Chocolate Lover's Pudding with Raspberries

Kitchen Play List: The Union ~ Siren's Song Album

I just love it when I find or create a dessert recipe that is so simple to make, that it's the work of a few minutes. I have no problem with lengthy and intricate recipes but you have to have the time for them and sometimes I just don't. I'm not the biggest chocolate dessert fan either but My Love is and so are most of my family and friends, so I find myself making them often. On Saturday we had a gathering of pals with a braizer fire, vegan BBQ and fireworks..oh so many fireworks..lol. Fabulous. And this is the dessert I served for them all. I found this recipe in Lois Dieterly's Sinfully Vegan.

It's simple to make and has only four ingredients. The most time consuming part is melting down the dark chocolate and I always use a good quality chocolate that is at the very least 70%. Seriously that is the hardest part. lol. My Love would argue that the hardest part was resisting eating it straight from the food processor..lol. 

Lois serves hers solo but I always like something a little fruity with chocolate and nothing beats the chocolate/raspberry combo. So that is exactly what I did...in the bottom of each little pot I placed 3 raspberries then spooned that pudding over the top and then garnished with 3 more. Well you will see that in the photos. 

I got proposed to because of this dessert! lol. And everyone, including myself was captivated and lost in this heavenly dessert. OK so it's not the healthiest of desserts but every once in while it's nice to break out and have a treat. And.This.Dessert.Is.Worth.It! And so are you! lol

Chocolate Lover's Pudding with Raspberries

Chocolate Lover's Pudding with Raspberries Serves 8
(Recipe from Sinfully Vegan/Dieterly)

16 oz firm silken tofu
1 cup of powdered/icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of vegan chocolate, melted 
1/4 cup of vegan chocolate, grated or finely chopped
56 plump and delicious raspberries 

Place three raspberries in the bottom of 8 individual dessert pots or expresso cups and then stand them to one side. 

A little dark but you can see the placed berries

In a food processor blitz the tofu until it's smooth. Then add the sugar and the vanilla and blend again until they have combined. 

Add the melted chocolate and blitz until rich and smooth. Spoon two heaped Dsp of the chocolate pudding into each pot until it's all used up. Smooth over with a spatula. Then using the grated or finely chopped chocolate (I finely chopped mine ~R~) sprinkle it over each pudding. 

Puddings with the chocolate sprinkles

Garnish the top with the remaining raspberries and then keep in the fridge until ready to serve. You don't need to cover them..I put mine on a tray and placed them in the top of my fridge that morning and served them about 9pm that night and they were still vibrant...and delicious! 

A rare treat but definitely one I'll be making again. 
Enjoy! 
~R~

Flourless Chocolate and Raspberry Torte

Kitchen Play List:  Terra Niaomi ~ Not Sorry
                                       Jack Johnson ~ Mudfootball
                                       Cole Porter ~ You're The Top
                                       Shakira ~ Que Vuelvas
                                       Evanescence ~ Lacrymosa
                                       Newton Faulkner ~ Aging Superhero

My friend S turned 40 recently and for me that is shocking as it means I'm the next one to go! Yikes...when did we all get so old. lol.

On Saturday evening some of our circle of friends met up at D &B's house to celebrate this event. The gathering was small but enough for the evening to be fun and full of laughs. Each one of us in our own way really needed a good laugh and we weren't disappointed. D & B, as hosts, were great and it was good to catch up with other friends. B had cooked and prepared a Lebanese inspired spread and it was so tasty and all of us had a good few platefuls. lol. B had made spinach falafels, lemon & sesame roasted potatoes, hummus, baba ganoush, carrot based salad, bulgar wheat salad, green salad and a selection of pittas including white flour, wholemeal flour and a gluten free pitta. The food was so good. Thanks again B!

Earlier in the week I had asked S if she was having a cake or was someone else making one and she said she wasn't. I am having a heck of a time with my oven at the moment otherwise I would have already organised one with her. But I offered to give it a try and asked her to leave the planning with me. S is also one of my gluten free pals so I set about finding a good birthday cake recipe, which I did find and then I did make it and then my oven...killed it dead! Charcoal. Dammit! I sent a text to her and apologised and accepted that I probably wouldn't be able to provide one for her. I felt terrible. 

