits.

Fold in half of the cherries and pour it into the tin.

For the cheesecake layer, beat all the ingredients together until smooth – you can do this with an electric mixer, handheld electric whisk or by hand. Fold in the remaining cherries at the end.

Drop dollops of the cheesecake mix evenly over the brownie mix and swirl it in with the tip of a knife.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes or until set.

Note that you want the brownie to stay moist, so don't use the skewer test but take it out when it has just a slight jiggle to it.