Black Forest Torte

Black Forest Torte

In July, I attended another of Chef Areeya's wonderful raw food prep classes.  The menu included Cucumber Melon Herbed Chiller, (soup), Sliced Tomato and Belgian Endive Salad with Basil Vinaigrette, Baby Swedish Neatballs for the appetizer, and Pasta Primavera with Spinach and Asparagus Alfredo for the main course.  The dessert was Black Forest Torte.

I took pictures, but unfortunately the camera malfunctioned and they were lost.  You'll have to trust me on this one.  It was delicious and raw, putting big smiles on all of our faces, like always.

I went home and made the Black Forest Torte.  Chef Areeya has given permission to share the recipe, so here it is:

Black Forest Torte

Cake/Crumble: 

1 cup pecans soaked and ground to medium-small pearl
1 cup almond flour or soaked almond puree
 1/2 cup cacao powder
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 tsp ground vanilla
pinch of salt

Massage nuts/flour with chocolate, sweetener, pinch of salt and vanilla beans then press into pie tin or individual containers.

Filling:

1 large bag of fresh or frozen organic black cherries
1/4 cup of desired sweetener (agave, honey or coconut crystals are all great)


Topping:

1 cup coconut cream (1 cup young Thai coconut flesh blended into a cream)

Press your crust mix into desired plan, layer with sweetened cherries and drizzle with coconut cream.  Simple, sweet and decadent.  Delish!

Notes:  This is also nice if some of the crumble is reserved and placed between two layers of cherries.  The Black Forest Torte in the photo was made by blending half of the cherries with chia seeds and allowing it to thicken, then stirring the remaining cherries in. I replaced the agave nectar in the crust with date paste, and used honey to sweeten the cherries.  I also added a bit of vanilla powder to the coconut cream, because that's how we like it.