Chocolate and coffee – now that is a yummy combination. I am not a massive coffee drinker (around 2-3 per week) but I do enjoy desserts with coffee and of course, with chocolate. I am also more drawn to a warm coffee during the colder months (aren’t we all?). Since Melbourne is extremely chilly this time of year this is exactly what I felt like when I created this recipe.

Clean Cacao Tiramisu Slice is really simple to make. You will need a blender and a processor – and you’re ready to go. Sifted with some cacao powder over the coffee cream when serving, this lovely dessert is perfect for entertaining and provides a chilled, creamy treat you and your friends will crave on even the chilliest of days. I’m skipping my regular latte and opting for this instead. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
Cacao base:
1 1/2 cups walnuts

7 pitted dates

1 cup shredded coconut

2 tbs rice malt syrup

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 heaped tbls cacao powder

Coffee Cream:

1 cup soaked cashews (for 30 min – 1 hour)

1/2 cup rice malt syrup

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 – 2 shots of espresso (or instant coffee

*Cacao powder for decoration

METHOD

For base:

• Soak dates for 5 minutes in hot water and process walnuts until fine. Add remainder of base ingredients and process until a thick, sticky texture is made.
• Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread mixture evenly and pop in the freezer while you prepare the coffee cream.

For coffee cream:

• Blend all ingredients together until a creamy consistency. You may need to add a tiny bit of water while scraping the sides of blender to ensure there’s no cashew chunks. Taste the cream and add more coffee or rice malt syrup if desired.
• Remove base from freezer and pour coffee cream over evenly and place in freezer.
• Remove after 1-2 hours and let sit for 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with sifted cacao powder over the top. Store leftovers back in freezer. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
Pancakes:
1 cup oat flour (processed rolled oats)
1 egg
3/4 cup almond milk
1 banana mashed
70 – 90% dark chocolate chopped
1 tsp cinnamon

Cream:
1/3 cup cacao butter
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1/4 cup cacao powder
3 raspberries

Middle:
Strawberries
Melted dark chocolate

METHOD
• Process oats until fine and then add to a medium sized bowl. Add the rest of the pancake ingredients and combine
• Drizzle oil of choice in a large fry pan and then pour about 1/4th the batter in evenly. Let cook in pan until you can see the whole pancake changing colour from beige to a bit yellow. This will mean it is ready and you can turn it over. Do this for each one and set aside

For cream:
• In a blender add all ingredients and set aside.

For decoration
• Chop strawberries in half and dip in melted chocolate. Put one pancake on a plate and place the chocolate covered strawberries over the top. Place another pancake over the strawberries and use half the chocolate cream to cover the top. Garnish with warmed raspberries and edible flowers and enjoy!

You know when you go to a friend’s house for dinner and you want to bring something sweet for after? This is the cake to make. My Mum recently created a moist banana cake for a friend and after I had a few bites, I was hooked on the soft, fluffy texture. I knew then I needed to recreate something sweet, tangy and light.

It took a few trial and errors, but this cake has all the yummy elements of a tea cake – without the bad stuff.  By mixing in the two oils (olive and coconut) you have the perfect recipe for a moist cake – packed with flavour from lemon rind and juice. This cake is definitely something to bring out at high tea with your girlfriends or a great cake to make Mum for Mother’s Day (don’t worry – she won’t know it’s healthy). Enjoy 🙂 x

INGREDIENTS

For cake:

2 cups wholegrain flour (or flour of choice)

4 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup rice malt syrup

1/2 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 lemons (rind and lemon juice)

1 tsp vanilla essence

For lemon frosting:

1 cup soaked cashews (for 1-8 hours)

1/2 cup rice malt syrup

1 lemon (juice and rind)

Drop of yellow food colouring

METHOD

For cake:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
• In a large bowl mix flour and baking powder together
• In an electric mixer (or you can whisk ingredients) combine melted coconut oil with rice malt syrup. Add eggs, milk, vanilla and lemon juice until combined well.
• Add the wet mixture to the dry and add in lemon rind and mix through lightly. Pour mixture into cake pan of choice and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. Remove after 30 minutes and test with skewer – then test every 5 minutes after. Let cool while you prepare the lemon frosting.

