Peanut Butter Raw Cake
For all those peanut butter lovers, I promise that this raw cake won't disappoint you :)
This recipe is refined sugar-, dairy- and gluten-free. Unless like processed cakes, raw cakes are high on nutrients and perfect for breakfast. I also have them as a snack before exercising. They can give you a real energy kick!
Previous years, I always experimented with Matcha raw cheesecake or even chocolate or lemon raw cakes. However, a peanut butter version was something I never tried before. And, since we had loads of peanut butter cream to be finished... there were no more excuses not to cook one ;-)
For this Peanut butter raw cake, you will need the following ingredients:
Cookie base:
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup salty peanuts
12 dried or 1 cup pitted Iranian dates, soaked in water for 10 minutes
Filling:
3/4 cup coconut milk (I use V-Love Coconut milk available in Migros)
1/2 cup Agave syrup or Honey
2 cups raw cashews (approx. 200gr), soaked for 6 hours in water and then drained
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, liquid
1 tbsp Cocoa powder (I don't have a preferred brand, I dare to say that any powder can work)
3 tbsp Peanut butter (I use Terra Sana Peanut Butter Crunchy)
Salt to taste (I use himalayan salt)
Cookie crumbles:
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup salty peanuts
6 dried or 1/2 cup pitted Iranian dates, soaked in water for 10 minutes
1 cup extra salty peanuts
Firstly, for an excellent result you will need good kitchen essentials. I tried blending the ingredients on my Vitamix once, and it totally failed! Lessons learnt: You definitely need a dry container for the cookie base. Hence, for mixing dry ingredients, I use Braun’s Multiquick 5 hand blender S-shape blender. Braun's set is great for people like me, who enjoy cooking but do not need professional equipment. The set brings the traditional blender and, our much needed the S-shaped blender.
Start by setting aside the cashews, soaking in water for 6 hours. I also leave them sometimes overnight. At the end, the softer they are, the creamier will be the filling of the cake.
For the cookie base: Set aside in water for 10mins the dates. Don't forget to remove their stone!! I once forgot about them and it almost broke my blender. Straight forward, spread nicely coconut oil at the bottom surface and corners of the cake tin (I use 18cm diameter rounded cake mould).
Afterwards, and while the dates are soaking in water, add the almonds and the salty peanuts to the S-shape container / dry container and process till it reaches a crumb-like consistency.
Strain the dates and add it to the mix. Blend everything together in high speed. Once the dough is consistent, move them to the cake tin and spread the mixture. Press the dough against the bottom till it uniformly covers all the surface, and set it aside in the fridge.
If the mix isn't sticky enough, bring the dough together and add a bit of hot water; then start kneading. Overall, dates help binding together the other ingredients of the cookie base. Hence, it is important to have them min. 10mins soaking in water.
For the filling: Blend in a high-speed together cashews, coconut milk, liquid coconut virgin oil and honey/agave syrup. Once the mixture is smooth, add the first peanut butter tablespoon and mix.
Add the next tablespoon and again mix. And repeat with the last tablespoon.
Once the mix is consistent, add the Cacao powder and salt to taste. Again, blend it in a high-speed till it is silky smooth. Then take out from the fridge the mold and spread the mixture on top of it. Leave it resting for at least 4 hours in the fridge. I prefer leaving it overnight to get a solid consistency.
Super important: if you have too less cashews, mixture will be too liquid. If you have too much milk, mixture will be too liquid as well. If you have too many cashews, it won't get silky smooth. You need to play a bit with the ingredients and find the right amount for you. Overall, the amounts I share in this post should work to get a smooth and solid filling.
Before serving
For the top layer: have the half cup of dates soaking for 10mins and remove the stone directly afterwards. First, mix all dry ingredients except the full cup of peanuts in the dry container and blend it all. Add dates and blend again. And done, we got our cookie crumble!
Add the full cup of salted peanuts to a pan and fry them a bit, until getting golden look alike.
Take the cake tin out from the fridge and place the cake in a serving dish. Pour on top first the roasted salted peanuts and then spread nicely the cookie crumble.
And you are now ready to enjoy raw peanut butter cake bites :-)
The cake fills you up really quick, just that you know... due to the peanut butter, it is high in kcals. For this reason, I recommend to have it in the mornings or as fuel before exercising. Or as dessert after lunch!
If you try it out, do not hesitate to share with me your experience and feel free to tag me on your social media. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!! :-)
xx
Zohar