Chocolate Layer Cakes with Black Cherry and Orange

This post is also available in: French

We thought it would be nice to share a comforting treat, when a large part of the country is waiting for Irene, and so many people are stuck indoors. This time around, we've been lucky enough to stay out of the storm's way. But having lived in Florida for almost a decade, we know how painful hurricane business can get.

When I think of cozying up at home, the first thing that comes to mind is a steaming cup of tea. I like all kinds - green, black, mate, rooibos, and oolong - it all depends on the season and mood. And tea happens to be the perfect accompaniment to a rich, chocolate dessert.

I think it's safe to say that these layer cakes are our favourite raw dessert out of all I've made. We loved them. So much, in fact, that I prepared them twice already.
I put together those chocolate layers with what I had on hand that day, by just throwing different ingredients into a blender and hoping for the best. Don't you just love when a recipe, that was created on the go turns out well? Coming up with the flavours for the yogurt cream was easy, chocolate is always so enhanced, when combined with either orange or raspberries (or any red berry, really).

First time around, I used rare, frozen berries like black currants, cowberries, and black sour cherries, along with regular fresh raspberries. Black currants and sour cherries give that rich colour and unique, tart flavour to the cream. On the second try, I only used raspberries and blueberries, and the cakes still turned out quite delicious, though a bit less striking in appearance.
And the orange cakes - well, those got the popular vote, as no one could resist the zesty flavour next to the creamy textures and dark cacao layers.
Time to cozy up with a cup of tea. Please stay safe!


Chocolate Layer Cakes with Black Cherry and Orange
Chocolate layers
3 cups nut or coconut milk
6 tablespoons cacao powder
4 tablespoons cocoa nibs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons coconut flakes
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup sprouted pecan butter or almond butter
3/4 cup sweetener of your choice (I used Jerusalem artichoke syrup)
1/2 cup almond flour
1 1/2 cups ground flax seeds
3 tablespoons maca powder (optional)
2 tablespoons lucuma powder (optional)

In a high speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Spread evenly on 5 Teflex lined dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 115F for about 6-8 hours, or overnight. Flip and peel the Teflex sheet away, then continue to dehydrate on screens only until completely dry. Cut each cracker into 4 pieces, you should end up with 20 total.

Yogurt Cream
1 cup macadamia nuts- soaked overnight
1 cup cashews - soaked overnight
2 tablespoons light agave syrup
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons raw honey
zest of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast
pinch of salt
8 tablespoons Bio-k acidophilus
1 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons sunflower lecithin (optional) - really good for you

In a high speed blender, combine all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy.

Orange Cream
1/2 of the amount of yogurt cream
zest of 3 oranges
1 orange - peeled and cut into chunks

In a high speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before spreading.

Berry Cream
half of yogurt cream
any berries of your choice - add until you achieve the desired colour

If using raspberries or blackberries, puree them first, then run through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
In a high speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before spreading.

Assembly
Spread a thin layer of the cream on chocolate crackers layer by layer, sprinkling with cocoa nibs on top of each layer. You can use all 10 pieces to make a 10 layer high cake each - orange and berry. Or you can make 8 layer cakes, like we did, and eat the remaining crackers for a snack.
Refrigerate the prepared cakes for 1-2 hours until set and ready to be cut. Cut each cake into 4 even pieces with a sharp knife. Decorate with cocoa nibs, orange slices and berries. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Market Berry Salad and a New York Weekend

Last weekend, I got a chance to travel to New York, a city I love very much. I had a few particular places to visit in mind and, unsurprisingly, they were mostly food-related. Pure Food and Wine, Chelsea Market, Hangawi, the list went on. But most of all, I couldn't wait to explore the Union Square Greenmarket.

I'd been to the Greenmarket once before. It was in the dead of winter, and I was amazed by the variety of potatoes and other root veggies being sold, and how the vendors braved the cold, wrapped in layers of clothing.

Goodies from the market, like a Dutch still life painting.

