Chocolate Cake...Did I mention that it's RAW?!!!!

Hello All!

I apologize for being so very sluggish with my blog posts. There has been so much going on, I will get better. So I have been enjoying trying new recipes, making them my own, and letting others taste them to see what they think. I've gotten mostly positive feed back.

This past week was my younger son's birthday, he turned 9!!!! I simply could not believe it. His request was a cake out of Victoria Boutenko's Raw Family Signature Dishes Book. Guess what...it was completely raw! That's right raw cake. So many people said, "Marie, how do you make a raw cake?"

I was terribly nervous about doing something wrong, or it turning out different than it did in the book. Well its really not that difficult with the right tools. It's truly so much faster and healthy than a cake you would bake as well. People close to me know how I feel about raw foods. All of the nutrients and enzymes in tact all the while tasting yummy...can you get better than that? Raw foods are so easy, once you prepare it you eat it, there's no waiting time to cook.

Here is the Raw Birthday Cake:

You'll need a high speed blender, like a Vita Mix, a food processor, a spring form cake pan, and cheese cloth.

For the crust or batter if you will I used 4 cups of raw organic walnuts (the book called for 2 cups and I don't have any idea how because it was not enough...maybe she was able to get it flatter or thinner than me for the layers), two juiced lemons, 2 tbsp coconut oil (the recipe called for olive oil), and 3 cups of chopped medjool dates( the book called for raisins, but I do not like them). You blend these in the food processor. You'll use this to make three layers. It will be a sticky ball once processed.

Put a layer of cheese cloth over the spring form cake pan. Then press some batter onto the cheesecloth of the bottom of the pan. I rolled some in my hands and then flattened it out best I could.

For the filling I used frozen blueberries (fresh would be just fine), and organic yellow pears. So on top of the first layer of batter I covered it with defrosted, rinsed frozen blueberries ( I just ran some water over them to defrost them, they were still firm. The book called for sliced strawberries, but my son loves blueberries.

Next I put the second layer of batter. Then came the pears, I just sliced them and put them laying down on the batter. Next came the top layer of batter. Once you have completed the cake gently turn it over onto a serving platter, loosen the clamps on the pan, lift the pan off, then carefully peel off the cheese cloth.

To frost the cake I used one cup of raw pecans, 1 1/2 cups of raw honey (the book called for 1 cup of agave, and I don't use agave, try one cup of honey and see if that is sweet enough for you), 1 freshly squeezed lemon, 1 vanilla bean, and 2 tbsp of raw cacao powder. Next time I will probably use carob powder since I prefer the antioxidants from the carob without the caffeine and theobromine, another stimulant, from the cacao plant. Just blend these in the Vita Mix until creamy smooth. Use a frosting knife and cover the cake in the frosting.

Finally I just dusted it with coconut. If you try this recipe let me know please! I think the frosting would be yummy with cashews or macadamia nuts as well.