Sweet treat – because you deserve it!
Here is an absolutely delicious cake. As with so many other raw food, it is easy to make, but requires preparation. Here you need to soak the the almonds and dry them again. Not a lot of work, but it takes time. The soaking is needed to activate some good digestive enzymes in the almonds, as well as getting rid of other enzyme inhibitors. The drying is needed to get the best crispy crust out of the almonds. I dehydrate my nuts outside if the sun is shining or in my owen on 40 degrees Celsius (anything over 42 degrees will destroy the enzymes).
Ingredients:
- 2 cups almonds (soaked and dehydrated – soak 3 cups to have extra for the topping)
- 2 cups dates (pitted) (sometimes I mix dates and raisins)
- Touch of lemon (around 1 tbsp.)
- 1 tbsp. Coconut oil
- ½ – 1 tsp vanilla (optional, but I LOVE vanilla)
Start by adding the almonds to the food processor and process to a desired consistence. Then, keep it in a bowl.
Add the dates, coconut oil, vanilla and lemon to the food processor (you don´t need to clean it after the almonds). Process until it makes a ball.
Bland by hand the two mixtures together and the crust is ready.
Put some almond crumples (or other crumples – shredded coconut) on the bottom of your form, so the cake doesn’t stick to it. Add half of the crust to the bottom of the form, place banana slices on the top of it and put the rest of the crust on top of the bananas. Voila, here you have a cake.
Instead of making a cake, you can roll the crust out in some balls and cover them with shredded coconut, cacao or nuts. You can also make some cupcakes.
And to give it more like a carrot cake wanna be, you can add grounded cinnamon and nutmeg to the crust. I also like to add shredded coconut, for extra sweetness
But why stop here, when you can have a topping on the cake. And talking about a carrot cake (my all time favorite), let´s make a white topping.
Topping:
Add together in a food processor and in that order,
- Almonds, without the brown shell (soaked and dehydrated – 1 cup or as much as you prefer).
- Honey (I prefer liquity raw honey – you can also use maple syrup or agave).
- 1-2 tbsp lemon.
Process the almonds and then add the honey and lemon. Use the amount of honey that suits your sweet tooth and the lemon helps keep the cream white.
I cut the cake into smaller pieces and keep it ready in my fridge. When the sweet tooth knocks, I always have something sweet and delicious and best of all a healthy treat waiting for me.
You get a long way on a small bite, so don´t be afraid of the fat in the amount of almonds you are using. Almonds are very healthy and are actually a seed of the fruit of an almond tree, but not in the nut family, as we might think. Almonds are filled with vitamins, minerals and fibers, and can help lower the „bad“ cholesterol, prevent against diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Almonds have a very neutral taste, so they fit perfect to most recipes.
Enjoy!
