When I was little, my mom baked us a cake almost every single Saturday.
It was a highlight of our weekend. I loved that sweet smell of vanilla or chocolate that always filled the house. I’m not much of a baker myself, as I tell you time and time again, and it’s probably because most of my favorite childhood dessert recipes contain a lot of ingredients that I don’t reach for anymore- like eggs or cream. This is why lately I started experimenting a little with raw desserts- maybe I can even start my own tradition of making a cake, every weekend?
Raw desserts are a perfect addition to my plant-based diet, as they are easy to make, contain only unprocessed ingredients and… they don’t require an oven (and as you know, the only snack/dessert foods I like to bake are my banana breakfast bars and banana bread).
You saw me make this cake on Snapchat (@Paula13t) and I promised to share the recipe, if it happens to work out and as you can see- it did (yay!). It actually came out much better than I thought it would; it’s smooth, creamy with a sweet and nutty crust and topped off with a rich layer of chocolate.
Raw banana cream cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups walnuts
- 2 cups coconut flakes (unsweetened)
- 1.5 cups dates (soaked in warm water for 10 mins)
- .5 cup cacao powder
- 1.5 cups cashews (soaked overnight)
- 2 TBS lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- .25 cup coconut water
- .25 cup unrefined coconut oil
- .25 cup pure maple syrup
- dash sea salt
- 3 ripe bananas
- .5 cup cacao powder
- .5 cup unrefined coconut oil
- .25 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Place all crust ingredients in a blender or a food processor and blend until combined. The mixture should be a little sticky- if it's too dry, add a few more dates.
- Taking a rectangle dish (I used a glass 8''x11'' Pyrex dish) line it with plastic wrap and press the crust mixture into your dish. Put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
- Put two of your bananas aside. Now, taking all of your remaining filling ingredients place them in a food processor and blend until completely smooth.
- Slice remaining two bananas and layer them on top of your chilled crust and pour your filling on top. Place in a freezer for about an hour, to allow to set.
- In the meantime, prepare your chocolate topping by mixing coconut oil, cacao powder and maple syrup until completely smooth.
- Once your cake has set, pour the chocolate mix on top of your filling and once again place in the freezer to allow to set.
- Keep your cake frozen and let it thaw for about 15 minutes before serving, Serve topped with bananas and some dark chocolate shavings.
Let me know if you’re going to give this raw cake a go!