The summer market, of course, is a completely different experience. The stands are overflowing with colour and assortment, there is abundance all around. To me, it's paradise, a candy shop. I'm not sure how much time I spent at a certain microgreens tent, trying to pick the prettiest of the twenty offered kinds (which is impossible), but I am pretty sure it was an inappropriately long while. In case you are wondering, radish microgreens took the prize.

I loved the crowd, in their straw hats, with loaded canvas bags, smelling the peaches for ripeness, digging through mounds of heirloom tomatoes to find the prettiest, carrying home beautiful bouquets of flowers. And the vendors - so passionate, friendly, ready to talk about their product and how to prepare it for best results.

This heirloom tomato display was especially picturesque, they were huge and plump, and so beautifully coloured.

We took it all in, making many rounds, snapping photos, picking the best produce. And imagining what to prepare for lunch. It had to be something simple, as we were away from our usual kitchen appliances, and the produce just spoke for itself.

This girl was selling flowers and had flowers in her hair.

A salad with fresh, tender greens, heirloom tomatoes, sweet peaches and berries, topped with microgreens, is what we made. It was as if the greenmarket was miniaturized and placed into a bowl.
For the dressing, we used lavender, honey, and apple cider vinegar. There was a lavender vendor at the market, and upon approaching her tent, we were surprised with the delicious and calming scent of her dried lavender bouquets - absolutely irresistable. The slightly sweet dressing added another hint of summer to the mix.

After the market, we were set with food for the next couple of days, although tempted to eat it all at once.
I was so glad to see that such a beautiful, positive place existed. The people shopping there looked excited to be buying the wonderful, fresh produce, grown mindfully.

I only wish there was a market like this in every town.

This tomato left us speechless.

Another highlight of the trip was finally having dinner at Pure Food and Wine. I've talked so much about my admiration for Sarma Melngailis, the proprietor of the restaurant. Her cookbooks are always on my kitchen table, with many bookmarks sticking out of all sides.

Hen of the Woods Tacos al Pastor and Spanakopita with Spinach, Almond Feta, and Cucumber Yogurt at Pure Food and Wine

Our meal was incredible, accompanied by the cozy setting in their famous garden. It seemed very natural that such fresh and beautiful ingredients came together to make something so tasty. And the dessert, a chocolate ice cream trio with Indian spices, was a perfect finish to a perfect evening.

One evening, we made squash blossoms stuffed with eggplant.

Also, tasty popsicles on the High Line, Van Gogh's delicious brushstrokes at the Met, morning and evening walks through Central Park, and a bit of summer thunderstorms thrown into the mix.

It's always so nice to be able to get away and experience a change of setting, even if only for a few days. It was a great weekend.


Market Berry Salad
(Serves 2 -4)
market fresh baby greens - any variety
1-2 heirloom tomatoes - sliced
2 ripe peaches - sliced
handful of strawberries - sliced if needed
handful of blueberries - optional
handful of microgreens - any variety

Lavender Dressing
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons raw honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers - ground or whole

In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients together and let infuse for about 30 minutes. Pour over the salad, and enjoy.

Vietnamese Summer Wraps

Here is another dish that I crave during the hottest months of the year. These wraps are great for long, lazy summer conversations. Just place all the components in the middle of the table and let your friends participate, assembling their own portions.

These wraps were very much inspired by Vietnamese cuisine, where the flavours are bright and fresh with plenty of herbs and, often, a great crunchy texture.

The julienned green papaya salad adds the said crispness, and a spicy kick comes from the added chili pepper and ginger. The bold flavours of the salad are then balanced with rich and creamy avocado and coconut meat. Top it off with salty almonds and sprouts, and you'll have a light and very refreshing summer lunch or dinner.

As wraps, we like to use Boston lettuce leaves, they are very pretty and soft, and work wonderfully with the rest of the ingredients. But any other leaf or even rice paper would do just fine.
The great thing about this dish is that many of the components can be prepared ahead of time, and the assembly is a breeze.
We are in New York at the moment, amazed by the splendor of local produce. We'll tell you all about it next week. Hope you enjoy your weekend.


