Cherry chocolate mousse cake (grain free)

This gorgeous cherry chocolate mousse cake is the perfect celebration cake for Christmas or a Summer birthday. It’s silky smooth, creamy, rich, fruity, no bake with a nutty base. Decadent & easy, it requires no oven . A dark choc ganache tart transformed into a fluffy, cheesecake like cake!


Ingredients

  • For the base

  • springform cake tin and a food processor
    100g
     ( 3/4 cups) pecans
    pinch salt
  • 25g (scant 1/4 cup) coconut flour
  • 10g (1.5 Tbsp) coconut sugar
  • 15g (2 Tbsp)  raw cacao powder
  • 30g (1 .5 TbspWestgold grass-fed salted butter
  • Cherry jam filling (can be swapped for 125g (1/2 cup) store bought cherry jam)

  • 2 cups fresh cherries, de-stemmed, halved and pitted
  • 2 Tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 Tbsp coconut sugar

    125g good quality cherry jam

  • Chocolate mousse filling

  • 140g (1 cup) raw cashews, soaked 4 hours in water
  • Labneh or 3/4 cup store bought cream cheese (try creme fraiche or ?  instead)
  • 1/2 cup milk of choice
  • 90g (3/4 cup) raw cacao powder
  • 110g (1/2 cup) coconut sugar
  • 100g (5 TbspWestgold grass-fed salted butter (instead of cream)
  • 180g 70% dark chocolate, chopped

Instructions

  1. Grease and line a 7 inch round cake tin. You want to choose one that is springform, or has a removable base. You will need to start 4 hours before hand, soaking your cashews.
  2. Make the cherry jam. Add cherries and a splash of water to a small saucpan. Cook over low-medium heat for around 5 minutes, or until they soften and release their juices. Turn off heat. Mash with a fork, then add chia seeds and sugar. Mix well, then set aside to thicken and cool.
  3. Make the base. Add pecans, salt, coconut flour, sugar and cacao to a food processor. Blend until fine. Melt butter (stovetop method or in a microwave), then add to the food processor and pulse until a moist crumble forms. Transfer to lined tin and use a spoon to spread and press down, forming an even base.
  4. Once cherry jam has reached room temperature, add cooled, thickened cherry jam to the base and spread over the base, leaving a 2 cm gap around the outer edges (eg, don’t push jam all the way to the edges). Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
  5. Make the chocolate filling. Drain cashews and add to a blender with labneh (or cream cheese), milk, cacao powder and coconut sugar. blend on high for 1 minute, or until silky smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Tip- use a rubber spatula to really scrape everything from the blender into the bowl.
  6. Place butter and chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Heat 2cm water in a small saucepan, to the boil. Reduce heat, then sit bowl on top of the saucepan (so it sits on the rim). Gently melt, mixing occasionally. Once completely liquid remove from the heat and pour into the cashew chocolate bowl. Use a spatula to fold together until uniform.
  7. Remove base from the fridge. Pour chocolate filling gently on top, then use a clean spoon to even out. Return to the fridge for 4+ hours, or overnight.
  8. To serve, use a hot, sharp knife to cut into slices. Allow to warm to room  temperature then serve along side fresh cream and lots of cherries.

    (from https://panaceaspantryblog.com/cherry-chocolate-mousse-cake-grain-free/#tasty-recipes-3345-jump-target)

Cucumber Panna Cotta with Strawberry Jelly

Serves:  4

Ingredients

  • 250ml double cream
  • 150ml full cream milk
  • 20g caster sugar
  • 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded & diced
  • 1 pack lime flavoured jelly
  • 8 large strawberries, hulls removed & puréed
  • 1 pack strawberry flavoured jelly
  • 4 strawberries, thinly sliced – to garnish
  • 2 baby cucumbers, very thinly sliced – to garnish
    A fine sieve

    Make pana cotta first. Place cream, milk & sugar in a medium-sized pot on a low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved, then add diced cucumber. Bring to just under the boil, then take off the heat and leave to cool and infuse for 30 minutes.

  • Pour the cooled mixture into a blender until smooth. Pour mixture back into pan through a fine sieve, pushing cucumber pulp gently down with a spoon to extract all the flavour. Discard pulp.
  • Leave mixture to cool slightly, then slowly sprinkle the lime jelly, stir until thoroughly dissolved.
  • Pour pana cotta into 4 equal-sized moulds. Cover tops with plastic wrap and chill for at least 5 hours (preferably overnight).
  • To make strawberry jelly, purée the strawberries using a stick blender or mortar and pestle, then pass them through a fine sieve into a bowl, pushing the pulp so the juice strains through.
  • Make up strawberry jelly packet & before refrigerating, stir through the strawberry purée juice. Place jelly in a shallow, non-stick, jelly roll baking sheet to create a layer of jelly 1cm deep.
  • Set in fridge, along with the pana cotta. When fully set & firm, cut out jelly circles with a pastry cutter – same size as the pana cotta moulds. Reserve in fridge until ready to serve.
  • To serve, remove pana cotta from moulds by gently warming in shallow lukewarm water.
  • Place 1 strawberry jelly disc on each of 4 plates, then turn the pana cotta moulds upside down onto the strawberry jelly discs. Top with strawberry and cucumber slices.