Vegan tiramisu
Difficulty level: medium | Yield: 6 servings | prep time: 4 hours
Ever desire a decadent and super yummy dessert, and found yourself in a cross-road because you are trying to eat healthy and most desserts out there are everything but healthy. The classics pastries and baked goods are often made with tons of butter, sugar and refined flours. I am not saying it would be bad to have a slice of cake once in a while, but it is good to have options that make us feel at peace with our food choices.
This vegan tiramisu is all of that: it is a classic, super yummy, sweet and made with real food - in that sense, it is real food! I have been eating a slice after lunch for the past 3 days and, gosh, I can’t get enough of it!
What is in it that makes it so good? To start, instead of using regular lady-finger cookies, I made the sponge cake from scratch using only healthful ingredients that I trust. The inner cream layers are made with a mix of vegan cream-cheese and cashew butter and the top layer is a mix of whip aquafaba and coconut butter. See, not one ingredient that is highly processed, and the fats in it are the ones you can feel good eating! Because I did not use regular wheat flour, this recipe is also gluten-free.
Ingredients
Sponge cake
2 cups of brown rice flour
4 cups of oat milk (unsweetened)
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
2 tablespoon of monkey fruit sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 cup of espresso at room temperature - I used decaf beans, but regular ones is okay too!
4 tablespoons of raw cocoa powder
1 shot of rum (optional)
1/2 of warm water
Inner cream
2 tablespoons of original (non-salted) vegan cream-cheese
3 tablespoons of cashew butter
1/2 cup of oat milk
Juice of half a lime
Water from 1/2 can of chickpeas (aquafaba) - chilled
1/2 tablespoon monkey fruit sugar
Top cream
Water from 1 and 1/2 can of chickpeas (aquafaba) - chilled
1/2 tablespoon of monkey fruit sugar
1 tablespoon of slightly melted coconut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Sponge cake
Pre-heat the oven at 190C / 350F. Make a 1 cup of espresso and reserve. In a bowl add brown rice flour, oat milk, coconut oil, monkey fruit sugar, vanilla extract and baking powder. Mix well using a electric mixer or hand whisker. Once the batter is smooth transfer to a shallow baking tray - I used a regular cookie tray that is 18 by 13 inches . Take to the oven for 15 min. Once the cake is ready take to the freezer to chill.
While the cake is baking use the water to melt the raw cocoa powder. Add the raw cocoa to a bowl and add the warm water, mix well until the cocoa is completely melted. It should be smooth and slightly runny. Add 1/4 of the coffee to the mix and whisk until it is well blended. Reserve.
Inner cream
Using an electric mixer whip the all 2 cans of aquafaba, remove 1/3 and keep the rest in the fridge. In a bowl add the vegan cream-cheese, monkey fruit sugar and cashew butter, using an electric mixer mix all ingredients until it is creamy. Add the aquafaba whip and mix gently using a spatula. Let it rest in the fridge.
Top cream
Remove the reserve aquafaba whip from the fridge, add the vanilla extract, monkey fruit sugar and using the electric mixer whip it a little longer until it is soft the puff. Using an spatula mix in the coconut butter, whisking gently. Take it to the fridge.
Assembly