For lemon frosting:

• In a blender, add cashews, rice malt and lemon juice with half of lemon rind from one lemon. Keep the other half for decoration. Blend until well combined and then pop in fridge for 5-10 minutes.
• Once cooled, smooth over the top of the lemon cake and sprinkle lemon rind over the top. Enjoy!

By now you may have noticed the idea around my blog is to recreate my favourite treats, well, my most recent obsession are the popular Quest bars. On my way to work, it’s hard to say no when I can easily pick one up as I pass the health food store. Although Quest Bars aren’t BAD for you (let’s be honest, they aren’t a Snickers chocolate bar), they do contain many ingredients and are not all natural.

I have created natural ‘Quest’ Bars that don’t only taste like my favourite cookie dough flavour, but also are divided into ‘his’ and ‘hers.’ So what’s the difference? Well, most women are afraid of getting bulky from protein (even though we have a lower level of testosterone in the body making this very difficult) so Labrada have designed a protein specifically for women called Lean Body for Her.   And for the ‘his’ bars I used the Labrada protein designed for men – genius! And thus, ‘his and her’s Quest bars were created (some for me, some for my boyfriend) – enjoy! 🙂 x 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup organic whole grain or wholemeal flour (or flour of choice)

2 scoops womens vanilla protein

2 scoops mens vanilla protein (or just 4 scoops of protein of choice instead of his/hers)

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup coconut butter or nut butter

1/2 cup rice malt syrup or stevia

1/2 cup milk (1/4 each if dividing batter)

Organic dark chocolate chips or chopped 70-90% cacao dark chocolate

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
• In a large bowl mix flour and baking powder together
• Grab another bowl and divide the flour evenly into the two bowls and add his and hers protein to each bowl and combine lightly
• In a small saucepan, melt sweetener and coconut butter together until combined and add evenly to the two bowls.
• Mix through 1/4 milk to each bowl and combine until a thick, sticky dough texture. Add in chocolate chips and then spray two separate rectangular cake tins with baking spray.
• Using your hands, divide the two mixtures into the pans evenly and pop in the oven for 15 minutes.
• Remove, let cool and slice into bars. Enjoy!

*Just add all ingredients into one bowl if you are not dividing this recipe.

Ever heard of people eating carrot cake to get their vegetable intake up? A little silly, but how could they not when carrot cake always taste so simple, moist and spongey. It’s difficult to stop at just one. With Easter approaching next week I thought what better time to create some muffins with what the Easter Bunny enjoys himself.

Carrot Cake Muffins taste just like the real deal. Simple, moist and spongey with just the right amount of orange goodness and a crunchy surprise with chopped walnuts. This recipe can be created into a cake too (just pop in the oven for around 55 minutes).  So yummy that the Easter Bunny would eat these all year round himself 😛 hope you enjoy! X

INGREDIENTS

2 cups wholegrain flour (or flour of choice)

2 tsp baking soda

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

2 carrots grated

¾ cup almond milk

1 egg

1 mashed banana

¾ cup rice malt syrup

1 tsp vanilla essence

¾ cup desiccated coconut

Chopped walnuts

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180°C and place muffin cases in a muffin pan
• Combine all dry ingredients lightly in a large bowl.
• In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients except the carrots and banana
• Make a well in the bowl with dry ingredients and add all wet ingredients including the mashed banana and carrots. Mix lightly
• Distribute evenly in the muffin pans, sprinkle a tiny bit of coconut over the top and pop in the oven for 25 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

For anyone who seriously craves a chocolate fix, this recipe is for you! These Double Choc Nutella Brownies could not be filled with any more chocolatey goodness. They’re rich, sweet, decadent and most importantly, good for the body! By adding a tiny bit of hazelnut butter combined with cacao and organic dark chocolate chips – it is a great alternative to Nutella (which was my obsession – check out my About Me to find out more).

