Raw chocolate mousse cake ~with a dollop of thick vegan marshmallow.

It's Mother's day this coming Sunday in Australia, so I thought I'd post a rich but healthy chocolate cake as a special treat and option for those wishing to surprise ♡ Mum ♡

I have a few chocolate mousse recipes that I alternate between, all raw, this one though, uses tofu. So if you're a fan of tofu and don't mind raw tofu in recipes, you  will love this reasonably simple chocolate mousse cake.

What steals the show and will amaze all who make or eat this for the first time, is the marshmallow. 

Everyone has been going on about this for the last couple of months ... I got my recipe from a wonderful instagram and facebook account called "Seitan is my motor"- and she modified it from a French blogger she found.

It's so crazy easy to make and delicious, and I just love the way it uses the left over brine from canned chick peas - that one would normally discard.

It barely uses any ingredients, but does use 1/2 a cup of sugar.

I've replaced her cream of Tartar with a splash of Apple cider vinegar - and that worked beautifully. 

It really grows in size and you end up with a lot of marshmallow!

.. In fact you could cover the whole chocolate mousse cake with a thick layer of the marshmallow if you like. It just might get just a tiny bit tricky or messy when slicing up and serving.

Please buy vegan sugar, as in some countries (luckily not Australian made sugar), sugar is made using bone char, which is a charcoal made  from burnt cattle bones.

So do a google search for vegan sugar in your country and please use that version. Ideally gmo-free also.

Today I've made a good sized cake - using 500grams (17.6 ounces) of tofu. But one can use a standard smaller block of tofu instead.

I've used an 18cm springform pan.

I saw on a conversation thread that someone successfully made their marshmallow with stevia instead of sugar, but I have not tried that and can not guarantee it will turn out as big or marshmallowy, but I may experiment with that in the future to see if it works.

I also have seen people substitute the guar gum with equal quantities of xanthan gum and they reported it turned out great.

The marshmallow grew so much in size, but that's ok as it can be packed into a large glass jar then refrigerated, and it stays nearly exactly the same, ready to be spooned out and used later. But does become a slightly creamier colour after 24 hours and looses just a little of it's thickness - and seems ever so slightly flatter over time, but still lovely to work with.

It's made using a hand held electric mixer.

*** NOTE: Cacao and vegan chocolate is used in this recipe. Some vegans choose to never eat chocolate or cacao - because little insects can get caught up in the fermentation process - and one can choose to replace that ingredient with carob instead.

I buy Fair trade organic raw cacao powder coming from Peru. Australian "Loving Earth" brand. And at this stage I accept that a lot of food I buy may have traces of little critters like rodent hairs, insects and tiny fish etc - that have been caught up in the harvesting, storing or production process. Which is pretty disgusting - I know, both ethically and hygienically. Sadly this is the life we're living nowadays, especially in big cities - massive scale harvesting - storing and production of our food is how our food gets to us.

I want to mention this - so you can make your own informed decision, and because insects are especially drawn to fermenting foods.

Raw chocolate mousse cake

Base.
1 cup pecan nuts
1/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup walnuts
1 Tbl. goji berries
1 Tbl. chia seeds

1 heaping Tbl. carob powder

2 Tbl. almond flakes

3 or 4 dates
add a few drops of water if more stickiness needed

Filling.

500g firm silken tofu (use smaller standard pack if smaller filling desired)

raw cacao powder (-taste test and use as much as you need)
2 or 3 Tbl. sweetener - I used Maple syrup (taste test to see if more needed)
1/2 cup almond milk (more if blender needs it)
2 and 1/2 Tbl. coconut oil

1 tsp. vanilla paste

1 Tbl. Maqui berry powder (optional)

salt to taste (optional)

Topping.

Vegan chocolate shavings sprinkled all over the top and fresh raspberries as garnish.

When serving - spoon a dollop of marshmallow onto slice. Recipe down below.

* I used an 18cm spring form pan. And I did line the bottom and then also the inside of the pan with cling wrap. I like to prepare this before I start making the cake. 

Mix base ingredients and as stated above - the tiniest amount of water only needed to make the ingredients turn super stickier. 
Then transfer and press into the bottom of a spring form pan. I know it's not ideal - but use cling wrap if you want a super easy tidy finish and cake that's easy to remove.
Let it sit in the freezer while you make the filling. 

Put all filling ingredients into the blender or food processor and mix. You will need to stop and start the blender constantly and use a spatula to scrape down edges or just help the mixture along. Perhaps this was especially the case for me because I used such a large amount of firm tofu. And I did not want to add too much liquid - to try and keep the texture more solid. In the end I kept adding more almond milk to try and help the blender mix as it was struggling, but because of the coconut oil that goes into it - I knew this would help keep it reasonably solid after storing in freezer.

Taste test to see if you like the taste and are happy with the amount of cacao and sweetener you've used.

Pour mixture onto base and place into the freezer.
It should take at least 2 hours to set - 3 or 4 even better.
It seems to taste even better the next day!
After the initial freezer stage - I prefer to transfer it to and leave it in the fridge - as I like a cake I don't have to defrost for 1/2 an hour to serve or eat.

Garnish with vegan chocolate shavings - sprinkled all over the top. And fresh raspberries. 

And then serve a slice of cake with a dollop of marshmallow.

Marshmallow photo taken the next day after it was made - and it had lost just 

a little of it's volume - but still gorgeous!

Vegan Marshmallow

Brine of 1 can of chick peas
1/2 tsp. guar gum
splash of vinegar (I used raw apple cider vinegar)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 - 2 tsp vanilla paste

- In a very large bowl put brine, guar gum & vinegar & beat on high with electric mixer for about 1 or 2 minutes & it will get white, thick & glossy.
Next add sugar & vanilla & beat on high until forms peaks & gets very stretchy, thick & big.

*Don't be scared as you're mixing and it climbs up the beaters and back down again. I just stopped and started my beater a few times.
And voilà! .. it's ready to pack into a glass jar for future use.
This all took under 5 minutes to make!

Will stay good for 24 hrs & will start to loose some volume after that but still wonderful. 

Spoon onto favourite desserts.

I hope you enjoy this delicious cake and wonderful marshmallow recipe!

Remember to always ... serve Love at your table.

ღ

© Magdika Cecilia Pérez  

(for : serve Love at your table)