Raw Vegan Choc-Orange Tangerine Cake with Tangerine Essential Oil

Is it wrong to eat to make ourselves happy?

Yes, no, maybe.

Personally, I think there’s a lot to be said for the pleasure gained from good food eaten in good company. If that company happens to be me, myself and I, that’s fine too – as long as I don’t slide over to the dark side on the back of a Chiko roll sinking into the deep fryer or polish off a tub of ice-cream with a spoon in front of the telly. Eating in public can keep us honest more easily than being home alone.

But today’s recipe requires no closet eating in order to hide one’s shame: it’s raw, vegan and infused with Young Living Tangerine essential oil for extra flavour oomph and energising vitality.

Tangerine essential oil is a happy oil, along with its fellow members of the citrus family. Aromatically, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a cheerier oil to put in your diffuser. That said, one of my favourite Young Living blends for diffusing is Young Living Citrus Fresh™ which includes tangerine along with orange, grapefruit, lemon and mandarin and an enticing wave of spearmint.

By the way, if you’re still burning essential oils, please stop right now and learn in this post why it’s imperative to diffuse instead. You can pick up our easy guide to diffusing here.

Sweet-smelling tangerine essential oil is cold-pressed from the rind of tangerine fruit.

Thanks to the impeccable authentic purity of Young Living’s essential oils, you can also add certain ones in the range to food and drink.  This is yet another reason why I love Young Living products so much: I can add tangerine essential oil to carrier oil for massage, inhale it for a sweet sense of uplifting relief, add it to a spray bottle of water to freshen the air, AND I can add it to my smoothies, a glass of water, to salad dressing or name your dessert.

How amazing is that?!  It’s awesome knowing you can trust the quality this way.  It’s important to note while saying this that not all oils are intended by nature for us to pop down the hatch, so please only ingest oils when the label clearly states you can do so. You’ll need to order Young Living Tangerine Vitality essential oil for this recipe. You can do so via the link below.

And now, on to today’s recipe. We’ve adapted this from a beauty by Tess Masters, aka The Blender Girl.

Brace yourself: it takes only 15 minutes or so to make from start to finish. So for people who want everything yesterday, it ticks the Quick and Easy box as well as taking care of our nutrition. Hooray!

As with other raw dessert recipes based on coconut oil, the coconut oil will melt in warmer room temperatures, so please keep the cake refrigerated until just prior to serving – unless you’re enjoying it in autumn and winter! For Australian spring and summers, don’t even think about leaving it out for long.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Orange Cake

Recipe adapted from The Blender Girl, recipe image via The Blender Girl.

Prep time 15-20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

CRUST

• 1 cup (160g) whole raw almonds (pre-soak for optimal creamy consistency)
• 1 generous cup (160g) firmly packed chopped pitted fresh Medjool dates
  Option: substitute ¼ cup dates with Young Living Organic Dried Wolfberries, pre-soaked and plumped up in just enough Young Living NingXia Red® to cover them – drain off the NingXia Red before adding to the recipe and if desired, reserve the NingXia Red soaking juice to drizzle over the cake for serving
• ¼ cup (18g) cacao or unsweetened top quality cocoa powder

FILLING

• 1 cup (240ml) melted virgin coconut oil
• 1 cup (240ml) freshly squeezed organic orange juice
• ¾ cup (180ml) pure maple syrup or Young Living Blue Agave Nectar
• 1/2 cup (35g) cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 3 cups (420g) raw unsalted cashews, soaked
• ¼ tsp orange extract or 3-6 drops Young Living Tangerine Vitality essential oil
• Pinch of Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
• 1 tsp finely grated orange zest

TO SERVE

• shaved chocolate or chocolate bark
• finely grated orange zest
• ice cream / cream / cashew cream

METHOD

• Lightly grease or paper a 23/25cm (9/10 inch) springform pan
• Process almonds, dates and cacao/cocoa powder in your food processor until well combined and the mixture forms a dough. If the mixture doesn’t look like it will hold its shape, add another date or two until the texture looks firm enough
• Shape the dough into a ball
• Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared springform pan to make a lovely rustic crust and set aside (place in the fridge if making on a hot day and take it out when the filling is ready)
• Put the remaining ingredients into a high-speed blender in the order in which they are listed and blend until rich and creamy (around 2 minutes). Stop the blender regularly and scrape the mixture down the sides to really get a lovely smooth filling
• Pour the filling into the crust
• Cover the top with aluminium foil and freeze for 8 hours
• At least 1 ½ hours prior to serving, transfer the cake from your freezer to the fridge. After 30 minutes, remove the springform pan, cut the cake with a very sharp knife keeping the slices positioned together in the cake shape. Return to the fridge to complete its defrosting for another hour or more before serving
• Decorate with chocolate bark or shavings, orange zest and a drizzle of organic pouring cream or cashew cream

Remember: Because of the coconut oil, this filling will melt if left out at room temperature.

Essential oils are potent, so as always, please follow directions on the bottle and the usual guidelines for safe use of authentic essential oils.

Please ensure you are choosing a brand with complete transparency from seed to seal, such as Young Living. You can learn in this short video why we only ever recommend and choose Young Living oils and love them so much!

Enjoy the good oil daily.

The information on this site does not constitute advice. Please consult with your health practitioner. When using any of the products mentioned throughout this site, please be sure to read the labels and follow their suggestions for safe use. We make commissions from sales via many of the products we recommend but we only suggest products we genuinely enjoy and want you to benefit from. Recipe image © The Blender Girl. Product image used with permission © Young Living Essential Oils.