½ cup oat milk 4 tbsp ground flax seeds 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted ⅔ cup applesauce, unsweetened 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup almond meal by Risenta ⅔ cup oat flour (or grind rolled oats in the blender) ½ cup coconut sugar 2 tsp baking powder tiny pinch sea salt
Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F degrees. Mix the oat milk and ground flax in a small bowl and leave to thicken for 10 mins.
In the meantime measure the coconut oil, applesauce, apple cider vinegar and vanilla in a big bowl and stir well. Mix the almond meal, oat flour, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt in another bowl and mix then with the wet ingredients. Stir in also the flax gel. Grease a cake tin with coconut oil and pour in the cake dough. Bake for about 40-45 mins, until a toothpick comes out clean. Note that the texture of the cake should be a bit moist.
Take the cake out of the oven and let cool completely. Split the cake in two with a sharp knife. Fill with coconut whipped cream or soy whip and banana slices. Set the other half on top of the lower half and frost the cake with coconut whipped cream or soy whip and place lots of fresh berries on top. Finalize with edible flowers.
Cream filling: 1 cup cashew nuts, soaked for 30 mins & rinsed ½ cup oat milk or coconut milk or 1:1 2-3 tbsp juice from a lemon 4 tbsp coconut oil, melted 4 tbsp coconut syrup or some liquid stevia ½ tsp vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract pinch of sea salt
Mocha filling: ½ cup cashew nuts, soaked for 30 mins & rinsed ½ cup almond meal 4 tbsp raw cocoa powder ¼ cup coffee (I used Lost Leaf espresso blend by Keakoffee through Slurp) ¼ cup oat milk or coconut milk or 1:1 4 tbsp coconut syrup or some liquid stevia 1 tsp gingerbread spice mix 4 tbsp coconut oil, melted pinch of sea salt + 1 tbsp rum, if desired
Tin size: 15 x 15 cm
Place all the ingredients of the cream filling into a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add some of the spices or sweetener, if desired. Pour into a bowl. Place then all the ingredients of the mocha filling into the blender & blend until smooth. Taste and add some of the spices or sweetener, if desired. Pour the mocha filling into a cake tin covered with parchment paper. Pour the cream filling on top. Sprinkle some cocoa powder on top and freeze until solid. Take out of the freezer, let thaw for 15 mins & enjoy!
Crust: 1 ¼ cup almonds 6 fresh dates, pitted 1 tbsp almond butter 1 tbsp coconut butter/coconut manna, melted (or coconut oil, melted) pinch of sea salt ½ tsp cardamom
Base: 2 cups cashew nuts, soaked for 1 hour & rinsed ½ cup full-fat coconut milk juices from half a lemon 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (or ½ tsp vanilla powder) ½ cup coconut oil, melted (prefer neutral taste) ¼ cup maple syrup
Cacao filling: Half of the base filling + 3 tbsp raw cacao powder + ½ cup Yosa Cocoa Oat Drink (or ½ cup oat milk and 1 tbsp more raw cacao powder)
Berry filling: Half of the base filling + ¼ cup raspberries (and/or blueberries) + 4 tbsp Yosa Oat Snack Forest Berries (or ¼ cup more berries)
Crust:
Place a piece of parchment paper onto the bottom of the can tin. Place almonds into a blender. Blend until fine crust. Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend until moldable dough. Separate about ½ cup of the mixture into a bowl. Press the rest of the dough firmly onto the bottom of the cake tin. Roll the dough you separated into small balls.
Filling:
Place all the base filling ingredients in a blender. Blend until as smooth as possible. The mixture will remain quite crumbly at this point. Separate half of the mixture into a bowl. Place the cacao filling ingredients into the blender. Blend with the remaining base mixture until smooth. Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Freezer for 30 mins. Wash the blender, pour in the remaining base mixture and add in the berry filling ingredients. Blend until smooth. Spoon the pink filling on top of the cacao layer. Freeze until solid. Decorate with the truffles you’ve made. Let thaw for about 30-45 mins. Enjoy!
Crust: ½ cup pecan nuts ½ cup almonds 7 fresh dates, pitted ½ tsp cardamom pinch of sea salt
Filling: 2 cups cashews, soaked for 1 hour and then rinsed juices from half a lemon ½ cup coconut oil, melted (with neutral taste) ½ cup coconut syrup ⅓ cup oat milk +2 tbsp instant coffee & 3 tbsp raw cocoa powder
On top: Raw cocoa fudges or raw chocolate
Pan diameter: 18 cm / 7 inches
Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of a cake pan. Place the almonds & nuts into a blender and blend until crust. Add dates, cardamom and salt and blend until moldable dough. Press the dough firmly into the bottom of the cake pan.
