Death by Chocolate sounds like such a cooked dessert. I just couldn't do it raw. So in 2003 when I went raw we invented this dish. It's superb! It's definitely a labour intensive cake with making your own fresh coconut cream, but it's so worth it!! Very rich too so you only need a small amount.

Here's a photo with a slice of dragon fruit on top:


And the recipe:
“Life by Carob”

Equipment: Food processor and single or twin gear juicer to make the coconut cream
Serves 4-8

Have you ever really thought about what the dessert “Death by Chocolate” is really saying? Sure it’s rich and creamy… but is it really worth dying for? NO!! This dessert is from 100% living foods, and is guaranteed to make you feel utterly pampered and indulged. People that say they don’t like carob obviously haven’t tried this dessert. For a different look experiment with the crust (different combinations of dried fruit and nuts), and with the flavouring (imagine fresh strawberries blended in instead of carob!). You could probably even make Key Lime Pie with the addition of some lime juice to the coconut and avocado filling!

Ingredients:

Crust option 1:
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup apricots
3 tablespoons carob

1-3 teaspoons fresh orange juice (add only as needed)

OR

Crust Option 2:
1 cup macadamia nuts
1 cup apricots

2 tablespoons macadamia nuts (process briefly at end to leave in a little texture)

Note: I'd probably do a crust with pecans and figs now... I love the idea of that!


Filling
1.5 cups freshly made coconut cream
3 dried figs, soaked 15 minutes in water then drained
1 avocado
4 tablespoons carob, or more to taste (raw cacao powder would work really well too)

Addition nuts, fruit or mint to garnish (as desired)

Method:

For the crust
1. Blend nut and dried fruit together until well combined.
2. Process optional extra ingredients (extra nuts or orange juice to hold crust together) as needed
3. Press crust mixture into the bottom of the cake pan – a springform pan with sides that can be easily removed is recommended. Alternatively you can make this dessert in individual serving bowls.

For the Filling
1. Blend filling ingredients until well combined. It should be VERY smooth, with just the occasional crunch from the fig seeds.
2. Pour filling onto crust, and chill in the fridge at least 45 minutes before serving.
3. Decorate with chopped nuts, fruit or coconut – whatever you fancy!
4. Cake should be made no more than 1 day before it is needed and kept refrigerated until ready to serve. Coconut cream goes off very easily at room temperature.


This recipe does not set well when you use agave, and needs to be chilled to really firm up on hot days. It's not a good cake to bring to a picnic on a hot summer day because it melts!! On cooler days though the coconut will set firm as the cake cools after blending (like your coconut oil does).

To make fresh coconut cream I mince mature coconut, then run it through my Greenlife juicer with the large holed juicing screen in. The dried pulp comes out the end, and the most delicious rich coconut cream comes out the juice part (I think I get about 1/2 cup per coconut). You can also make this easily in the Champion juicer too.

Warning - on cold days the coconut oil is too hard, and coconuts are almost impossible to juice. This needs to be done in a place where coconut oil is liquid at room temperature or it just doesn't work. I guess you could warm the coconut flesh in a bowl of warm water in locations like that though (I haven't tried this)! And the rich coconut milks made by blending coconut flesh with some water then straining would be too liquid for this recipe too.

Best of all - coconut is highly anti bacterial, anti fungal and more. Read up on medium chain fatty acids for more info. It's truly a unique food, that is actually a GRASSS (the coconut palm is anyway - I'm not sure what you'd class the 'nut' as.

Enjoy!
Sheryl

Dang it! Your photo hasn't loaded Sheryl. I downgraded my security but that did not help. Never mind I can just imagine the way it looks.

Joss

Can I expect it postal express on the third? *smile*


Joss

Thats what Brett said when I asked him to send me some husked coconuts. I fought you wus my friends too *sulk*


Joss

Ok - last week it was my girlfriend - Zoe's birthday and I wanted to make her the best raw cake ever! We are both dessert lovers and I wanted this one to be really special! Sheryl, very kindly, sent me some recipes she had and I finally found one I thought worthy. Of course I made some adaptations but want to let you know how it went.
It was a four layer chocoloverlava-cake! That's what I call it.
Layer 1 - the base
soaked figs, pecans, salt, carob powder - processed until sticky. Pressed into botom of sprng form cake thing - then put in freezer.
Layer 2
I wanted this to be really like a caramel layer!
cacao butter, yacon syrup, mesquite meal, dates (pureed)
Layer 3 Sort of a mousse!
cacao powder, carob powder, young coconut flesh, avocado, agave, vanilla bean, cashews - blended until smooth.
Layer 4 - meant to be like icing!
Cacao butter, agave, cacao powder, date puree.
Sprinkle on top - goji berries.

The verdict. To be totally honest - it's not the cake I will call my signature dessert - so far the blueberry cheezecake is winning but will try the carmel devine this week - birthdays can carry on for a week at least can't they?
Critique - the "caramel" layer didn't set the way I planned - nor did the icing, which was more like a choc sauce.
Still - Zoe thinks the cake mutated to match her tastes rather than mine - as she said it was the best dessert she has ever eaten! So, a success - as she was the person I, or the cake, was trying to please!
I can't thank Sheryl enough and vow to report back to you all when I find the cake which satisfies my stringent taste buds!

JLK,that is awesome...I bet Zoe loved the cake,not only because it was delicious,but that you put so much time and effort into creating such a lovely birthday gesture for her,that rocks!