Cashew cake with coconut cream

„Life is short, eat the dessert first.“

Jacques Torres

 

I needed something sweet today, some creamy yet healthy cake to eat without guilt. When you like sweets as much as I do and you are 30 and something, you realize that large amounts of sweets aren’t good for your body, health, and aforementioned guilt. It happened so many times that I didn’t eat anything sweet for a long time, and then, in the moment of weakness, I eat enormous quantities of chocolate and destroy all the efforts to live healthy. It doesn’t make any sense, I know. About a year and a half ago I completely changed my eating habits. Not actually overnight, but over a week. And how?
By searching for a recipe for homemade Nutella. It sounds ironic, I know, but that’s the truth. I found the recipe but also the blog which changed my life completely. A blog about cooking with a lots of cake, cookie, breakfast and muffin recipes with unrefined and healthy ingredients. My kitchen cabinets immediately became full of almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts. I replaced sugar with maple syrup, salt with Himalayan salt and oil with my favorite coconut oil.
For breakfast, I started to make overnight oats, and muffins with ground almond instead of flour. I discovered more bloggers whose recipes I liked and I started to make my own versions of cakes and cookies. Now, I feel better and have more energy, my body doesn’t crave sweets as much and everything I make is guilt free. All these sweets have lots of calories coming from natural sources so they keep you full during longer periods of time. That’s the secret!
So let me get back to the start of this post. I wanted a creamy cake as a dessert with my afternoon coffee and I came up with this.

CASHEW CAKE WITH COCONUT CREAM

Prep time: 15 minutes

Crust:

• 1 cup mixture of hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds. Or you can use a nut choice.
• 2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoons Himalayan salt
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

 

Directions:

1. Line a baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
2. To prepare the crust, process the mixture of nuts in the bowl of a food processor  until a fine, crumbly meal is formed. Don’t over process them.
3. Add agave syrup, vanilla extract and Himalayan salt.
4. Process again until a sticky dough is formed.
5. Press the dough into the bottom of the baking dish, and place it in the freezer to set.

*I used a silicone pan for cupcakes so I got various small cakes.

Cream:

Prep time: 5 minutes

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2 hours and drained
• 1 cream from one coconut milk can (Place can in the fridge overnight. You need to chill the coconut cream until it’s very firm. The coconut water (the part that doesn’t harden) will be at the bottom of the can. Scoop the coconut cream into your chilled bowl. Pour the coconut liquid into another bowl. Don’t throw it away , you can use it in smoothies).
• ¼ cup agave syrup
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until the filling is completely smooth. You may have to stop and scrape down the blender several times to get a smooth result.
2. Pour the filling over the crust and smooth the top with a spatula.

Enjoy!