Do you ever get dessert panic? I do. A lot. I was never able to decide what I wanted as dessert when I eat out. Especially when there is both chocolate cake and mousse au chocolat on the menu. Embarrassingly enough I ordered both more than once.
Dessert panic is that feeling of full blown, childish fear of missing out on something tasty that creeps up on you at the sight of delicious sweets. I have had this condition for as long as I can remember. It especially happens when chocolate is involved, I want to eat it all and I want to eat it now. An outrageous lack of selfcontrol if you ask me. Frankly it leads to a lot of guilt and extra hours at the gym, most of them planned and not executed.
Eventually I wanted to find a way to combine two of my favourite desserts. While the obvious way would be to fill a cake with layers of chocolate mousse or covering it with chocolate mousse frosting I decided to do the opposite. Omit the sponge. Who needs sponge anyway – it just takes up valuable mousse space. I still call it cake because it technically is one since it has a crust after all!
Now that I explained my intent behind this avocado chocolate mousse cake you might still want to ask why I tampered with a classic cake? What could possibly be better than chocolate cake? A chocolate cake that needs no baking and contains no refined sugars. This one is made with a good amount of avocado that gives it all the creaminess that I love about mousse au chocolat but without the guilt. It’s topped with fresh seasonal blackberries and keeps well frozen.
- For the base:
- 125g (1 cup) almonds
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp dark maple syrup, or sweetener of your preference
- For the cream:
- 450g (1lb) avocado pulp, about 4 medium ripe avocados
- 250ml (1 cup) dark maple syrup
- 125ml (1/2 cup) cold water
- 100g (1 cup) medjool dates, pitted
- 8 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- Place all the ingredients for the base into a food processor and pulse until combined. Don't over process it or it will turn into a paste, you still want some crunch in it and the base to hold together. Transfer it into a loose bottom tin and flatten it out evenly. I prefer loose bottom tins because it is so much easier to get cake out of them, especially no-bake cakes. The base will seem crumbly and rather sticky but don't worry, once it's frozen it will hold together very nicely. Transfer the form into the freezer and proceed with the cream.
- Half the avocados, remove the stones and scoop the flesh into the bowl of a food processor. Make sure the avocados are ripe. If you are unsure about how ripe they are you can look at this post. Remove the pits from the dates and add them with the rest of the cream ingredients into the bowl. Process for several minutes until perfectly blended. Depending on your avocados and dates you might need a few more spoons of water. The consistency should be silky smooth.
- Take the cake from out of the freezer and tip the cream onto the base. Spread it evenly with a spatula and tap the form against your kitchen counter a few times to release possible bubbles that are caught in the cream. Return it to the freezer and let it sit for about 2 hours.
- Once frozen, spread a layer of berries on top. There is an easy way to get a neatly looking cake without spending an hour on arranging the berries. Simply lay a neatly placed ring of berries at the edge of the form and tip the rest of the berries into the center. Spread them gently with your fingertips and you are done. This will take little time and look like you arranged each single blackberry.
- Return the avocado chocolate mousse cake to the freezer and take it out about half an hour before you want to eat it. Keep in mind this is a mousse cake. It will be very soft, creamy and rich so if you do want perfect slices you will have to keep it a bit more on the frozen side.
**You can of course swap the dark maple syrup with any sweetener you like but it adds a delicious flavour to the avocado chocolate mousse cake.
Sounds delish! What would you substitute for almonds for a nut free version?
You could try it with sunflower seeds maybe? I haven’t attempted that yet but it should work. Or simply use biscuits to replace the nuts. I have a friend who makes the base with biscuits because of allergies. =)
love this! kids really enjoyed it too
Top notch! My kids loved this…
Love it! Guilt free chocolate cakes are the best!
Delicious! Was a total success. I added some rum as well.