Place all the filling ingredients (except instant coffee & raw cocoa powder) into a blender and blend until smooth. Add some oat milk, if needed, to get a smooth texture, still keeping it as thick as possible. Pour half of the mixture into the cake pan and smooth out the surface. Add coffee & cocoa powder to the blender and blend with the remaining mixture. Taste and add some of the spices, if needed. Spoon the filling into the cake pan and even the surface gently with a spoon so that you don’t mix the two fillings. Place the cake pan into the freezer for about 3 hours or until the cake is solid. Remove the cake from the pan and place it on a serving dish. Let thaw for a moment. Serve & enjoy!
2 (14-ounce) cans of full-fat coconut milk (refrigerated overnight) 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 tbsp coconut syrup or raw organic honey
On top:
3 ripe bananas fresh berries
Open the coconut milk cans and scoop the white thick paste into a bowl. Add the vanilla and syrup and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. If the mixture becomes too runny, place it in the fridge or freezer until firm.
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add oat milk. Mix. Leave to thicken for about 10 min. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and grease it with coconut oil. Pour the dough onto the tray. Spread evenly so that the pancake is about half-inch thick. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Take from the oven and let cool. Prepare the coconut whipped cream.
Cut the pancake into 6 equal-sized pieces. Pile the pieces into a cake and add coconut whipped cream and banana slices in between pieces. Frost with coconut whipped cream. Top with berries. Serve and enjoy!
1 cup almonds ½ cup pecan nuts 4 tbsp raw cocoa powder 5 tbsp coconut oil, melted 1 tbsp almond butter 1 dropperful liquid stevia (or 2 tbsp organic honey or maple syrup) pinch sea salt
Filling:
3 cups raw cashew nuts, soaked for 1-5 hours, then rinsed 1 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen & thawed) ½ cup coconut oil, melted ½ cup full-fat coconut milk 3 tbsp juice from a lemon 2 dropperfuls liquid stevia (or 4 tbsp organic honey or maple syrup) ½ tsp vanilla powder
Can tin: approx. 23 x 23 cm / 9 x 9 inches
Cover a cake tin with baking paper. Place the almonds and pecans into a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend until fine crust. Add the rest of the crust ingredients and blend until well combined. Press firmly into the cake tin.
Place all the filling ingredients into a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add a bit more liquid, if needed, so that you get the mixture super smooth, still keeping it as thick as possible. You may have to scrape down the sides occasionally. Taste and add some sweetness, if desired. Pour on top of the crust and smooth out the surface with a spoon. Freeze for 2 hours or until solid. Let thaw for 30 mins before serving. Top with LOADS of fresh berries, the more the merrier.
Crust:⠀
⠀ Gingerbread dough (Used my GF & V gingerbread dough from my Dreamy Season ebook but any gingerbread dough will do)⠀
⠀
Filling:
1 ½ cup cashew nuts, soaked for 30 mins & rinsed⠀ 1 cup full fat coconut milk⠀ 5 tbsp raw organic honey or maple syrup⠀ 1 tsp vanilla extract⠀ ½ cup mild flavor coconut oil, melted⠀ ⅓ cup cranberries⠀
⠀
On top:
for example gingerbread crumble & cranberries
⠀
Tin: 20 cm / 8 inches⠀
⠀
Crust:⠀
Crease a cake tin with coconut oil. Place a piece of parchment paper onto the bottom of the tin and also slices on the sides. Roll the gingerbread dough into a thin round plate and place it into a tin. Press and mold the sides gently so that the sides are about the same height. Bake for about 10 mins in 175C /350F. Leave a bit soft.⠀
⠀
Filling:⠀
Place all the ingredients, except cranberries in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour about 1⁄3 of the mixture into the cake tin. Place cranberries into the blender. Blend with the remaining mixture. Spoon the pink filling on top of the white layer. Freeze for 2 hours or until the cake is totally solid. Take out of the freezer and decorate.
1/2 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup almond flakes 5 fresh dates, pitted 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling:
2 cups cashew nuts (soaked for 1 hour and rinsed) 1/2 cup fresh strawberries 1 ripe banana 1 cup oat milk (or almond milk) 5 tbsp organic local raw or coconut syrup juices of a half lemon 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
On top:
Fresh strawberries
Cake tin: 18 cm / 7 inches
Cover the bottom of the cake tin with a piece of parchment paper. Place the rolled oats and almond flakes into a blender. Add also the dates and vanilla. Puree until moldable dough. Press the crust on the bottom of the cake tin. Prepare the filling.
