and Raw Strawberry Rose Ice Cream Cake

Raw Strawberry Rose Ice Cream Cake

Last weekend was my nephews 3rd birthday. His whole family is vegan and mostly raw. He loves rice and quinoa and his favourite meal is nori rolls. So I headed into the kitchen to create his birthday cake. This was my first attempt at an ice cream cake and since I don't have an ice cream maker, I improvised.

Raw Strawberry Rose Ice Cream Cakes

Adapted from Mini Raw Strawberry Rose Ice Cream Cakes with Chocolate
Preparation: 4.5 hours

Setting time: 3+ hours and overnight.

Crust Ingredients:

• 200g hazelnut meal
• 2 cups desiccated coconut
• 4 Tbsp. cacao powder
• 14 dates
• A pinch sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. Coconut syrup (or other natural sweetener, refer to notes below)

Crust directions:

1. Grease a 20cm springform pan with non-stick spray and line the base and sides with baking paper. 
2. Combine all ingredients in the food processor and process until fine and starting to hold together when squeezed, add more dates if required.
3. Press the mixture into the bottom of the baking tin. Use the base of a glass cup to flatten the mixture out.
4. Put in the fridge while you make the ice cream.

Grease and line tin.

Add crust ingredients into processor.

The amount of dates can be changed until mixture is sticky.

Fine crumb.

Tamp down with the base of a glass cup.

Ice Cream Ingredients:

• 3-4 young coconuts to get 1 cup of coconut water and 2 cups of coconut meat. (Refer to notes below.)
• 2 Cups organic strawberries + 4-6 extra to be mixed in later
• 2 Cups soaked raw cashews, drained (soaked at least 4 hours)
• 1/2 Cup Coconut syrup
• Seeds of 2 vanilla bean
• 3 Tsp rosewater
• A pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 Cup coconut oil, warmed to liquid

Ice Cream Directions:

1. First, to get the coconut meat and coconut water, open up 3-4 young coconuts. We needed 4 coconuts to get enough meat and we had plenty of left over water for drinks. Refer to notes below on opening coconuts.
2. Add coconut water to a food processor, along with strawberries, cashews, coconut, coconut syrup, vanilla, rosewater and sea salt. 
3. Process until smooth.
4. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and add to a freezable container and into your freezer.
5. Every 45 minutes or until it's starting to freeze, take out and mix with a hand mixer and repeat several times. This Incorporates air to help make it more ice cream like.
6. Leave over night and break the mixture apart and add to your food processor, and precess briefly until it is broken apart and creamy.
7. Stir in quartered extra strawberries.
8. Add the frozen mixture to the prepared base and place back in freezer until required.
9. Remove from freezer 5-10 minutes before serving.

Guide line for knife.

Break open coconut.

Add water and strawberries.

Nuts and meat.

Vanilla seeds, salt, coconut nectar.

Coconut oil

Blend.

Pass though a sieve then into a container and into the freezer..

Slightly frozen so blend with a hand blender. This incorporates air.

Once frozen break apart with you food processor and mix in extra strawberries.

Add mixture to the prepared base and freeze until needed.

We decorated the cake with fresh cut strawberries.

Serve!

The cake was silky smooth and had a lot of flavour. The base was deliciously fudgy as well. None of the cake was left and I found the biggest complement was from the nannas who went back for seconds. Why? Well our nannas grew up in an age where cakes were made with eggs, butter, sugar, milk and flour etc., and the fact that they love and accept a cake which is completely alternative is a great complement and shows how far raw 'baking' methods have come.

Notes:
This recipe can be made in an ice cream maker. Instead of putting the mixture into a freezable container add it to your ice cream maker and follow its instructions. Then stir through the fresh strawberries and then add to your prepared base. Freeze for 4 hours to overnight.

Tips for opening a young coconut:
There are many instructional videos on the net for opening a young coconut.
http://www.youngcoconuts.com/open.html
http://rawglow.com/youngcoconuts.htm

Once you have opened it, pour out the water though a sieve and then use a spoon to scrape away the meat from the nut. Turning a spoon over is an easy way of doing this. If you still do not have enough coconut meat it can be substituted with more soaked cashews. 1 cup of meat equals 1 cup of cashews.

Agave syrup?:
I found coconut syrup in my local health food shop, where I get most of my ingredients. My sister asked for me not to use agave as she believes that it is not as raw and natural as it claims to be. We have both used this product in the past but currently there is a discussion on it's merits as a sugar substitute. I cite this article; http://realfoodforager.com/why-i-never-use-agave/. I respected my sisters request not to use the product and went with coconut syrup. If you can not find coconut syrup, maple syrup is a great alternative. Check out his website for suitable alternatives :http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/natsweets_use.htm.

If you choose to use agave, that is completely your decision  You may chose to believe that article or prefer to believe other studies. I am not vegan, but my sister is, and since the cake was to suit her dietary  requirements and ethical believes, I followed her instruction.

Happy cake making!

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.