The Guilt Free Birthday!

A couple of weeks ago my sister and I met up with my dad in celebration of his 50...(something)th birthday and decided we would make him a cake and take it along with us. Somehow the 'we' turned into a  me ... still not sure how that happened!



Now a few years ago my dad underwent some sort of reawakening and became a bit of a gym junkie, (call it a midlife crisis if you will) and ever since has dropped a ton of weight through both his new found love affair with the gym and cleaning up his eating habits.

I knew if I went ahead and made a traditional birthday cake (with all the buttery, chocolaty, sugary deliciousness one would normally find in such a dessert) he wouldn't really want to eat it but would still smile and munch it down just so I didn't feel bad. Not quite the gift you want to give someone on their birthday! So instead I started scouring the net for some healthy recipes and believe me there are a TON out there! 

In the end I stumbled upon a recipe at www.rachaelmegan.com (which I think she had adapted from yet another site) which I decided to use, with a few adjustments! It is raw, vegan, gluten free and dairy free but absolutely delicious. You can also decorate it however you want, with fresh berries, nuts or even a dodgy piped message and some raw truffles (see the recipes for them here) like I did.

I will give you one warning. Even with my adjustments this cake is still incredibly rich and though I used a cake tin which resulted in the cake being quite shallow I could only handle one small slice at a time! Even die hard chocoholics out there will struggle, I think it took my dad about a week to finish the thing off...

 

 

Rich chocolaty goodness!

That said, you will love every mouth-watering bite so sit back, strap yourself in and brace for the cocoa impact!

The Dad Friendly Chocolate Cake

For the Base:

 

140g raw cashew nuts, finely ground

7 pitted dates

65g cacao powder

1 tsp vanilla extract (or the seeds of a vanilla pod)

For the Chocolate Filling:

 

60g good quality cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

125ml almond milk

250g lightly chopped cashews

5 pitted dates

100ml coconut oil, melted

200ml pure maple syrup**

** Note: You may not need to add all of the syrup depending on the brand of cocoa you use because some will be more bitter than others and will need more or less syrup to balance it out. Just taste the mix as you add the syrup a bit at a time and stop when you think its sweet enough




To make the base grease and line a 20cm x 10cm loaf tin (or a 20cm round cake tin). Blitz all the base ingredients in a food processor until well chopped and combined and then press into the bottom of the tin.

Pop the tin into the fridge while you make the filling.

To make the filling,  blend the cashews, maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Add the cacao powder and coconut oil and continue to blend until the whole mix in smooth.

Spread the chocolate filling over the base so that you have a smooth top (use a spatula to smooth the mixture and you can even tap the tin gently on the bench top to help get that perfect finish).

Refrigerate the cake overnight (or, if need be, for at least 6-7 hours) to set

Take the cake out of its tin and let it sit at room temperature for 30min before serving.

Slice that sucker up and enjoy!

    xo