Vietnamese Summer Wraps
(adapted from Raw Food/Real World)

Julienned Salad
1/4 cup nama shoyu
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons agave syrup
1 small chili - seeded and minced
1 small green papaya-peeled, seeded and thinly julienned
1 large carrot - thinly julienned
a carrot sized piece of daikon radish- thinly juliened
1/4 cup fresh ginger - thinly julienned
sea salt

In a small bowl, whisk together the nama shoyu, mirin, lime juice, sesame oil, agave, and minced chili. Pour the mixture over the julienned vegetables, sprinkle with salt and toss to combine. Let sit for at least 30 minutes. Drain before serving.

Assembly
1/2 cup chopped almonds - preferably soaked and dehydrated
1 tablespoon (any) nut oil
sea salt
1 head of Boston lettuce or another wrapper of choice
1 cup meat of fresh young Thai coconut - sliced (can be omitted, just add more avocado)
1 ripe avocado - peeled, pitted, and sliced
1 handful fresh basil and/or mint leaves
1 handful sunflower sprouts

Mix the almonds with oil and salt to taste, set aside. Separate the leaves, wash and dry gently with paper towels.
Place a small amount of the julienned salad in the middle of each leave, add avocado slices, coconut meat, herbs and sprouts, and sprinkle with salty almonds. Carefully fold in the sides and enjoy.

Spiced Apple and Blackberry Kuchen Ice Cream

Like many committed at-home cooks, I've lived through a full-on love affair with Nigella Lawson. It was so long ago, but I remember methodically going through her cookbook and making a new recipe each weekend, as if it was yesterday.

When I think back to that time, one of the recipes that immediately comes to mind is Nigella's German-American Kuchen (translated as "cake" from German), a breakfast cake with apples, cinnamon, orange zest, and blackberries. Baking it would fill the house with the intoxicating aroma of baked vanilla, spices, and citrus.

In this heat though, we'd much rather eat ice-cream, almost over anything else. So, without any further hesitation, we decided to recreate that kuchen in the form of a nutritious frozen dessert that could possibly be eaten for breakfast, if we so wished.
We really enjoyed the result, it covered all the flavour bases of the original, yet became its very own dish. Imagine a smooth, creamy ice cream, with the unexpected hint of traditional spices and fresh berries.

I had lots of fun making this a swirled ice-cream, my first attempt ever. I got giddy with excitement when my scoop produced these whirled, galaxy-like portions. The spiced apples, used to top the ice cream, also came out sensational. Good enough to be eaten on their own.
My husband proclaimed this frozen kuchen "the best ever," Paloma licked the bowl clean.


Blackberry Sauce
2 cups fresh blackberries
raw honey or another sweetener of choice - to taste

In a high speed blender, combine the berries with your sweetener of choice. Run the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to discard the seeds.

Kuchen Ice-Cream
2 cups raw cashews - soaked overnight
2 cups meat of fresh young Thai coconut
1 cup freshly squeezed apple juice
3/4 cup agave syrup or another sweetener of choice
zest of 2 oranges
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup coconut oil

In a high-speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Chill well, and process in your ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Pour a small amount of ice-cream into a chilled container, then spoon some blackberry sauce on top. Continue with the ice-cream, alternating with layers of blackberry sauce to get a swirled effect when you scoop. Cover the container and freeze for a couple of hours before serving.

Spiced Apples
raw honey mixed with a couple drops of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1-2 apples - thinly sliced
zest of 1 orange
sprinkle of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg - to taste
fresh blackberries - optional

Whisk the vanilla infused honey and orange juice in a small mixing bowl. I didn't measure the amount of honey precisely, just eyeball it according to the amount of apples you're using. Mix the apples with orange zest and spices. Pour the honey mixture over, stirring and making sure that all of the apples are coated. Let sit for a couple of hours or while making the ice cream.
Serve the ice-cream with spiced apples, fresh blackberries, and extra blackberry sauce if you prefer.