Raw Orange Chocolate Cake

We celebrated spanish Mother's Day last sunday and guess who was in charge of the dessert? Yep, yours truly...as usual! Honestly, I love to be the one who brings homemade desserts when there's some family gathering or special occasion.

My mom is a confessed chocaholic like me so it was clear that the dessert had to be very very chocolaty. Not too long ago (in March) I baked her favorite cake, the Sachertorte, and though I could eat it every single day I wanted to try something new to surprise my mama and also to add new content to my blog.

Spring calls for fruity refreshing treats and a raw orange chocolate 'cheesecake' sounded quite like the perfect option cause:

- I didn't have to turn on the oven (yay for letting myself be a little bit lazy for one day!).

- This cake has a deep chocolate flavor. Yum!

- The orange+chocolate combo is one of our favorite at home.

This cake looks fancy yet it's really easy to make, deliciously rich and indulgent so I hope you try it and share your thoughts with me in the comments section! If you don't like the fruit & chocolate type of cakes don't worry, simply replace the orange juice with water and omit the orange zest. It tastes as good without the orange flavor.

I've just had the last slice today and am already missing it...perhaps I should try a different version for dad's birthday in two weeks (May is going to be a pretty busy month for me, so many celebrations ahead plus a food convention this week!).

Receta en español aquí!

Raw Orange Chocolate Cake
(makes one 20cm/8-inch cake)

Ingredients
- Chocolate Crust:
1 cup almond flour.
3 tbsp pure maple syrup.
1/2 cup raw cacao powder.
Pinch of salt.

- Orange Chocolate Filling:
2 cups cashews.
1/2 cup maple syrup.
1/4 cup water.
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice.
Zest of 1 orange.
1/2 cup melted coconut oil.
3/4 cup raw cacao powder.

- Chocolate Ganache Topping:
1/2 cup raw cacao powder.
1/2 cup agave syrup.
1/4 cup melted coconut oil.

- Optional:
Chopped hazelnuts to decorate the ganache.

Directions

Soak cashews in water for about 1 hour or until they become soft and puffed up. Don't forget to drain them well right before getting started with the recipe.

Line the bottom of an 8-inch/20 cm springform pan with parchment paper, leaving some extra inches of paper to easily lift out the cake when finished.

- For the chocolate crust:

Place almond flour (you can use almond meal too), cacao powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Pour over maple syrup and stir everything together until it becomes a sticky mixture. Mine looked like a rather compact paste/dough.

Press the crust down firmly with your hands first and then use the back of a spoon or a silicone spatula to press and even out.

Set in the freezer.

- For the orange chocolate filling:

Place cashews, maple syrup, water and orange juice inside your blender. Pulse and process until the mixture looks creamy, you might need to stop the blender and scrape down the sides with a silicone spatula. Make sure you push down all the remaining tiny bits of cashews.

Add in orange zest, cacao powder and coconut oil. Keep blending until it's completely smooth (a grainy mixture gives an ugly-looking cake).

Pour the mixture over the chilled chocolate crust. To level the batter place the pan on a flat surface and rotate it a few times.

Put the cake in the freezer and let it set for a few hours (or even better overnight) before removing the pan. 

Once the cake has hardened gently remove it from the pan and put it back in the freezer. It isn't necessary to leave the cake in the freezer at this point, but my coconut oil is still solid so I had to melt it. Then the ganache got a bit warm so I made sure the cake was really hard when I poured over the chocolate ganache topping. 

- For the chocolate ganache topping:

Stir together cacao powder, agave syrup and coconut oil. Mix well until no small lumps of cacao powder are visible; it should look smooth and very shiny. 

Pour the ganache over the cake and decorate with chopped hazelnuts.

Store cake in the refrigerator.