I can hardly believe it, but this simple, decadent, rustic, marzipan-inspired little almond butter cake has been hanging out in a folder on my computer somewhere for over a year now. I plain forgot to put it on the blog. Whoops!
So let's fix that...
I made this little cake as a cashew-free alternative, since so many of you ask for that in the raw desserts. So here you go -- an almond-based treat alternative. It was made in the height of my obsession with the most delicious, creamy, and smooth almond butter ever. Coupled with a bit of almond extract and raspberries (though just with chocolate would be amazing too) --> ✨ This near-raw beauty is fudgey, almost caramel-like, and tastes like marzipan.
Bonus points: this recipe is great for those that don't have a power blender or a blender powerful enough to get raw nuts into the smooth consistency generally needed for raw treats.
Quick note: I put coconut oil in the ingredients because I liked it better with it in terms of consistency/ease of working, but I'd say it's highly optional if you prefer to go coconut-free or oil-free here. You can add a bit of plant milk instead to the filling and be good to go. Just beware it'll be slightly meltier, read: eat straight away (but why wait anyhow, when you've got a cake like this on your plate, right?! ?).
I made this in my tiny 5″ springform pan. To adjust to other pan sizes, see downloadable cake conversion chart below. You can also make it in a smaller size in muffin cups (just make sure to use a strip of parchment underneath so you can pull them out easily), or any lined small dish of your choice.
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Raspberry Almond Fudge Cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes- Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 5" cake
Category: Cake
Method: Raw
Cuisine: Dessert
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Pin RecipeDescription
A simple, decadent marzipan inspired almond cake topped with fresh raspberries. Raw vegan cake made without cashews. Rich, rustic, and fudgey. Gluten-free.
Ingredients
Crust:
- ¾ cup raw (or toasted) almonds (or a nut or seed of your choice)
- 1 soft medjool date, pitted
- ½ tbsp maple syrup
- ½ tbsp coconut oil
Filling:
- 5 tbsp smooth natural almond butter
- 5 tbsp maple syrup or agave
- 3 tbsp coconut oil, liquefied (but not hot!)
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- dash of salt
Toppings:
- fresh raspberries, cacao nibs or shaved chocolate
Instructions
- Process all crust ingredients into a fine sticky crumble in a food processor. Transfer into a 5" springform pan and press into a crust with your fingers, covering the base and wall edges all the way to the top (I made the wall edges thinner and the base thicker). Freeze while working on next step.
- Blend all filling ingredients in a blender into a smooth consistency. Transfer into the cake pan over the prepared crust and smooth out the top with a spoon. Top with raspberries or other toppings.
- Freeze for 5 hours or overnight. Thaw out a few minutes prior to serving and enjoy! Keep leftovers frozen.
Hello Audrey! I was wondering if I skip the maple syrup and used only sugar how many tablespoons should I use and do I need to add some sort of liquid for the maple syrup? If yes, can I do thaf with all your cakes? just use sugar + oil/milk/water? would I substitute 1:1? sorry for such a long text!
Hi Mila, hmm... well definitely can't speak for all recipes as I'm sure there are always exceptions I can't think of right at this moment. But in this case, you can definitely give that a try with this recipe. Since sugar is a bit sweeter than maple, you can use a bit less (to taste; to put in perspective usually in terms of sweetness 1 cup sugar is considered to equal 3/4 cup maple syrup), and then you'll need to add a little bit of liquid to compensate and to ensure the mixture blends smoothly.
If you give it a try, would love to hear how it worked out for you and what ratio you used :)
Thank you so much for your reply! Right now I have 5 cakes ( all from your website) in the freezer as I’m experimenting:) I used to make them exactly as written as I’d always use maple syrup. But now I live in a different country and it is impossible to find any syrup only honey but I don’t eat honey... So all I can get is sugar..
three of the cakes are extremely icy.. So I guess there was too much liquid although I used sugar instead of maple syrup and never added any extra liquid. But two of the cakes are great:) I’m moving house in a week so after that I’m planning to make other of your cakes! They all look so pretty!!
Very interesting. Thank you for the follow up! When you are done moving... :) I'd be interested to hear what made the two cakes that turned out great work? What ratio of sugar instead of maple syrup, etc. you used.
These are amazing! I’ve made them 3 times. They do taste like caramel!
★★★★★
So happy you've been enjoying the recipe, Marie! :) Thanks for the feedback.
I made this and it is amazing!! I love all of the recipes that have tried. Probably 6 or 7.
Thanks so much for the lovely feedback, Marie! So glad you've been enjoying the recipes and this cake :)
The amount of filling ingredients does not seem to enough to create what is pictured. Is there something missing?
Hi Kathleen. It's a really tiny cake :) Only 4" in diameter, hence the small amount of filling required. There's 15+ tbsp of substance in the filling, which is equivalent to just under 1 cup (16 tbsp) + the raspberries on top.
If you want to size the recipe up to a larger size, you can see the downloadable raw cake multiplication helper beneath the recipe.
This looks perfect, and makeable! Can I use already frozen raspberries or would they not work?
Thank you!
Hi Jenny. You could use them, but they might not look as nice visually (I find they're often clumped up or smooshed when frozen). Another option is to thaw them out a little and mash them up with a hint of maple syrup (or plain) and spread that on top of the cake. I'd probably do the latter if all I had was frozen raspberries on hand.