Chocolate Cake & Celebrations

Chocolate Blueberry Cream Cake

Oh yes, summer, you sneaky little sphinx.  It appears that the season of splendor may finally be making its full appearance here in Ontario, after a spring of cold weather, grey skies, and much rain.  Yes, today kicks off the first weekend of nothing but sunshine (as predicted by the weather whisperers at the Weather Network anyway), and it also marks the day that we celebrate the birth of my big sister Steph!  Happy Birthday beautiful!

So I thought, what better way to honour both occasions, than with a cool, creamy, chocolate cake.  I whipped up this raw round of richness knowing that I wouldn’t get to share it with Stephanie as she does live up in our nation’s capital, but I will have the next best things when it comes to taste testers, as my mother is on her way to visit as I type.  The plan for she and I today includes a morning at Evergreen Brickworks, a stop at the Toronto Wine & Spirit festival in Sugar Beach, and a BBQ on my balcony later this aft.  Heck, we may even sneak in a viewing of the new flick, Man of Steel (fitting I think, as the original Superman movie was the first I ever experienced at the Drive In back when I was a wee babe).

 And for dessert tonight?  THIS:

Ingredients

For the crust

• 1/2 C almonds
• ½ C walnuts
• 1 cup dates
• ¼ C shredded coconut
• pinch sea salt

For the filling

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 ripe avocado
• 3 T agave
• ¼ C raw cacao
• 1/2 t vanilla 
• 1 t cinnamon
• 2 T coconut oil
• pinch salt

• 1 ½ C blueberries

HOW TO

• In a food processor, process the almonds, walnuts, dates and salt until the mixture starts to stick together.  Add in coconut and pulse to combine. 
• Press crust mixture firmly into the base of a spring-form cake pan.   Top with 1 C of the blueberries.
• Using the food processor again (no need to rinse!), process the bananas, avocado, agave, vanilla, coconut oil, and salt until very smooth.  

• Pour filling over the blueberries and crust, smoothing with the back of a spoon.  Freeze to set (at least 2 hours, I like to freeze overnight.
• When ready to serve, release cake from pan, top with leftover blueberries, and slice.