The famous Black Forest gateau does without sponge cake and whipped cream here. A crunchy base of walnuts, dates and raw cacao holds a smooth cashew cream, flavoured with cacao butter, whose taste is reminiscent of white chocolate. The cherries and blackberries, crushed into a little leftover cream, draw tangy swirls across the top. No baking at all: two hours in the freezer are enough to get neat slices when you cut it.
Raw Black Forest cake with cherries and blackberries
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Ingredients
For the base
- 300 g walnuts
- 225 g pitted dates
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder
- 25 g raw cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons raw cacao nibs (optional)
- 1 pinch of salt (or the equivalent of 1 tablespoon - 15 ml - of seawater)
For the filling
- 390 g cashew nuts
- 1 tin of coconut cream (about 400 ml), placed in the fridge the day before
- 60 g raw cacao butter, melted
- 60 ml runny honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 70 g blackberries
- 75 g pitted cherries
Method
The base
- Blend all the base ingredients in the food processor until you get a dough that holds together when you press it between your fingers.
- Press it evenly into the bottom of a cake tin, ideally a springform tin, and set aside in the fridge.
The filling
- Gently melt the cacao butter in a bain-marie, in a small pan set inside a larger one filled with hot water. Remove it as soon as it is liquid, without letting it heat any further.
- Blend all the filling ingredients except the blackberries and cherries until you get a smooth, creamy cream. Taste and adjust the honey or lemon if needed.
- Pour the filling over the base, keeping back 3 to 4 tablespoons of cream.
Decoration and setting
- Stir the blackberries and cherries into the reserved cream, crushing them lightly with a fork.
- Place small dabs of this mixture on the cake, then draw swirls with the tip of a knife.
- Place in the freezer for at least 2 hours before serving.
Tip
The coconut cream must be very cold and firm: put the tin in the fridge the day before and use mainly the solid part; the remaining liquid can be used to adjust the texture of the filling. For neat slices, take the cake out 15 minutes before serving and cut it with a knife run under hot water. Out of season, frozen sour cherries, thawed and well drained, work perfectly.
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FAQ: your questions about the raw Black Forest cake
What is a quick and easy Black Forest cake recipe?
The raw version is probably the quickest: no sponge to bake and no cream to whip. Blend 300 g walnuts, 225 g dates and 25 g raw cacao for the base, then 390 g cashews with the coconut cream, the melted cacao butter, the honey and the lemon for the filling. The crushed cherries and blackberries are used for the marbled decoration. Allow twenty minutes of preparation and two hours in the freezer.
What is the best Black Forest cake recipe?
The traditional German recipe layers chocolate sponge, whipped cream and sour cherries, often flavoured with kirsch. This raw version keeps the same trio of flavours, chocolate, cream and cherry, but replaces the sponge with a walnut and raw cacao base, and the whipped cream with a cashew and coconut cream. The secret is the same in both cases: nicely tart cherries to balance the sweetness of the cream.
What dessert can you make with cashew nuts?
Blended after soaking, cashew nuts give a neutral, very creamy cream that serves as the base for many no-bake desserts: raw cheesecakes, custard-style creams, plant-based ice creams or cake fillings like this one. For this Black Forest cake, 390 g cashews are enough for a standard cake tin. If your blender is not very powerful, soak them for 2 to 3 hours and drain them, and the cream will be all the smoother.
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