BEAR'S SWEET CHOCO SENSATION

BEAR'S SWEET CHOCO SENSATION

Gosh! I love to experiment in my Vegan food creations and it's such a wonderful surprise when the experimentations yields in good, if not great, results!

This tart turned out spectacularly well in terms of the structure and super-sensational in taste! I add cinnamon to my coffee!

I bought a bunch of ingredients with a rough idea of what I was going to do with them! And, here they are…

INGREDIENTS

Oats

1 pack of almonds

1 jar of tahini

Maple Leaf syrup

Desiccated coconut

Vanilla extract

2 bars of Vegan chocolate bars

Cinnamon

Mixed spice

Pitted dates

Vegan cocoa powder

4 large sweet potatoes

METHODOLOGY

Well, I made this up as went along… My measurements are by eye 'n’ taste. I'll explain…

I roasted 4 large sweet potatoes and left them in the oven to cool overnight. I placed the sweet potatoes on a Pyrex roasting tray and added a bit of water in order to not dry them out.

Let's make the base! I used a cake tin with a release catch. I poured out some oats to cover the bottom of the tin.

From there, I placed the oats into a large mixing bowl. Next, I grounded my almonds (200g) and added them to the large bowl.

Pour all the tahini into the bowl and fold the contents with a large spoon. Do not try this with a hand mixer as it'll burn out the motor! You've been warned! Do not do it!

While you're folding the contents of the bowl, add the vanilla extract and Maple Leaf syrup to make a dough-like substance. Add the mixed spice! I used about half a tablespoon.

When it gets to this stage (as in the pic above), you have to remove the “dough” and place on a clean surface. I used greaseproof paper. You have to use your hands to work the “dough” so that there are no unmixed “powder” i.e. loose oats and ground almonds.

Work the “dough” so that it becomes smooth as in the pic below.

Once you have the “dough” as it is in the pic, you are now ready to use it as the base. Place in the baking tin, flatten out the “dough” so that the entire base is completely covered. Use the back of a tablespoon to make the edges even; it doesn't have to be perfect. Place in the fridge to harden…

Now we're ready to work on the tart… You'll need another mixing bowl. Get your sweet potatoes out, peel the skins and add the flesh to the bowl. Then add a splash of vanilla extract - a tablespoon and cinnamon. Use a hand blender to make the sweet potato smooth. When the hand mixer gets too warm take a break. Oh! I used a stainless steel mixing bowl and the hand mixer scratched the heck out of it! Still, it's better than plastic shavings. Next time, I will use a glass bowl!

You want to get the mixture as smooth as possible before adding the cocoa powder.

In the pic above, you can see that I've roughly measured the cocoa powder to fill the base of the container I used to ground the almonds. Then slowly add the cocoa to the sweet potato mix, add a tablespoon or 2 of Maple Leaf syrup to counter the bitterness of the cocoa powder.

Keep adding the cocoa powder bit by bit along with the Maple Leaf syrup. Taste to ensure it's not too bitter or too sweet. Keep mixing until you have a mousse-like texture.

Now melt the chocolate bars… You can use the steam or microwave method. I used the microwave for expediency. If you use a microwave, make sure you stop and mix the melting chocolate every 45 seconds. The smell or burning chocolate is horrid! Once fully melted, add to the sweet potato mix. This helps the mousse to set.

And when you're happy with the taste you're done! Remove the cake tin from the fridge containing the base and pour the sweet potato into the cake tin. Smooth out the sweet potato mix - no need for perfection. Return to the fridge to set.

Above: The next day…

I then used the desiccated coconut and dates to decorate. See below.

Enjoy!

With Love from Yours Truly,

Bear XOXOXOXOXO

P.S. Be sure to check out my other blog about Vegan Life: Bear's Vegan Lifestyle