Place the cashews into the blender and blend until fine crust. Add the strawberries, sliced banana, oat milk, honey, lemon juice, vanilla extract and coconut oil. Blend until a thick paste. Taste and add some sweetness or vanilla, if needed. Pour the filling into the cake tin. Place the tin into the freezer and leave for 4 hours or until the cake is solid. Take out of the freezer and let thaw a moment. Top with strawberries. Serve and enjoy!
Makes 3-5 waffles, depending on the size of your waffle iron
1 cup oat milk, or other vegan milk ¼ cup coconut oil, melted ¼ cup maple syrup (or raw organic honey) 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 ½ cups gluten-free flour blend ½ cup oat flour, or rolled oats ¼ cup raw cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder tiny pinch sea salt
Combine oat milk, melted coconut oil, syrup, apple cider vinegar and vanilla. In another bowl mix all the dry ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir well. Taste and add sweetness or some spices, if you like. Let thicken for 5 minutes and preheat the waffle iron. Grease the waffle iron with coconut oil and prepare the waffles according to manufacturer instructions. Enjoy for example with coconut whipped cream, banana slices and berries.
1 cup almonds 7 fresh dates, pitted ½ tsp ground cardamom tiny pinch of sea salt
Filling:
3 cups cashew nuts, soaked for 1 hour 5-10 tbsp full-fat coconut milk, kept in the fridge (the white thick paste) juices from half a lemon ⅓ cup coconut syrup 1 cup coconut oil, melted 2 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ cup blackberries ⅓ cup raspberries ½ cup blackberries for the decoration
Cake tin diameter: 16-18 cm / 6-7 inches
Prepare the crust and place the almonds in a blender and blend until fine crust. Add dates and salt and blend until moldable dough. Cover the bottom of the can tin with a piece of parchment paper so that the cake is easier to remove later. Press the dough into the bottom of the cake tin. Prepare the filling.
Place the cashews, coconut milk, lemon juice, syrup, coconut oil and vanilla in a blender and blend until a very smooth mixture. Add a little bit of liquid, if needed, so that you get a smooth texture with no crumbs, but keep the mixture as thick as possible. Taste and add more sweetener, if you like. Pour half of the mixture into the cake tin and smooth out the surface with a spoon. Drop a handful of blackberries or raspberries here and there into the mixture. Place the raspberries into the blender and blend with the remaining mixture until smooth. Spoon the pink mixture on top of the white layer into the cake tin. Smooth out the surface with a spoon. Freeze for 2 hours or until solid. Take out of the freezer & remove from the cake tin when frozen. Let thaw for about 30-60 minutes before serving. Top with berries, pumpkin seeds/pistachios & coconut whipped cream drops.
Base:
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
1 ½ cups raw walnuts
½ cup California raisins
7 fresh dates, pitted
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ cup almond flour
Frosting:
1 cup cashews, soaked for 1 hour & rinsed)
5 tbsp coconut cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Grind the carrots into popcorn sized pieces in a food processor. Add California raisins, walnuts and dates, vanilla extracts, salt, cinnamon & cardamom and pulse to mix. NOTE! The batter should remain coarse and have a cake-like texture so be careful not to over-blend it until smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir in the almond flour. Line a 7-9 inch springform pan with parchment paper and scoop the batter in. Spread and press down evenly.
Add the cashews to a food processor or to a high-speed blender with coconut cream, lemon juice, syrup and vanilla. Blend until silky smooth. The icing should resemble cream cheese. If needed, add a little water. Spread the icing over the cake. Pop the cake in the freezer for 3 hours. Bring back to room temperature and remove from the cake tin. Let thaw for 30 minutes. Decorate and enjoy! Store in the fridge and use within a week.
Well here’s a winter treat worth sharing. This creamy raw cake gets its surprising richness from sweet potato and gentle warmth from gingerbread spices. And lemme tell you that it is one heavenly union.
As you may may have noticed from my previous blog post where I launched my new ebook Dreamy Season – Wholesome food for Holidays & winter, I’m kinda of a Christmas freak. Like I could actually eat Christmas related food the whole winter season and when it comes to Christmas recipes, my imagination seems to be endless.
One of my favorite nice cream recipes I’ve ever created is a gingerbread nice cream that has sweet potato in it. Homehow those two elements make a perfect match and I’ve been wanting to bring them together in some other dish too.
