The almond meal slice is like delicious vanilla cookie dough, the middle layer tastes like melted cherry ripe but better, and the creamy chocolaty icing is to die for. For anyone who has never used avocado to make a chocolate mousse or icing, don't be afraid. You really cannot taste the avocado at all and it makes for a beautifully creamy consistency - trust me, I fed it to a 9 year old and he absolutely adored it.
Aside from being obscenely delicious, this slice is jam-packed with protein, good quality fats, and antioxidants. If you want a great high-protein snack for hiking trips, simply omit the icing! It's filling and very energising.
Let's do this.
Chocolate, cherry and coconut slice
Slice:
2 cups almond meal
2 eggs
½ cup coconut sugar
50 grams butter (preferably raw)
1 Tbs coconut oil
½ tsp Loving Earth vanilla bean powder
pinch salt
Filling:
1 Tbs coconut oil
1 Tbs butter (preferably raw)
¼ cup desiccated coconut
¼ cup coconut sugar
2 Tbs raw cacao powder
pinch Loving Earth vanilla bean powder
Organic dried cherries (sulphur-free)
Icing:
1 small avocado
1 Tbs crème fraiche or sour cream (preferably raw)
½ Tbs coconut oil
2-3 Tbs raw cacao powder
½ tsp Loving Earth vanilla bean powder
2 Tbs coconut sugar
1 Tbs raw honey
Splash balsamic vinegar (added to any chocolate recipe, balsamic adds richness and depth)
To decorate:
Desiccated coconut
Organic dried cherries (sulphur-free)
Raw cacao nibs
Extra butter for greasing the pan
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C (375F) and grease a loaf tin with plenty of butter.
2. Mix all of the ingredients for the slice together and add half of the mixture into the greased loaf tin.
3. Melt the coconut oil and butter for the filling in a pan over very low heat and then mix in the other components of the filling.
4. Spread the filling gently over the bottom layer of slice, and then evenly spread the dried cherries on top of the chocolate filling.
5. Spread the remaining half of the slice mixture over the chocolate and cherry filling, making the surface as even as possible. This is a slow process as the batter is very doughy and needs to be pressed to ensure it is even and thus cooks evenly.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven.
7. Allow the slice to cool completely before removing gently from the loaf tin.
8. Mix all icing ingredients together in a food processer or blender and spread over the top of the slice.
9. Decorate at will! I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make coconut hearts which I then bordered with sliced dried cherries. I’m no cake decorator, so you can no doubt do better. This would be beautiful decorated with some raw cacao nibs also, but since I was making it for a 9 year old child, I omitted them as they are extremely high in caffeine and I didn't want to have to deal with that fiasco.
Enjoy, my foxes! x
