Thursday 4 September 2014

Happy Birthday


To Me
Hi Everyone,
Well it was happy birthday to me a couple of weeks ago but this post is really about the cake I made myself not my birthday. I posted a picture of it on Facebook and had a request to share it here. I hadn't planned on blogging about it so I didn't take an photos of the process but there is no rule that says that I have to so I'm going to share it anyway.
It's not very often I have to make my own Birthday cake, usually one of the kids does it but they weren't home and baking is not Ross' forte, so it was up to me.
Originally I was going to make a wheat free version of this experiment that Heidi and I made a couple of weeks ago, Caramelised Pear Cake with custard cream.
Yes, I know, not the most elegant looking cake (the components needed to be well chilled before assembly hence the oozing custard cream) but it did taste REEEEEEALLY good. I was a bit pushed for time on my birthday so I didn't have time for chilling things so I decided to do another experiment instead. The challenge was to make a healthy cake that tasted decadent and naughty.
I already had some tried and trued healthy recipes that I thought, when they were combined, might just fit the bill. I started off with my 'Innocent Chocolate Cake', a perfectly yummy guilt free cake. I did a post on it a couple of months ago and you can find it HERE.
For the filling I took my inspiration from the recipe for this chocolate tart that we made in a raw food workshop with Cat Cannizzaro. I changed it so that the flavours blended better with the cake. (If you want the recipe for this tart, which is to die for, it will be available for purchase at Wild Raw soon)
And I  made an orange cashew cream that I used on some muffins a little while ago. I also love hazelnuts and I thought they would go nicely as well.
This is what I came up with,
TA DAH!!
Innocent Jaffa Hazelnut Cake.
Looks pretty good, don't you think? It tasted pretty good too. It certainly fulfilled the brief. In fact tasted so good I almost felt guilty eating it, even though it's perfectly healthy.

INNOCENT JAFFA HAZELNUT CAKE

INNOCENT CHOCOLATE CAKE
1 cup chopped dates (cover with water & soak until soft)
1 teasp vanilla
1/4 olive oil
3 eggs (separated)
1/2 teasp bicarb soda
1/2 teasp baking powder
200g almond meal (approx. 2cups)
1/3 cup cacao powder (or cocoa)
Set oven to 180C & grease and line a 20cm cake tin. Puree dates, vanilla, oil & egg yolks until smooth and  add to the dry ingredients, mix well. Beat egg whites to soft peaks and mix 1/3 into the rest of the mixture then gently fold through the remaining egg whites. Pour into the cake tin and bake for approximately 30 mins or until done when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin.
NB: While the cake is cooking roast 1/2 cup of hazelnuts for 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and roll them in a tea towel to remove most of the skins and chop roughly.
FILLING
Chocolate Cashew Cream
11/2cups chopped raw cashews
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 teasp vanilla
30g cacao powder
40g cacao butter (melted in a bowl over hot water)
Soak the cashews and dates in the water overnight. Blend the cashews, dates, vanilla and cacao powder until really smooth. Add a little more water as needed to achieve a smooth result but it doesn't want to be  runny. Finally blend in the cacao butter until well combined. The chocolate cashew cream will firm up a bit as it cools down so it best to fill the cooled cake straight away while it's still easy to spread.
TOPPING
Orange Cashew Cream
11/4 cups chopped raw cashews
Juice of 2 orange
Grated rind of one orange
5 teasp agave syrup
20g cacao butter (melted in a bowl over hot water)
Soak the cashews in the orange juice overnight. Blend all the ingredients except cacao butter until really smooth (add a little water if needed). Add the cacao butter and blend until well combined. This also will firm a little as it cools so best to use straight away.
ASSEMBLY
When the cake is cold slice in two. Spread one half with the chocolate cashew cream and sprinkle with half the hazelnuts. Place the second half on top and spread some of the orange cashew cream on top, sprinkle with the rest of the hazelnuts and some orange zest and pipe around the edge if desired.

PRINT RECIPE

I hope you give Innocent Jaffa Hazelnut Cake a try and let me know what you think.

Thanks for popping by and until next time 
TOODLES
 
 
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4 comments:

  1. How yummy! :-) Looks like it's going to be a baking day for me tomorrow too!

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    1. Thanks for popping by Anya. Hope you have a nice day baking.

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  2. Yum! They all look delicious.

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    1. Yes all very yummy. Thanks for stopping by Alissa.

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