The idea evolved when I got to test the new Electrolux Explore 7 blender. As the first thing I wanted to try with it was a smoothie. I’m kind of a smoothie nerd and my way to test a blender is to see how smooth it actually makes my smoothie. And I have to say I was kind of surpised. Blenders in this price group usually leave smoothies a bit grainy but this baby blended them smooth as velvet. Really nice job.
The second thing I wanted to test was a raw cake. The batter there is thicker than in a smoothie so it gives new challenges to the blender. Again, very nice, very smooth. One great feature in Explore 7 blender is that it’s designed in a way that though it makes mixtures smooth it doesn’t heat up the ingredients so it keeps everything fresh and the nutrients alive n´ kicking. It isn’t a blender for thick nut butters, raw cake crusts etc, but you can definitely make great soups, smoothies, raw cake batters, grind nuts and even make juice (!) with it. Plus it’s pretteehh.
Oh, and back to my sweet potato gingerbread matching mission. So when I challenged the blender with a raw cake I wanted to make something christmassy. Because of my christmas mania condition, you know. Then I remembered the heavinly union of the gingerbread and sweet potato in my nice cream and the idea was born. Also wanted to make a nut-free raw cake for a change, as people ask me about them constantly.
And it came one fine piece of cake, I have to admit.
Try it yourself to get yourself into Christmas mood and let me know how it resonates! And if the Explore 7 blender resonated, tune into my Instagram as I’m giving away one blender on my today’s IG post. See you there!
1 big sweet potato, peeled & steamed (or 1 ½ cup sweet potato puree)
½ cup coconut milk (kept in the fridge)
¼ cup coconut oil, melted (preferably mild taste)
2 ripe bananas, cut to pieces
5-8 tbsp maple syrup or some stevia
1 ½ – 2 tsp gingerbread spice mix (or 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground cardamom)
2 tablespoons almond butter, if you like
Dish size: 15 x 15 cm / 6 inches
Base
Place the oast or nuts into a blender and blend until crust. Pour the crust into a bowl and stir in maple syrup, coconut oil and salt. The mixture should be now easily moldable so that you can create a ball from it. Cover a dish with a parchment paper and press the dough onto the bottom of the dish.
Filling
Place the sweet potato cubes, coconut milk (the white thick paste) and coconut oil into the blender and blend until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add some of the spices or sweetness, if desired. Pour the mixture into the dish on top of the base crust. Freeze for a few hours until solid. Take pour of the freezer and let thaw for 15 minutes before serving.
Well hello, babes! Finally it’s happening, updated Vanelja.com has opened its doors and welcomes you to take a tour. Though it took quite some time to get this open, it has been heart-warming to notice how many of you regularly uses the recipes on my site, as I have got tons of messages from people asking when all the material will be returning. So sorry you’ve had to wait for them, but happy to know you’ve missed my treats!
And now when the new site is open I’m also beyond excited to launch my brand new grocery: Blueberry Dream Cake by Vanelja. It is a treat that I absolutely ah-dore and I’m just so super duper happy to start offering my all time favorite raw cake to people. I get asked almost weekly if I do catering or if I take orders for my dream cakes, and now I can finally say YES!
And this one is truly a raw cake of my dreams. If I should pick only one sweet treat to consume for the rest of my life, it would be my Blueberry Dream Cake, most def, no doubt about it. It has such a mouth-watering taste with the pecan based crust with a hint of cardamom and the rich blueberry filling. The texture is creamy and fluffy yet the cake is very fresh because of the white layer with some hints of lemon in it. I honestly start salivating even now when describing it to you, haha. And what’s lovely about this Blueberry Dream Cake is that there is no coconut flavor that pushes through, which I feel is a problem in many raw cakes.
I’ve made my Blueberry Dream Cake in collab with Green Street, a big-hearted Helsinki-based provider for raw cakes and other healthy food. The cake will be out very soon, at 15th of May to be exact, and you’ll be able to buy it from certain retailers, supermarkets and cafés in Helsinki and Stockholm. Gonna list down all the retailers here on my site soon! And if you want to have a whole cake, preordering is open NOW and the first deliveries start 15th of May. If you have some parties coming up this spring and summer, like graduation parties, family get-togethers, brunches for friends etc. you can preorder the cake HERE. It is a great thing to serve for a big bunch of people as it is vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened, so it fits to most diets and most occasions. I prefer it as a weekend brekkie, as it is perfect for cozy slow mornings.
