Frozen chocolate and orange torte
grownandgathered
Tomorrow is Valentines Day and as much as it's not totally our "thing", we think sharing good food with people you love is always a good thing. So this one is something simple to make, to share with all of those that you love!
This is very possibly the easiest cake in the world – no bake and takes 10 minutes. And it's raw/vegan/dairy-free/gluten-free if that is your thing, it's creamy and has the classic orange/chocolate flavour with a crunchy base. You might even notice that those hands in one of the shots isn't either of ours - but our friend Shantanu's. We "taught" him how to make this cake because he loved it so much and he generally can't cook - and I say "taught" very loosely, because there really isn't much teaching that goes with this cake, it's so easy. It went more along the lines of "put that in the blender, blend, yup good". And it turned out perfectly.
For us, as you can see in the photos, we have been making this a lot in our house. In the last months it's been shared at dinner party's and as late night snacks. It's awesome for the full on sunshine that is out at the moment and the 40 degree days. Our plants are growing super-fast, our tomatoes are finally ripening and the zucchinis seem to be growing to full size in a day or two. It is full on Summer - and this is the cake you need in the freezer to balance that!
The ingredients in this cake are pretty simple and year-round. As you may notice, we rarely use coconut as we live in a temperate and very Mediterranean-dry kind of climate, so we try to mainly eat regionally and seasonally. But in the hot, hot heat, we add in a little bit of coconut as it feels right for our bodies.
Wherever you are in the world, it is likely that you have oranges around – especially if you have an orange tree. Citrus trees create their own storage, which I love. Basically, you can just leave them on the tree and they will “keep” there happily until you need them. It's normal to have fruit that are ripe from last season and fruit that are ripening from this season all on the same tree. Oranges the year-round!
We used what we had around the house for the topping plus some wild berries we collected! If you have nothing in the house, you can omit the toppings for an even simpler cake. Get creative! And enjoy the sunshine!
Serves 10-14 // Time 10 minutes + freezing time
Recipe.
Ingredients
Base
40g raw cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder
100ml responsibly sourced coconut oil (melted)
150g almond meal
3-4 tablespoons unprocessed honey (or rice malt syrup for vegan option)
1 tablespoon cocoa nibs
Pinch unrefined salt
Filling
250ml (1 cup) responsibly sourced coconut oil (melted)
30g raw cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder
6 large pitted dates or hoshigaki (dried persimmons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250ml (1 cup) fresh orange juice (about 2 large oranges)
100g almond or macadamia meal
2 tablespoons orange zest
Topping (optional)
A large handful of toasted pistachio nuts
Melted chocolate
Orange zest
Unrefined salt flakes
A large handful of berries
Method
Grease a 20cm round baking tin. Set aside.
In a small-medium mixing bowl, add all base ingredients and bring them together with your hands. It should now be a sticky mixture and be well combined. Press evenly into the bottom of the baking tin and use the back of a tablespoon to smooth out the mixture. Set aside.
Place all filling ingredients except for orange zest into a high powered blender and blend for a minute or two so until mixture is smooth, creamy and well combined. Stir in orange zest.
Pour filling mixture into the tin. Place in the freezer until the cake is fully set, about 4 hours or more.
Once set, loosen by running hot water over the base of the tin and then flip the cake out onto a board or serving tray. Sprinkle over topping ingredients and serve. Or, like we do, store it in the freezer and just slice as you go.
Eat straight out of the freezer or leave to melt and soften a little before eating!
Stores for about a month or more in the freezer.
P.S. We now have Solidteknics pans and skillets in our online store! These are amazing, made in Australia, life-time warranty pans, that are just like cast iron but so much better and lighter. Check them out!
Also a big thank you to everyone who completed our survey! Congratulations to our winners Maria Shaw, Megan Dunn and Katie Robson! Hope you legends are enjoying your pans as much as we do!
