A couple years ago, my amazing friend, Olivia, made me a raw “birthday cake”, and it has unexpectedly become my favorite dessert of all time! I knew I needed to recreate it. It was a chocolate tart with a super thick creamy chocolate-y filling and crumbly crust. I honestly think I just ate it (out of the pan) for a few meals in a row until it was gone. Another way to eat this tart is to make the filling and eat it with a spoon before it makes it into the crust (Amaris’ way). Any way you eat it, this raw vegan gluten-free cake is so rich and satisfying and I just can’t wait for it to be in your life!
This cake is so simple; the only part that takes any time is soaking the cashews and chilling the final pie. The crust is made in minutes by processing dates, pecans, almonds, cocoa/cacao powder and salt until crumbly but sticky.
This gets pressed into a pan with enough to come up the sides. The best way I have found to do this as evenly as possible is to use your fingers!
Then for the filling, you’ll need together coconut cream, soaked cashews, cocoa/cacao powder, and maple syrup. 
Blend (preferably in a high speed blender) until very smooth and creamy, almost fluffy. Add some non-dairy milk if needed to smooth. The filling should be completely smooth and very thick, but still able to pour slowly.
Pour/scoop filling onto the crust. 
Tap the muffin tin/pan on a hard surface a few times to release air bubbles, and chill in the fridge for a few hours or in the freezer for 1 hour.
You may add toppings such as chopped nuts, pepitas or coconut shreds if desired. I hope you enjoy this decadent dessert as much as we do! It’s not going to last long around here!
- 1 cup pitted dates (soft)*
- 1 cup pecans
- ½ cup slivered almonds
- 3 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¾ cup coconut cream*
- 1 cup soaked cashews (either overnight or in boiling water for 30 minutes)
- ⅓ cup cacao/cocoa powder
- 4 tbsp maple syrup*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- water/coconut milk as needed
- Add dates, almonds, pecans cacao and sea salt to food processor. Process until it's quite crumbly and small even pieces. The pieces should stick together when you press them with your fingers!
- Dump the crumble into your pie pan and push down into the bottom with your hands.
- Use your fingers to press the filling in tightly and push it up the sides until it's firm, smooth and even.
- Blend together coconut cream, soaked cashews, cacao powder, maple syrup vanilla and sea salt in a high speed blender.
- Add in a few tbsp of liquid (water or leftover coconut milk) at a time to get the filling to be super smooth and creamy yet quite thick.
- Once smooth, pour into the prepared crust.
- Tap the pie pan on the table or gently agitate from side to side to release bubbles
- Place the pie on a level surface in the freezer for a few hours until the filling has set.
- Once set, top with desired toppings. If the pie is hard, let it thaw before eating!
- The pie can be stored in the fridge.
*You can buy canned coconut cream or you can use canned coconut milk and refrigerate it. Once it's cold, open the can and scoop the cream off of the top. I have had success with Thai Kitchen organic coconut milk.
*maple syrup is technically not raw so you may have to substitute it perhaps with some dates, but I have not tried this
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