Not that anyone ever needs a reason to have some nice cake, but we made this raw delight for our daughter’s first birthday two weeks ago, as well as for the day of her birth a year ago. Well, last year we actually made and finished eating various cakes until she finally arrived the night marking the end to my 42-week long pregnancy.
Originally, the cake recipe comes from the number one most popular vegan website in spanish – Dimension Vegana. It is perfect for all who want to enjoy something delicious without gluten or refined sugar, yet also without any compromise in taste – it really is wonderful. Well, that or all of our birthday guests were lying just to flatter my cake-making skills!
Ingredients for the base
- 1 cup of almonds soaked for 8 hours
- 4 dates soaked for 8 hours (or 1/2 of a cup of grated dried coconut, no need to soak)
- 1 teaspoon (or a little more) of unsweetened cacao powder
Mix all base ingredients above in a food processor and flatten to line the bottom of a 15cm springform cake pan (one of those cake pans that have a spring mechanism and a removable bottom part).
Ingredients for the filling
- 2 cups of cashew nuts soaked for 8 hours
- 3/4 of a cup of melted cacao butter
- 1/3 of a cup of coconut oil
- 1/3 of a cup of agave syrup (or your preferred type of honey)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- a pinch of salt (optional)
- 250-300g of strawberries cut into slices (I have also tried making this cake with blueberries and raspberries – it works just as well!)
Process all filling ingredients, except for the berries, in a food processor until it reaches a creamy smooth consistency. Put half of the filling mixture on top of the base layer, follow that with a layer of berries, and finish with the remaining half of the filling. Leave in the fridge for 3 hours until it hardens, but do not freeze.
Ingredients for the final cover layer
- 1/2 of a cup of agave syrup (or your preferred type of honey)
- 1/2 of a cup of unsweetened cacao powder
- 1/3 of a cup of melted cacao butter
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
Sift the cacao powder through a sieve to get rid of any lumps, mix all the ingredients together. Place the mixture on top of the hardened filling layer and smoothen it. Allow the cake to cool down in the fridge for another 8 hours before cutting.
As you can see – between soaking and cooling down – the cake requires some patience and preparation in advance, but I promise you it is worth the wait. Especially, if you have fun while waiting for it like we did – here is a little wildish preview of it!
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