RAW VEGAN VANILLA CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

I absolutely love raw vegan desserts. They give you all the creaminess and flavour of a beautiful dessert without the sickly sweet aftertaste or post-pig out remorse! This smooth, silky dessert is delicious yet so healthy you could eat it for breakfast. It's 100% plant powered, and contains no refined sugar, dairy or gluten. There's also a nut-free version.

You'll have no trouble giving this one to your kids, because it contains two of their all time favourite ingredients - banana and avocado!

Alrighty, so this is what you need:

Base

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 cup soaked nuts (I used almonds, soaked for 2 hours)
 ½ cup pitted dates
¼ tsp sea salt

Vanilla Layer

1/2 cup soaked macadamias or cashews, raw unsalted
4 heaped Tbps coconut oil
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
4 large bananas
2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla pod, scraped)

Chocolate Layer

2 large bananas
2 avocados
¼ tsp sea salt
4 Tbsp raw cacao powder
1 Tbsp cacao butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp 100% pure maple syrup or 2 tsp honey

NUT FREE VERSION: in the base, replace the nuts with 1 cup of sprouted, dehydrated buckwheat. For the filling, simply remove the nuts from the recipe.

BUY FAIR TRADE: If you are from New Zealand, look out for All Good Bananas - A fair trade, organic, transparent, passionate company with a heart of gold!  http://allgoodorganics.co.nz

Process all base ingredients in a food processor until well combined.

Firmly press the base mix into a spring form tin (greased with coconut oil, or lined with baking paper). Refrigerate.

Using your food processor or a high speed blender, blitz the soaked cashews/macadamias and one of the bananas into a paste, Add the remaining middle layer ingredients and blend until very smooth.

Pour the coconut banana mix into your tin and spread evenly.  Place the cake in the freezer to set the layer.

• While the first layer is setting, place the chocolate layer ingredients into your processor and blend well until smooth.

• Making sure your vanilla layer is reasonably firm, pour the chocolate layer over top and using a spatula, spread it evenly.

• Place back into the freezer and leave to set for 3-5 hours or until firm. 

Garnish with chocolate flakes, serve cold, and enjoy!!

Need a high speed blender? I use and recommend the Optimum 9400