Hello lovely food lovers and Happy New Year!
It’s that time – you know, where everyone makes resolutions to 1) lose weight, 2) start doing what they love, etc… That is, everyone except all those who have made healthy living their lifestyle and have decided to make every day a beautiful, transformative journey.
For that reason, there really is no need to break out the booze and celebrate an opportunity of fresh beginnings. In my mind, we make that conscious choice every day and with every action we take. And one of those great ways you can make your dreams and goals a part of your lifestyle is to make this incredibly amazing cake.
I’ve never made anything like this before – it kind of blew me away. For three guests’ birthdays, I decided a raw cake was in order. But not a typical cheesecake, a real cake that could be cut and enjoyed with a side of raw banana ice cream. Yum!

Thank you, Fragrant Vanilla Cake, who inspired this awesomely cool creation. It went over great with everyone (even people who are traveling carnivores and don’t like regular cake) and was a blast to make.

A note. For the first time I used raw flours from buckwheat and coconut. You can do this yourself by grinding buckwheat or coconut in a food processor or high-speed blender like a Vita-Mix.
These are great, even though they are dense, because they are much lower in fat than nuts, are easier to digest, and add a sweet, nutty flavor to a raw, dehydrated cake.

{Raw, Vegan} Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:

Crust:
4 1/2 Cups Raw Buckwheat Flour (see note above)
5 Cups Raw Coconut Flour
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 Tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
2 Cups raw Red Beet, chopped
24 Medjool Dates, pitted (soaked in filtered water for 30 minutes, then drained)
1/4 Cup Raw Honey or Coconut Nectar
Frosting:
4 Cups Young Coconut Meat
1/2 Cup Coconut Water
1 tsp Apple Cider VInegar
1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp Raw Honey
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 Tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Coconut Butter
1/2 Cup Raw Coconut Oil, warmed to liquid

Directions:

1) In a large mixing bowl, combine buckwheat flour, coconut flour, and sea salt together and set aside.
2) In a food processor, add remaining crust ingredients and process until well combined. You’ll then want to transfer to your large mixing bowl. This next part gets messy.
3) Using a large spoon or a mixer, work ingredients together. What I actually did is just use my hands. It should have a well-incorporated texture.
4) In a cheesecake tin or other round tin, sprinkle a 1/2 tbsp coconut flakes on the bottom. Split your cake into two, and press 1/2 of your cake into the bottom of the tin. Flip over onto a dehydrator sheet (it should come out quite easily) and dehydrate for 15 hours at 115 degrees. Do the same with the other.
5) Meanwhile, make your frosting (next). Once the cakes are dry but still moist in the center, let set in the fridge to cool.
6) In a high-speed blender, combine all frosting ingredients except coconut butter until smooth and creamy. With the motor running, add the butter and process one minute more.
7) Pour the frosting into a bowl and let chill in the fridge until the consistency be comes thicker, similar to whipped cream.
8) When you are ready to frost, place one cake layer on a plate and spread frosting about 1/2 inch thick over the first layer. Place your second layer and spread 1/2 inch thick around the sides of the entire cake and on top.
9) Save 1/2 – 1 Cup of frosting, and using a piping bag, decorate the top and bottom. Place any other adornments you like!
I used beautiful flowers around the farm. Pomegranate seeds would also add a nice addtion.
10) Cake can be stored in the fridge. Enjoy!

Whew! As you can see, it’s quite intensive but incredibly worth the effort. I’m in the jungle of Costa Rica, therefore I didn’t have any piping bags, but I used a Ziploc, cut the end (weirdly), and used that to decorate my delicious cake.

Enjoy the new year! Share something similar like this with friends and family because you deserve to live life to the fullest all the time. Healthy reminders like these keep us in alignment with that truth.
Enliven Your Life with Fruits and Vegetables! (See ya next year! 😉
Mandy