It’s weekend and you might be wondering what to treat yourself with and how to satisfy your sweet tooth? Well, don’t you worry, cause I’ve got you covered. These chocolate raw balls are so delicious, they are nut free, dairyfree, vegan, glutenfree and refined sugar free! It got a rich chocolate flavor, with a hint of coffee and a yummy crunch from the buckwheat! The recipe is from talented Tiril Refsum, in her book “Rågodt”.
These are perfect to make on a Sunday as you can save them up for the week when the hangry mood strikes or you need a quick snack in between your busy schedule. Also not a bad idea to reward yourself with a treat after a good long day of work either;)
The ingredients you’ll need are simple:
• Dates
• Shredded coconut
• Cacao powder
• Espresso shot (2 tbsp) or 1 tsp of coffee powder
• Coconut sugar / brown sugar (if you don’t have any of ingredients play around with honey or maple syrup but then see with the consistency of the dough)
• Salt to enhance the chocolate flavor
• Whole buckwheats
Just mix all ingredients in a food processor except the buckwheat until the dough becomes sticky. Then you can add in some buckwheat to your preferring and pulse lightly with the food processor so that it’s mixed with the dough. After you can roll them into balls and cover them with either cacao powder or shredded coconut.
As this is a recipe from the book of Tiril I won’t share the exact measurements but the ingredients are there for you to try it out and make the delicious healthier treat/snack.
Refrigerate them after you have rolled them into balls! Then after 30 min, you can enjoy them;)Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge and they last for a week:)
During these two weeks I’ve baked and prepared the “bloom with food” products for the tennis event at my hometown tennis club Nordstrand. They arranged it this week and I wanted to contribute with healthy yet tasty products for the tennis players of the event. From my own experience, I know that the market is offering bars and sugary treats with conservatives and additives that is no good for you. Therefore, I wanted the oat bars, energy balls, banana muffins and raw cakes to be “pure” with only natural ingredients without any refined white sugar. I’m passionate about nutrition and my purpose behind “bloom with food” is that you will get fuel to perform.
I never expected the concept to come to life, but I believe when you are driven by purpose and passion things happen. So in this occasion, I suddenly ended up baking 150 oat bars for the tennis participants of the tennis event. They each got one in their goodie/welcoming bag for entering the tournament. This oat bar or flapjack was a perfect snack for them to eat before, during or after match, as the ingredients contain lots of fiber, healthy fats and good carbs in order to keep their blood sugar at check. As an athlete myself, I know how important it is to stay energized throughout my performance, there’s no fun if you end up hungry or moody if you haven’t fueled your body right!
On sports events in Norway, we have a culture of eating hamburgers, pizzas, baking pastries, cakes and ice creams and as a kid this is what you are growing up to get accustomed to. However, I wanted to change and influence with some new impulses by these healthier choices offered by “bloom with food” products I made. The philosophy is that you can enjoy while still perform. The banana muffins, energy balls and raw cakes are without any refined sugar, it’s without any artificial sweetener or additives. I was so lucky to be sponsored by “Sticky Fingers” with the ingredients. Those were of high quality, only the best! With medjool dates from Israel, vanilla bean from Tahiti, dark chocolate from Belgium, ecological peanut butter and the list goes on. I also wanted to make everything homemade, so I made the tahini or sesame butter from scratch and as well with the hazelnut butter. This was used for the oat bar and energy ball for extra flavor. As a whole, I care about what you put in your body, no matter if you are a kid, athlete or adult. It’s so important about taking care about your well being. When you do, you will bloom with food as the brand I have created is all about.
That’s why I made action with these “bloom with food” products to influence others into making better eating habits and choices. I’m going to be honest, it’s a challenge when it comes to what foods you are used to eat and then going for something healthier instead. Humans are habitual creatures, who doesn’t seek change. But this will totally be worth it, what I only hope is for us to be more open minded, introduce ourselves to something we are not quite used to with at first but implementing it in harmony as life is all about balance. I hope this inspires you to take some healthier food choices and that you become more aware of what you put in your body.
You might be curious about the ingredients I used, behind the scenes scenarios and how the “bloom with food” products looked like? So below I will share pictures from the baking process , the finishing products and from the tennis event:)
I introduce you the oat bar or more known as flapjack!
To make them irresistible; some dark chocolate drizzle ofc;)What makes the flavor magic; homemade date caramel & tahiniWrapped in with love
Lastly, we top it off with raw cake deliciousness!
