Raw, Vegan Chocolate Tart.

If you haven’t noticed already.. I love chocolate! This is one of my favourite desserts, it’s vegan, gluten free, raw and free of refined sugar. It has a crunchy almond base and it is filled with a decadent cacao mousse… what more could you want from a dessert??!

You can choose to make this tart with store bought almond meal or make your own, personally I make my own, it doesn’t require too much extra effort and it is heaps cheaper! All you need is raw almonds and a high powered food processor.

All you need is raw almonds and a high powered food processor.

Making the almond meal.

When I make almond meal I always make extra, it is the base for a lot of my raw treats, you can also use it to make gluten free cakes and breads. It stores well in the fridge for around 3 weeks or you can place it in the freezer for up to 3 months. I had 4 cups of almonds lying around so I used all of them, this made approximately 5&1/4 cups of almond meal. Place all of the raw almonds into a high powered food processor and blitz on high until they start to breakdown and the natural oils begin to come out. You will know that the almond meal is ready when it sticks to the sides of the blender. remove from the blender and store in an air-tight container.

You will know that the almond meal is ready when it sticks to the sides of the blender.

What you will need for the base.

• 2 &1/3 Cups of almond meal
• 4 Tablespoons of solidified coconut oil+ extra for greasing

Throwing it all together.

1. Grease a 25cm loose bottom flan tin with coconut oil.
2. Place the almond meal and 4 tablespoons of coconut oil in a bowl and rub together with your hands until the coconut oil has melted and it is evenly mixed.
3. Firmly press the mixture into the flan tin, ensuring that the surface of the base is fairly even.
4. Place the tart into the fridge for 30 minutes or until the base is set.

Press the mixture evenly into the flan tin and set in the fridge.

What you will need for the filling.

• 2 Medium sized avocados (not too ripe)
• 1/4 Cup of raw cacao powder
• 1/4 Cup of coconut nectar (or pure maple syrup)
• 2 Tablespoons of solidified coconut oil
• Fresh berries, 2 tablespoons of almond meal and 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cacao nibs for decorating.

Throwing it all together.

1. Scoop the avocado pulp (discarding the stone) into a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Add the raw cacao powder, coconut nectar and coconut oil into the food processor with the avocado and blend until smooth, you will need to scrape the sides down a few times and blend again.
3. Remove the tart base from the fridge and pour the chocolate mixture in, smoothing the top so that it is evenly spread.
4. Sprinkle the extra almond meal and cacao nibs over the tart and decorate with berries.
5. Place the tart into the fridge for 2 hours until set.

Add the berries before serving.

If decorating with berries, due to the acid they contain, the tart will keep in the fridge for 3 days. Without the berries it will last 5 days in the fridge and up to 1 month in the freezer in an airtight container.