The decoration of these photos are not included in the cake, but it has a beautiful pattern on the surface (which you can see here) so it can be served as it is, or you can finish it for example with some blueberries or edible flowers.
At the moment the availability of my Blueberry Dream Cake is limited only to Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, but hopefully we’ll get the cake to wider reach too. Again, gonna be updating the retailers here on my site. And if you have a café and you’d think my Blueberry Dream Cake could match your selection, throw me a message!
But in the meantime, let me know how you like my cake and my new site! There are still some new features on their way + one surprise gift for you coming before the summer, so stay tuned – especially on Vanelja’s Instagram, as that is the place where I holler most often about my moves.
Hello friends! I thought I’d share this oh-so delicious and christmassy Gingerbread Coconut Bundt Cake recipe that got popular on my Instagram also here on my site, so that many of you’d find it.
I created this vegan & gluten-free cake with warm notes of gingerbread and juicy chuncks of dates originally for Risenta and have been preparing it several times already, as it is just sooo good and rich and delish. I try not to think about it too much now so that the cravings won’t hit me again or else I’ll find myself baking it again and eating it tomorrow the whole day…
But you go and make this! And let me know how you liked it!
5 tbsp ground flaxseed ½ cup water 1 ½ cup Risenta almond meal 1 cup Risenta rice flour ⅓ cup coconut sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon 2 tsp gingerbread spice mix ½ tsp cardamom tiny pinch of sea salt 1 can (400 ml) full fat coconut milk ½ cup coconut oil, melted 5 fresh dates, pitted 5 tbsp coconut syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract + 5 fresh dates, pitted and cut to small pieces
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (175 Celsius) degrees. Grease the bundt cake mold with coconut oil. Mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl and leave to thicken. In the meantime prepare the cake dough.
Mix the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Place coconut milk, coconut oil, 5 dates, coconut syrup and vanilla into a blender and blend until smooth. Mix with dry ingredients. Add also the flax mixture you made and mix well. Stir in the date cubes. Pour the dough into the cake mold. Bake for 55-60 minutes. The cake is ready when a toothpick comes out clean. Take out of the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes and remove from the mold. Let the cake cool down totally. Frost and serve! The cake is at its best after one night in the fridge.
Frosting:
Mix the coconut oil, nut butter and vanilla in a small bowl. If the mixture goes too runny, keep it in the fridge for about 15 minutes, mixing it couple of times. Frost the cake and decorate with coconut flakes and nuts.
Hiya Honey! Look what I’ve got for you today – A dreamy and creamy blueberry thyme raw cake – A cake that can also be found on the cover of the latest THRIVE magazine. That’s right, babe, my cake is an actual cover girl! So sooo amazing! There’s also a four page spread & a feature of me in the magazine in where I share some of my food secrets + many many other great features and recipes of super talented recipe creators.
I first created this blueberry raw cake in the spring with a collaboration with a Finnish salad and herb producer Järvikylä when I made an adaptation of their thyme blueberry cake and during the summer the cake photo has become easily one of my most shared and liked IG posts ever and it has been so much fun to see people making their own creations of it and posting them on their pages and sharing them with me. The beauty and magic of Instagram.
To celebrate my cover photo I thought to share the recipe here on my site too – So here you go, my friend, go and enjoy these blueberry filled dream bites!
2 cups cashew nuts (soaked for 30 minutes & rinsed)
½ ripe banana
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
5-6 tbsp raw organic honey (or maple syrup or coconut syrup)
¼ cup oat milk or almond milk
fresh lemon juice from ½ lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup blueberries
a handful of fresh thyme leaves
On top:
blueberries
fresh thyme
Pan diameter: 18 cm / 7 inches
Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of a cake pan. Place the almonds and nuts into a food processor or a high-speed blender and blend until crust. Add dates or apricots and salt and blend until moldable dough. Press the dough firmly into the bottom of the cake pan. Prepare the filling.
Place all the filling ingredients (except blueberries and thyme) into the food processor / blender and blend until smooth. Add some dairy free milk, if needed, to get a smooth texture, still keeping it as thick as possible. Pour about ⅓ of the mixture into the cake pan and smooth out the surface. Add blueberries and thyme to the food processor / blender and blend with the remaining mixture. Taste and add some spices if needed. Spoon the filling into the cake pan and even the surface gently with a spoon so that you don’t mix the white and the purple filling. Top with blueberries. Place the cake pan into the freezer for about 2-3 hours or until the cake is solid. Remove the cake from the pan and place it on a serving dish. Let thaw for a moment. Sprinkle on some thyme leaves, serve and enjoy. Store in the fridge.