I served 4 different raw cakes to make flavors interesting! One was with raspberry jam, vanilla cream, decorated with cacao nibs and caramelized nuts. Second one was raspberry topped with coconut flakes. Third one was chocolate and vanilla cream with fresh raspberries. And forth one was vanilla and chocolate cream with cacao nibs and caramelized nuts on top. Which one is your favorite? Comment below:)
Behind the scenes: pouring the raspberry cream on top of the cake base!The “bloom with food” products The tennis players of the event gets to try out the banana muffins, oat bar and energy ball!
I want to thank you “Sticky Fingers” and Nordstrand Tennisklubb for making it possible for me to launch the products at the event. Maybe this is the beginning of something great, who knows.
Luksussjokolade kake from the recipe book “Rågodt” by Tiril Refsum
I absolutely adore the idea that there is a healthier version of cake since I have a sweet tooth. A person I admire is Tiril Refsum who makes raw cake with healthy ingredients and without refined sugar. They are gluten-free and vegan, and they taste amazing! So therefore, I had to try making a raw cake for the first time. I found the perfect recipe translated to English: luxurious chocolate cake. The name already said everything, I had to make it. The perfect occasion for it, was the celebration of 17th of May, Norwegian’s constitutional day. I was so happy by the response I got from friends and family, they loved it! So here is the recipe with some ingredient adjustments and I hope you’ll bake it with success like I luckily did hehe.
Ingredients
Cake base
• 3 dl oats
• 1 dl almonds
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons cacao powder & 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 13 medjool dates without stones
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
Espresso cream
• 4 dl coconut cream
• 4 dl soaked cashews
• 3 cups espresso
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
• 1/2 dl melted coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
Chocolate cream
• 4 dl coconut cream
• 15 medjool dates without stones
• 2 cups espresso
• 2 dl cacao powder
• 1 dl melted coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
• 1/2 salt
Caramelized nuts
• 2 dl pecan nuts
• 1 dl almonds
• 1 dl walnuts
• 4-6 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
Instructions
1. First you need to soak your cashews. Simply put them in a bowl with water for 4 hours or you can leave them in the fridge overnight.
2. Make your first layer, the cake base by adding all the ingredients in a food processor. After you have mixed them throughly, add some more syrup or coconut oil if you need so that the texture is sticky to form the cake base. Press the batter with either your fingers or a spatula on a round cake mold with baking paper.
3. Next layer up is the espresso cream. With the coconut oil, you just need to melt it either by microwave or heated pot. Let it to rest a bit. For the espresso, leave it for cool down so it’s not too hot mixing together with the other ingredients in the blender. Here you need to use a smoothie blender to achieve a silky consistency due to the cashew nuts, since it can be grainy if not well blended. Spread half of the cream over the cake base and put it in the freezer till the cream has set.
4. Do the same process with the chocolate cream! But here it’s good enough using a food processor to achieve the silky creaminess! Spread half of the chocolate cream over the espresso cream layer and put the cake back into the freezer.
5. Have all the ingredients to the caramelized nuts in a bowl and stir until it sticks well together. Spread 2/3 of the nutmix over the last layer. Then spread the rest of espresso layer on top and put the cake back in the freezer to everything has stiffened.
6. Lastly spread half of the chocolate layer left and finish with the remaining caramelized nuts. Put the cake back in the freezer for at least 2 hours. And when the cake layers have settled you can have it in the fridge so that it becomes more like a mousse texture rather than ice!
Tip: you can have chocolate chunks or cacao nibs on top too! And a cup of coffee with it for the coffee lovers will make the dessert complete:)
Enjoy x
Step 2: the cake base, mixing all ingredients in a food processor Step 3: making the espresso cream layer in a smoothie blenderStep 5: spread out 2/3 of the caramelized nuts on top of the chocolate cream layerLast step: spread the rest of the caramelized nuts on top and it’s done!
Even though it’s a long process to make the cake and will take you up to 3-4 hours letting the cake settle in the freezer in between, it’s all worth it in the end. The cake taste like heaven.
Today I ate for the first time at Oslo • Raw and was such an enjoyable experience. I ordered a womba latte and brunch from their menu. On the plate it’s açaí bowl, two raw cakes – one made of raspberry and the other one a similarity to snickers! And you get a cracker with avocado on top, what more can you ask for! The womba latte was different and new, it’s cacao mixed with chaga mushroom. Yes I know, you will get skeptical, but honestly you can’t taste fungi so don’t worry, it was really nice:) Besides chaga mushroom is a “bonus”, because it contains antioxidants which strengthen our immune system, stabilizes the blood sugar and relieves cold symptoms and eases allergies!Oh and I loved the card which was on the table, the quote was such a great reminder, so I have to pass it forward to you.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the full staircase.
Bloom with food 