Sunday, December 13, 2009

1st birthday party and double-chocolate apricot cake heaven


Apricot double-chocolate bliss

Dark chocolate cake layer:
2 C almonds
1 C raw pumpkin seeds
1/3 C raw cacao powder (or less)
1/3 C coconut oil (or less)
1 C soaked raisins (or dried sweet fruit of choice)
some dried dates
raisin soak water
vanilla
dash of Himalayan/Celtic sea salt

Process the nuts and seeds into a powder, but avoid separating the oils into a paste. Add the dried fruit, cocoa powder and as much liquid oil+water as necessary to get a uniform ball of dough you can shape in your hands. Add vanilla and pinch of salt. Taste and add more sweetener if desired.

White chocolate layer:
150 g raw cacao butter
70g ground almonds
70g cashews
1 large ripe banana or 2 smaller
Water
Agave syrup, to taste
Vanilla
touch of fine-ground dried orange/lemon peel
(pinch salt)

Melt cacao butter in a warm water bath (105F or 40C). Grind nuts, add banana and liquid cacao butter. Then pour in agave, vanilla and citrus peel. I did not measure ingredients exactly and you don't have to either. You want the consistency of a pudding and a wonderful, sweet rich nutty chocolate flavor.

Apricot preserves:
soaked organic dried unsulfured apricots (not the poisonous yellow ones!)
Agave
little lemon juice

Blend until jam consistency, or use a ready-made organic apricot preserve.

Constructing the cake:
Mold dark chocolate cake layer into 3 separate cake layers, mine were round and about 7-8 inches in diameter. Chill them first until they are firm, and once they are firmed up make the white chocolate filling. I made the dark cake layer the night before and the white chocolate layer first thing in the morning. Then place the first dark layer on a serving plate, layer with apricot preserves and a layer of white chocolate. Add another dark layer, the jam and the white chocolate. The last layer is one with white chocolate, then decorate it with grated mint chocolate and dried pink cranberries. The mint and the cranberries really enhance the experience. Chill in a fridge until ready to serve. Our party lasted for a few hours, and it still kept well in room temp.

Making the food for the party was really a series of unfortunate events. I had ordered the cacao butter well in advance, but due to some problems it did not arrive in time. We figured we could get some from Tampere once we got there, but then there was an accident where a bus caught fire and we were stuck in traffic for 1,5 hours. First we went to Ruohonjuuri, and they had none. Called Punnitse & Säästä, they didn't have it either. We thought Runsaudensarvi was closed, but thankfully they had special Xmas time hours and were still open. And they had it! So cake was still on the menu.. until the night before when our current food processor broke beyond repair. I had to use my mothers small electronic hand-mixer, which somehow got stuck and cut deep into my left index finger. For a moment I thought it was actually cut off, but the cut is "only" down to the bone. Still hurts.

Regardless, everything turned out great and all 12 guests enjoyed themselves. Everyone besides me and my husband were strangers to raw cuisine, but they still loved the cake. The complete menu was:

The Birthday cake
Raw Tzatziki dip with dipping size pieces of celery, yellow carrot, zucchini and broccoli
Organic yeast-free 100% rye bread with all natural butter (which we didn't eat, but others enjoyed)
Green shrimp garbanzo bean salad (shrimp stir-fried in garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil, with fresh cucumber, dill, mixture of green salads, boiled garbanzo beans, dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper)

Everyone ate and people were intrigued. Mission accomplished :) Unfortunately we had so much fun and our hands full with a certain little toddler that there are only a few pics. We might get some more later from friends.

5 comments:

Nanile said...

Sounds excellent, I will try this soon !

Aletheia said...

Thanks for the comment, Nanile. Hope your cake turns out delicious!

Jael said...

Belated birthday greetings to the little one...What a delicious sounding and looking cake, which looks great,in spite of all the problems you had on the way..

Unknown said...

Juhlat olivat sitten varsinainen työvoitto. Onnea vielä jälkikäteen ja mahtava kakku kaikesta huolimatta!

Aletheia said...

Thank you for the birthday wishes, Yaelian! I was thinking to myself that the cake better be phenomenal, since I almost lost my finger to it... ;) Thankfully it is making a recovery, albeit a painful and slow one.

Kiitos Okriina onnitteluista :) Ei siitä ole kauaakaan, kun pidin raakasynttärikakkua ihan mahdottomana toteuttaa (vaikka halusin uskoa että se onnistuisi). Ylipäätänsäkin vasta nyt alan ymmärtämään, miten monenlaiseen herkkuun elävän ravinnon keittiö taipuukaan. Voin vielä olla se suvun "kakkukeisari", mutta nyt kakkuni voivat ulkonäkönsä ja makunsa lisäksi myös tehdä hyvää.