Chocolate Raspberry Cake

It’s no secret that we're food blog fanatics.

We both discovered the food blogging world two years ago, around the same time we got interested in cooking. I was working a full-time desk job and living on my own, so I started using the Internet as a resource for different, inventive recipes to spice up my boring dinners. Julia became really interested in nutrition and used food bloggers as a way to study up on nutrients and for tips on how to overhaul her junk food vegetarian diet. We were exposed to a whole new world where people were passionate about healthy living and healthy eating, just like we were. 

When we were growing up, our parents were very in tune with our health and healthy eating. I, for the most part, embraced the new foods and health lessons, but Julia (always the rebellious one) preferred to stick with Cicero’s penne pizza, creamy Parmesan salad dressing, and Easy Mac. But she came around once she realized the importance of having a balanced diet, especially for a vegetarian. A lot of people we grew up with didn’t understand the appeal of health food either, so it became something that Julia and I shared with each other rather than our friends. 

But then we found this whole group of people on the Internet who were just as excited about healthy living as we were. It was cool to learn that we weren’t alone in our world. People actually cared about what they were eating and wanted to share their passion with others.

Over the past two years, we’ve added to our list of essential food bloggers who shape the way we think and feel about food. Kath Younger taught us that celebrating food is just important as celebrating life. Sarah Britton is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner (CNP) and uses her nutritional background to offer health tips for her creative recipes. 

For this post, we took inspiration from Scandinavian food blogging duo David and Luise (and Elsa) at GreenKitchen Stories. David and Lusie live in Sweden and take stunning pictures of their inventive vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free concoctions.

The following recipe is adapted from GKS’s Chocolate and Blackberry Cake. It's vegan, gluten-free, and free of refined and processed sugar. We substituted dates for agave syrup in the frosting and raspberries for blackberries.

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CAKE

Cook time: 1 hour

Servings: 8

CAKE

1 ½ cup almonds

15 fresh dates

5 tbsp cacao powder (unsweetened)

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp applesauce (unsweetened)

2 cups raspberries (1 cup in the cake and the rest on top)

FROSTING

5 oz baking chocolate (unsweetened)

½ avocado

5 fresh dates

Heat the oven to 325 F (175 C). Line an 8-inch circular pan with aluminum foil and lightly coat with olive oil. Set aside.

Place the almonds in the food processor and mix them until they get the consistency of a crunchy flour. Add the dates and blend until combined with the almonds. Add cacao, cinnamon, oil and applesauce and pulse until everything is combined. Add the raspberries and pulse 2-3 times (you want them in pieces, but not completely dissolved).

Pour the mixture in the pan and bake for 40-50 minutes.

Melt the chocolate in a double broiler. Pour melted chocolate into the food processor and blend with dates and avocado. Spread the frosting on top of the cooled chocolate cake. Decorate with the remaining raspberries before serving.