To ease my mind I went on a mindless web search for other things but kept coming back to gluten free and vegan cake recipes. It was during this search that this recipe kept popping up at  www.veganbaking.net it was posted by a chap called Mattie. The photo looked lovely and although it wasn't a typical baked cake I thought that it was at least worth a shot. I have never made an unbaked cake before so I was entering into new territory and you know what? I love it there and I may stay...for a while at least lol. I had everything but the high count chocolate in my stocks so once the chocolate was purchased I got cracking. 

Flourless Chocolate & Raspberry Cake/Torte

The making of this torte is so very simple. Melt chocolate and the coconut oil and then blend everything except the raspberries together until smooth. Pulse in the raspberries a couple of times so they distribute but have some texture. Then pour into a lined spring form pan and leave to set for a minimum of 4 hours. Done! 

The results....well it looked great to the eye. Once we set it down on the table at the party and S had blown out her candles and everyone had their portions in front of them, I was very shocked by the reactions. In a good way...I must add. Marvelous, gorgeous, splendid...a few of the words uttered whilst it was being consumed. My pal D said it was the best moussey vegan type dessert she's ever had...put simply there just aren't adequate words to describe the awesomeness of this cake/torte/flan/mousse...call it what you will. lol. We would all recommend you make it for yourself and give yourself one heck of a treat. NOW! lol. And for chocoholics out there...shame on you if you don't try this recipe out! lol.

After all the games were played and drinks drunk and final plates of food were eaten there was six of us left around the table. It was asked if one of us, could have one final sample of the cake and then it was quickly suggested by another, that the plate was brought through with six spoons....lol.S was happy for this to happen thankfully. So picture six of us sat around a very late night table with a spoon each, eating our carefully portioned out leftover piece of this cake. We were all very happy.....and S was definitely 40 and had shared her celebrations with us all. Thank you for inviting us S!

I was relieved that I was able to provide her with a celebration cake and it was agreed by all I will be making this again.....and again. So thank you very much Mattie for a fantastic recipe.

NB: I made a double batch and used a 10" springform tin as the original calls for a 7" tin and I knew that my chocolate loving friends would need more than a little cake. lol. So this is the link for the original recipe as posted by Mattie on Veganbaking. 

http://www.veganbaking.net/vegan-recipes/cakes/flourless-chocolate-raspberry-cake.html

S's 40th Birthday Cake/Torte ~ Chocolate & Raspberry

Flourless Chocolate & Raspberry Cake/Torte   1 10" deep cake
(Recipe from www.veganbaking.net posted by Mattie)

1 cup of coconut oil, melted 
2 pkts Mori Nu Firm Silken Tofu, rinsed and drained
2 cups of icing sugar
2/3 cup of good cocoa powder
2 tbsp vegan marg
2 tbsp arrowroot or tapicoa starch (I used arrowroot)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
8oz High Content chocolate, broken down and melted
2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Heat the coconut oil until it is liquid and melt chocolate until silky smooth. 

In a large food processor add the tofu and pulse a couple of times to break it down. Add in the oil, icing sugar, marg, cocoa, arrowroot, vanilla, salt and melted chocolate and process until very smooth. 

Add two cups of the raspberries to the processor, leaving 1/2 cup for decoration. Pulse the raspberries into the chocolate mix three times to break them down and distribute...you want small chunks of the raspberries throughout. 

Pour the mixture into a lined 10" spring form pan and smooth over. Then place into your fridge for a minimum of 4 hours. I left mine for 8 hours to be sure. 

When ready to serve carefully slide a knife around the edge of the cake so it pulls away from the tin. Then release the spring form tin off and then using the side of the lining paper lift gently sliding your serving plate underneath. I left my bottom sheet of parchment paper on...no way was it coming out. lol.

Decorate the cake/torte in your own style and keep cold until ready to serve. 

Thank you once again to Mattie for this heavenly recipe....

Enjoy!
~R~