Having a form of cake and eating it too.

March 5, 2013 11:24 AM

While I do plenty of baking for my job, I'd like to branch out into raw vegan desserts for at home. What are your favorite recipes and resources?

I've had pretty good success with chia seed puddings, energy balls, etc., but I'm interested in doing more raw sweets at home. Mostly because I'm exploring alternative sugar sources and because why the heck not?

Note: I do not own a dehydrator and I've seen some recipes ask for that.

posted by Kitteh to food & drink (13 answers total)

I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude has two knock-out dishes, "I am bliss" (every order item in Cafe Gratitude is an affirmation, it's very Northern California) is a chocolate cream pie that has the most hardened dairy fans saying "oh my", and their take on the key lime pie, using avocado as the base, is similarly jaw-droppingly good.

Generally needs a blender and two days of planning (ie: start things soaking long enough in advance). But: wow.
posted by straw at 11:42 AM on March 5

Addendum: If you search for "Cafe Gratitude" and "I am bliss" or "I am awakening", you can find links to passable transcriptions of the recipes for these. I'm not linking to them directly here 'cause I think you should buy the book, but if you want a teaser to make one of those and convince yourself the book is a good idea, there you go.
posted by straw at 11:47 AM on March 5

This chocolate pie is similar to the "I am bliss" recipe that straw mentioned, but simpler and without nuts. I have made this and served it without mentioning it was non-dairy (not with the intention of tricking anyone, but because I wanted to avoid preconceived notions). It was extremely well received--very tasty and easy to make.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:09 PM on March 5 [1 favorite]

Sorry, it didn't occur to me when I posted the above recipe that it probably doesn't qualify as a raw dessert because of melting the chocolate chips. But if you are OK with non-raw desserts it is a good one.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:11 PM on March 5

I saw a link to this raspberry-cashew faux cheesecake and I totally want to make it. And I'm not even slightly vegan.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:15 PM on March 5 [1 favorite]

VegTimes cashew cheesecake, all the way. I use walnuts instead of macadamia nuts for the 'crust' and lemon juice instead of lime for the tart. It is simple, easy, and UNFATHOMABLY delicious. So rich and creamy.

Also, avocado chocolate mousse! Takes less than five minutes to make and feels so fancy. There are recipes for it all over the place, but I just throw an avocado into my food processor with some unsweetened cocoa powder, vanilla bean or extract, and maple syrup to taste. You can slather it onto one of those fancy crushed-nut crusts if you'd prefer; I usually just scoop it into these and chill for 2-3 hours, or eat with a spoon right out of the food processor -- et voila!
posted by divined by radio at 12:45 PM on March 5 [2 favorites]

I should have mentioned we've made avocado chocolate mousse so many times now! It's a favorite of my husband's!
posted by Kitteh at 1:13 PM on March 5

My favorite raw vegan candy is "Potato Candy". It's traditionally made with a heaping tablespoon of mashed potatoes , but that violates the raw part, so use raw cauliflower whip with almond milk to get a good texture. Then add about a cup of powdered sugar, little by little, till you get a consistency like play dough. Chill for an hour or so, roll it about quarter inch thick, spread with natural peanut butter and roll up into a log and chill again. Slice into delicious little round candies.

Also, no bake cocoa/oatmeal/natural balance drop cookies. Delicious.
posted by stormygrey at 1:26 PM on March 5 [1 favorite]

I love the avocado chocolate mousse too especially served chilled with fresh summer berries.

There's quite a few good dessert recipes in Raw Food Real World by Sarma Melngailis and Matthew Kenney
posted by Under the Sea at 6:01 PM on March 5

My current favourite thing is: 14 fl. oz. of coconut milk, whisked together with 1/3c of cocoa and 1/4c of agave nectar and a spice to taste if you want (I am a fan of cardamom), frozen either in an ice cream maker or just in a bowl stirring occasionally until it's ice cream consistency. AMAZING.
posted by bewilderbeast at 6:22 PM on March 5 [1 favorite]

Rawmazing is an excellent resource for this.

I made the raw chocolate orange "cheesecake" a couple months ago. It's great if you (or the birthday person I made it for) don't like the cheesy flavour in cheesecakes, because this was more like a smooth mousse cake. The sweetner is agave. I'd add more ginger next time since it was barely noticeable despite using fresh ginger. It was a hit with omnivores, if it matters.

I almost made, also from Rawmazing, a ray meyer lemon raspberry souffle tart.

Both of those involve nuts, coconut oil, and agave.

Another along those lines, but with more chocolate and a stunning presentation, is this raw choco cherry mousse cake from The First Mess.

This one, from Oh Lady Cakes, doesn't use coconut oil, but is still full of nuts: raw fig cheesecake.

I think I have a couple of recipes that are less reliant on nuts kicking around, and a recipe for raw nainaimo bars, but I can't find them right now, sorry.

However, by far, the most intriguing raw dessert recipes I've encountered are those by Karolina Elenora at Love Raw (Swedish/English bilingual site). I hadn't thought of putting mesquite and maca in dessert until I read her recipes! Also, she is quite charming. Open Your Heart Cake? Sold!
posted by mayurasana at 6:54 PM on March 5

There's also one-ingredient banana ice cream: peel bananas, cut into smallish pieces (I think this makes it freeze faster), freeze on a plate for 1-2 hours, whizz in a blender/food processor until it turns into ice cream. Done!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:09 AM on March 6

I just realized Love Raw has relocated to The Raw Dessert Kitchen, and Karolina set up a beginner's guide series.
posted by mayurasana at 12:29 PM on March 6