I don't make deserts and sweets much but I had been eager to make an indulgent looking cake since my birthday, so this is my real birthday cake so to speak and only about a month late! Biting into the this sort of reminded me of the days when I used to buy Ben and Jerry's cookie dough ice cream, the texture was also somewhat like a cheese cake. But trust me this one beats all of those hands down and no diary or gluten involved! And so Healthy Too!

I just love raw deserts because you receive the maximum benefits from the ingredients, there's no worrying about burning the cake in the oven. It keeps for ages because you have to freeze them and they are a great chilled treat in these hot months.

This is my own recipe idea, maybe someone has done it before me, I don't know. But I hate following recipes simply because I end up not following it properly somehow, getting the order wrong or missing an ingredient. Something happen's to me when I read and then have to create, the messages get lost unless I'm checking it a hundreds times over and still something is likely to go awry.

Ingredients

For The Almond Base

150g Almonds
200g Dates pitted
75g Almond Flour
2 tbsp ground Chia seeds
3 tbsp Cacao or Carob
1 tbsp Coconut Syrup
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 tsp Lemon Juice

Middle Layer: Almond Butter

Top Coconut Cookie Dough Layer

x 5/6 Frozen Bananas
75g Coconut flour
2 tbsp Coconut shavings
2 tbsp coconut syrup
1tbsp Coconut oil

Garnish

75g Cacao butter
5 tbsp Carob or you can use Cacao instead

Alternatively buy a pre made chocolate bar to create the shavings from that.

Method

I like how with raw deserts, it generally requires very little elbow grease, NO beating or stirring, all you need is a food processor

If you follow the pictures above you can see visually the order to help you...

Start with the base first, grind the nuts and then add the dates
Make sure to pit the dates if you use ones with a stone, unlike me who forgot, and you will wonder why the food processor sounds like its a rocket about to take flight! thankfully it doesn't grind the stones, so I managed to pull them out!
Then I added the rest of the dry ingredients, then the wet
Add to lined cake tin and press down mixture firmly with back of the spoon, you can also cover with grease proof and go around with a bottom of the jar to flatten it further and even it out.
Add a a layer of almond butter to the base.

Pop in the freezer for a bit whilst making the coconut cookie dough topping
And take your pre-frozen bananas out and add to food processor
Then add the coconut oil and the rest of the dry ingredients
Take the base out of the freezer and add the Coconut cookie Dough mixture
Freeze again before adding the shavings and thaw a little before serving!

Waiting for it to the thaw can be the hardest part, it totally depends on what texture you like it. In all honesty I think its better to wait until the topping is soft like a cream but I often don't make it to that stage due to the fact I just want to devour it straight away. Raw deserts definitely challenge you to have a little patience if you want to have the ultimate indulgent experience!