My beautiful in-laws don’t bake. They’re very good cooks, but they don’t bake. I’m not sure if it’s a genuine dislike of baking or not. Anyhow, this saw me bringing dessert for each family function.
With a few allergies in the family, I realised I needed to be inclusive and provide something other than fruit for the crew. So, this was my introduction to raw foods (or mostly raw). My genuine love of this continued when I had gestational diabetes.
For the next family function, I made a spiced ganache tart, using shredded coconut as the base and coconut cream and 90% dark chocolate for the filling (although this is not fully raw, no one’s allergies were that bad to cause alarm). It was a hit, so I started being creative.
Thus, my Jaffa Ganache Tart.
Unfortunately, I had one of those lightbulb moments – raw means uncooked! I knew that in sense of RAW meat, but I had not applied that definition to the Raw Dessert Craze. I’m so glad I had a friend who also went, “oh, is that what that means?”, rather than “yeah, I know” – I’m obviously not the only one. So technically this ganache tart isn’t raw, because the base is cooked and the filling is heated. Other than that, this tart is a little beauty!
I love the idea of knowing exactly where my food comes from and what is hidden in it. I have checked every label to make sure that this little baby is gluten free, diary free and refined sugar free. Now I’ve added the lupin kibble to the base, giving an extra hit of protein and fibre, and leaving you feeling fuller for longer!
The raw cacao, shredded coconut and lupin kibble base is combined with rice malt syrup and coconut oil, and then baked (this is the only non-raw aspect to it), to give the tart it’s crusty exterior. Pure coconut cream (no preservatives, which was hard to find) is heated with vanilla extract, with orange rind added and left to steep, giving the jaffa flavour. Raw chocolate is then added (coconut oil, raw cacao and rice malt syrup) to the coconut cream mixture to give the smooth and creamy interior.
This can be decorated anyway you like – a favourite is dehydrated orange segments, dipped in chocolate – time consuming but yummy and pretty! Mine is decorated with almonds, berries, orange rind, rosemary buds, lupin kibble and flaked salt.
Mostly-Raw Jaffa Ganache Tart
Base:
2/3 cup lupin kibble
1 1/3 cup shredded coconut
2 tbsp lupin flour
2 tbsp raw cacao
60g coconut oil
90g rice malt syrup
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Melt coconut oil and rice malt syrup and add to dry ingredients. Mix well.
- Press mixture into a tart tin (no need to grease).
- Cook for 15 minutes. If it is not fully cooked, the base will not set properly and it will be difficult to cut properly.
- Remove from oven. Using the back of a spoon, press the mixture in the tin and up the sides. Allow to cool.
Filling:
400ml coconut cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Rind of one orange
100g coconut oil, just melted
30g raw cacao
40g rice malt syrup (increase this if you would like it sweeter)
- Combine coconut cream, vanilla and rind in a saucepan. Put on low heat and bring to a simmer.
- Allow the orange rind to steep for a further 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile combine the melted coconut oil, raw cacao and rice malt syrup. This actually makes raw chocolate!
- Strain the coconut mixture into a bowl and reserve 1-2 tbsp of the mixture.
- Slowly pour the raw chocolate mixture into the coconut mixture, while whisking.
- Pour mixture into cooled base.
- Refrigerate for two hours before decorating.
Tips:
- The base must be well-cooked to ensure that it will be firm (this allows it to cut easily).
- Once the base comes out of the oven, you will probably need to reshape it. Do this while it is hot with the back of a spoon.
- Do not overheat the coconut oil, this can cause the fats to separate.