For the true chocolate lovers, add a little melted cacao butter for an even more rich experience. And if you want an indication of their deliciousness, I made these 3 times before I had time to take proper images of them since they would disappear within a few hours! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this one xx

INGREDIENTS

1 cup walnuts

7 pitted dates

2 tbls rice malt syrup

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 tsp vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup cacao powder

2 heaped tbls natural hazelnut butter

Handful of organic dark chocolate chips

*optional 2 tbls melted cacao butter

METHOD

• Soak dates in hot water for 2-3 minutes.
• Process walnuts until fine and then add pitted dates. Add remaining ingredients except organic dark chocolate chips and process until thick and a bit sticky. Press the mixture with your fingers to check it binds together and add a little more rice malt syrup if you wish.
• Mix through the dark chocolate chips lightly with your fingers.
•  Spray a small baking pan with baking spray and press mixture down evenly in the pan with your fingers. Place in freezer for 3o minutes and then store in the fridge and enjoy!

Guys, summer  (in Australia) is unfortunately over. Since Melbourne weather hasn’t been exactly ‘hot’ I have decided not to give up on the sunny season and create a tropical treat using my favourite Coconut Revolution Coconut Oil for the Kitchen who are now 100% organic! I created the recipe specially for the coconut-loving brand to celebrate fun, summer days using delicious mango and of course – coconut!

Hope you enjoy this yummy recipe and you can purchase Coconut Revolution’s Organic Coconut Oil here

INGREDIENTS

Base:

1 cup walnuts

7 pitted dates

2 tbls rice malt syrup

1 tbls Coconut Revolution Organic Coconut Oil (melted)

1.5 cups desiccated coconut

Mango cream:

1 cup cashews

3 ripe mangoes sliced

1 tbls Coconut Revolution Organic Coconut Oil (melted)

4 tbls rice malt syrup

METHOD

For base:

• Soak dates in hot water for 2-3 minutes.

• Process walnuts until fine and then add pitted dates. Add remaining ingredients including Coconut Revolution’s Organic Coconut Oil and process well.

• Spray a small baking pan with baking spray and press mixture down evenly in the pan with your fingers. Place in freezer while you prepare the mango cream.

For mango cream:

• Place all ingredients in blender and blend until there are no chunks of cashews left in the mousse.

• Pour the mango cream over the base evenly and pop in the freezer for around 2 hours.

Remove from freezer and store in fridge – enjoy!

‘

With Valentine’s Day literally around the corner, it can be tough deciding on something special to bake your partner – and this cake definitely fits the theme. White, red, delicious & sweet, you can’t get a much more romantic dessert than this.

This V-Day cake is super easy to make, simply blend & process everything together and pop it in a love heart tin! The raw cake is made from strawberries and white chocolate & the topping is organic coconut cream with raspberries over the top.. Mmmmm… berry lovers will be excited to get their hands on this one. Or perhaps you want to make this for your best friend to devour while you cringe at all the couples hehe – hope you all enjoy! X

INGREDIENTS

Raw cake:

2 cups walnuts

2 cups shredded coconut

3/4 cup rice malt syrup

1/2 cup cacao butter (melted)

3 tbls coconut oil (melted)

1 tsp vanilla essence

6 large strawberries

red food colouring (optional)

Icing:

1 cup organic coconut cream

2 tbls rice malt syrup

Raspberries to decorate (optional)

METHOD

For Raw Cake:

• Place coconut cream in fridge over night.
• Process walnuts until fine and then add shredded coconut & 2 tbls rice malt syrup and set aside.
• In a blender, place all ingredients (including remaining rice malt syrup) and blend until combined well.
• Spray a love heart baking pan with baking spray and place mixture in evenly at the base. Place in freezer for 1 hour.

For Icing:

• Whip coconut cream in a large mixer or by whisking free-hand and stir through rice malt syrup. Pour over the cake and let set in the freezer for 1 hour.
• Decorate with whole raspberries working from the outside of the love heart (keeping them close together) in and enjoy!!