The last few days I can notice that winter is slowly coming to its end for this year, the days are longer, air smells differently, birds are singing more, flower shops are starting displaying beautiful tulips and lovely yellow mimosa flowers… Those are all little changes and we are still having some cold days but all that is making me really excited for Spring! It must be my favourite of all seasons as the nature shows all its beauty, there is an abundance of gorgeous fresh produce in farmers markets and the world becomes warmer and full of lovely colours and smells! Even if I have to say that I love all the seasons, I think I say for every one that is my favourite and I can find so much beauty in each one, that’s one of the reasons I love living in places where there are those four seasons with everything they bring. I know many people dream about living in some exotic destination like a tropical island where you could have Summer all year long and be living in your swimsuit but that is so not my cup of tea! I need my seasons to be happy! 😀
But before all that beautiful Spring fruit and vegetables start showing up on farmers market, I am enjoying my citrus fruit, specially the oranges! They are so sweet and delicious now and I knew that I need to make something for the blog while they are still so gorgeous! And because orange + chocolate is one of the best combination ever I decided for a cake! I still wanted it to be refreshing and made with healthy ingredients so that’s how I came up with the recipe for this delicious raw orange & chocolate cake.
By the way, have you seen my blog post about my three years living in Kazakhstan, more specifically its capital Astana, the second coldest capital in the world? In case you missed it and want to find out more about my experience of living in that fascinating country, you can find the blog post here! I am also preparing another two travel blog posts that I will be sharing soon, one from Rome, one of my favourite cities and another from beautiful charming Orvieto, a little Italian town in Umbria region that stole my heart the first time I visited years ago. Have you ever been in any of those two places? Did you love them as much as I did?  🙂
Now back to food! If you never tried making or eating raw cakes, this is a great cake to start as those orange and chocolate flavours go so well together and the cake is not very heavy like some of the raw cakes tend to be. That is because of the use of nuts because the base of every raw cake are some kind of nuts like almonds or walnuts and the cream is usually made with cashew nuts that are previously soften by soaking in water for few hours. The orange juice and orange peel give a lovely refreshing citrusy note that goes so well with other flavours! I just love this little cake and my family members and friends who tried it, have loved it too so I hope you’ll give it a try and please let me know if you do, I always love hearing from you!
- Crust
- 2 cups almonds
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- ¾ cup dates (pitted & soaked in water for 20 min)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup (or agave)
- 3 tbsp raw cacao powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- Filling
- 2 cups cashews (soaked 3-8 hours in water)
- ¾ cup fresh orange juice
- grated orange zest from two oranges (untreated)
- ½ cup maple syrup (or agave)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
- Topping
- cacao nibs, grated orange zest
- Note: 1 cup = 250 ml
- Prepare 24 cm / 9 inch round cake springform and line it with baking paper or transparent kitchen foil.
- To make the crust first put the almonds in your food processor and process until you get finely ground almonds, than add shredded coconut, dates, maple syrup, cacao powder, cinnamon and salt and continue mixing until you get the compact mixture.
- Transfer the mixture into prepared cake pan and use your fingers to press it into the bottom of the pan, than set aside until you prepare the filling.
- To make the filling put all the filling ingredients into your blender and blend for about 2 minutes until it's smooth and creamy.
- Pour the filling into the chocolate crust and decorate with cacao nibs and grated orange zest.
- Put the cake in the freezer for at least 2 hours or until the filling sets and than transfer to the fridge.
- Once the filling is set and the cake is well cooled you can transfer it to a cake stand and cut the slices using a sharp knife.
- Keep in the fridge until serving and enjoy!
*Thank you so much for being here, that makes me so happy! You can also follow my Travelling oven on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, as well as subscribe to receive new blog posts via email.
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