Chocolate Cauliflower Ice Cream Cake

One cauliflower cake leads to another... or so has been the case in my kitchen these last few weeks. Sweet cauliflower treats have been a fascinating playground. It's always incredibly satisfying when a new ingredient works a treat in substituting for another (in this case the cashews in many of my raw cakes), and these cauli cakes have definitely been fun to play around with. Of all the flavors I tried, this chocolate cauliflower cake version is my favorite one to date. It's smooth, light, and with a nice deep chocolatey flavor -- just what the (nut-free & lightened up dessert) doctor ordered ;)

It was such a happy discovery for me to be able to make a nut-free raw-style cake using this chameleon of a veggie. After making the creamy cauliflower breakfast bowl, the next natural progression was cake... So I made the famous cranberry cauliflower cake that seemed to have taken off like a storm -- so many remakes of it, and so many flavor variations that people sent in and shared made me happy to know I wasn't the only crazy who would think it was a good idea to make a cauliflower cake :D

Seems like nut-free & veggie filled cakes are in demand, and I'm happy to supply :), especially when the solution is something as simple as a creamy white veggie.... Someone jokingly suggested I needed to stock up on the cauli -- already done... freezer is packed ;) ...Get ye ready!

The one draw back to the cauliflower in these freezer cakes is that the cake is a little "icy" and more ice cream-like than my usual creamy and smooth cashew cakes. So I tried to offset that by folding in extra pumpkin seeds into the original cranberry cake, which helped with the texture quite a bit. But with this chocolate one I wanted to see what happens with just the addition of cacao. The cake was a lot more smooth and velvety and I like smooth and velvety, don't you? :) No added seeds were therefore needed.

I also added in some of my favorite chocolate flavor enhancers... you know, things that take a chocolate cake and turn it into CHOCOLATE cake ;) My usual go-tos: espresso powder and blackstrap molasses... Highly recommend not skipping for the ultimate chocolatey experience. And I threw in some maca powder for good measure.

I shared this cake with some friends to see what they thought and they loved it so much it was all gone in a sitting. They were absolutely shocked the main ingredient was cauliflower and said all they detected was an amazing chocolate treat and nothing more. I call that a pass.

P.S. If you're getting groovy vibes from this cake, I blame it on all the hippy music I listened to during the making of ;)

P.P.S. There are some video tutorials for how to make these types of swirl patterns in the Unconventional Treats video pack for those who have it and want to give it a go. Otherwise freestyle it ;)

Chocolate Cauliflower Ice Cream Cake

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★★★★★ 5 from 6 reviews

• Author: Audrey @ Unconventional Baker
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 6" cake
• Category: Cake
• Method: No-Bake
• Cuisine: Dessert

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Description

A smooth, light vegan cake with a deep chocolatey flavor and unexpected (and undetectable) cauliflower base. This recipe is also gluten-free, nut-free, and paleo.

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Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 ½ cups raw shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 9 soft medjool dates, pitted
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, liquefied
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

Filling:

• 4 ½ cups cooked cauliflower florets (steam or boil beforehand, and completely cooled off)
• 9 tbsp coconut oil, liquefied
• 9 tbsp maple syrup
• 6 tbsp plant milk (best to avoid coconut milk)*
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp maca powder (optional)
• ¾ tsp salt
• 9 tbsp cocoa powder**
• 1 tbsp unsulphured blackstrap molasses
• ¾ tsp instant espresso powder

Optional Toppings:

• cacao nibs, chocolate chips, shaved chocolate, pepitas

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Instructions

1. Process all crust ingredients except maple syrup in a food processor into a sticky crumble. Add in the maple syrup and process briefly once again to mix it in. Transfer this mixture into a 6" springform pan and press into an even crust. Freeze while working on the next step.
2. Blend all filling ingredients, except cacao, molasses, and espresso, into a smooth uniform mixture. Set aside about 4-5 tablespoon of this white mixture for swirls (optional)(I just pulled some out using my icing pen tool). Add cacao, molasses, and espresso and blend once again to combine. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pan over the crust. Swirl in the white filling into a pattern of your choice. Sprinkle with any decorative toppings.
3. Freeze the cake for 6 hours or overnight to set. Enjoy! Keep leftovers frozen.

Notes

*I recommend using freshly made plant milk if possible (although commercial varieties can work well too, though go for ones with the least amount of additives for a recipe like this). Something like this homemade pumpkin seed milk can work well for a nut-free alternative. I usually personally use vanilla almond milk (not a nut-free alternative) when I make this cake. I recommend avoiding coconut milk as it sometimes conflicts with some of the other ingredients (due to a negative interaction) and can spoil the flavor of the cake.

**Best to use alkalized cocoa powder instead of raw cacao powder for this recipe.

***Cake in photos is a 4" mini cake (⅓ of this recipe)