RECIPE: Cashew Cream & Beetroot Truffle Raw Tart

The saying goes that inspiration can come from the strangest of places. Well this is not true in this case. In cooking, inspiration often comes from ingredients that are in season or through the use of leftovers. In fact developing recipes is often a step by step process where you create one dish and then get inspired to make another from the ideas you have just gained. This is certainly true of this cashew cream and beetroot truffle raw tart.

The beetroot truffle filling for this raw tart comes from the Green Tea, Beetroot and Chocolate Raw Truffle recipe that I last posted. It matches beautifully with the chocolate orange base of the tart and smooth creamy cashew cream.

As with most raw recipes, this raw tart is very easy to make, is very tasty and very very healthy. It is packed full of whole foods and super foods that will leave you feeling very satiated and happy!

Cashew Cream Filling Ingredients:

• 100g cashews
• 100ml water
• 100g virgin cold-pressed coconut oil
• 80g ROAR coconut sugar (4 tbsp)

Beetroot Truffle Filling Ingredients:

• 100g beetroot pulp (approx 2 medium)
• 100g virgin cold-pressed coconut oil
• 100g ROAR cacao powder
• 80g ROAR coconut sugar (4 tbsp)
• 1 orange zest
• 50ml strong brewed green tea (made using 1 tsp green tea)

Raw Tart Base Ingredients:

• 1 cups ROAR activated almonds
• 1 cup ROAR activated pumpkin seeds

You can substitute any nuts or seeds in this recipe as long as you use 2 cups i.e. just use all almonds or walnuts if you wish. I like this mix of almonds and pumpkin seeds for this recipe, but don’t stress about buying both if you don’t want to.

• 2 cups dates
• 4 tbsp ROAR cacao powder
• 1 tbsp virgin cold-pressed coconut oil
• 1 orange zest
• 1 tbsp cacao butter (you can just substitute this for an extra tbsp coconut oil, but the cacao butter will give it slightly more structure)

Cashew Cream Filling Method:

Soak the cashews in water for at least two hours, overnight if you can. Drain the water and then add fresh water (the same quantity as the cashews i.e. 100ml). Blend until completely smooth. The better the blender you have the better consistency you will have for this recipe. But don’t stress too much. I have made this with a pretty basic hand held blender and it worked fine.

Add the rest of the ingredients (i.e. coconut oil and honey/sweetener) and blend until smooth.

Beetroot Truffle Filling Method:

This is the same method as used in the Beetroot and Chocolate Raw Truffle recipe.

The first job is to get the beetroot ground as finely as possible at the same time as removing most of the beetroot juice. I managed to do this very simply because I have a fancy oscar juicer which extracts the juice of the beetroot and spits out a fine pulp at the same time. But if you don’t have a machine to do this for you don’t worry. It can easily be done using other methods.

First peel the beetroot and grate it. Squeeze it in your hands once it is grated to extract as much juice as possible. You can do this using a cloth or tea towel by twisting the beetroot around and around in it if you don’t want to get your hands dirty. Although bear in mind your cloth will turn red. Then blend the grated beetroot up until it is as fine as you can make it. Squeeze it some more. Drink the juice if you wish – it is very good for you!

Grate the orange zest and brew the 1 tsp strong green tea in only about 50ml water. Leave the tea to sit for at 5 minutes to infuse. Melt the coconut oil over a bain marie or on a low heat in a pot. Add in the rest of your ingredients and mix them all together thoroughly.

Put in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up. Depending on how much juice you managed to squeeze out of the beetroot you may have to adjust the recipe slightly if it is too sloppy. It should be the consistent of, well a truffle. If you aren’t sure what that is, then about the same consistency of the unmelted coconut oil.

Add more coconut oil, cacao powder and honey in equal quantities to firm up the mixture and then leave it in the fridge to firm up again. Repeat if necessary. Add more green tea if the mixture is too firm.

Raw Tart Base Method:

Blend the almonds and pumpkin seeds until they are the consistency of course flour. Add the rest of the ingredient and blend until a dough forms. Beware not to over blend otherwise the cacao powder will split.