Happily, I didn't need to back out. Along with the other 10 or so attendees, I had a great time and left with enough dessert to fuel me through the week.
The workshop was held in the Rawsome kitchen, which has the sort of bulk bought ingredients I wish my own kitchen was full of: large tubs of cacao, nuts and seeds; many jars of agave; and a huge amount of coconut oil. There are multiple thermomixes, large fridges, and the ovens are used for storage. It's a lovely place. It's also impressive to think of the number of products being churned out by Laila and her small (mostly family) team.
We were given recipes for the desserts we made on the night. Out of courtesy, I am not sharing them here, but will put my own twist on some of my favourites and post variations at a future date. For today, I hope you'll enjoy seeing what we created, and I am summarising some of the key things I learned. All photos are from my phone, so I apologise for that in advance!
Before getting to dessert, we started with a green smoothie and by making a batch of almond milk. Some of the almond pulp featured in recipes later, and I have realised just how poorly I've utilised my own almond pulp in the past.
From there, it was on to two cheesecakes (or cheesefakes as Laila more accurately calls them). Regular readers will know my dislike of regular cheesecake and my equal like of the raw vegan sort. Thus, it is no surprise that I loved this section of the class. Watching soaked cashews turn into cheesecake is something I will never get tired of.
The Fijian cheesecake may be my favourite dessert of the night. it includes a hefty dose of lime juice and a layer of banana between the base and the creamy topping. It packs citrus, coconut and fruit in each bite and I will definitely be experimenting with it at home (and sharing an adapted version with you).
The chocolate chai cheesecake was, ironically, probably my least favourite dessert of the night. It was creamy, rich, and entirely authentic in its cheesecake texture. Others loved it, and if you like cheesecake, I have no doubt you would too. For me, it was a bit too much - but extremely pretty.
After the cheesecakes, we made the smaller desserts: lamington bliss balls (which included the almond pulp) and moon rocks (very dense - hazelnuts, cacao, nut butter, and coconut oil!). Interestingly, both were made in a mixing bowl, a reminder that food processors aren't necessary for everything.
A food processor was necessary for the final dessert, which was incredibly fun to watch come together. Reminiscent of Hannah's raw chocolate brownies, it was a chocolate mudcake with walnuts, dates and cacao forming the bulk of the 'cake', and chocolate avocado mousse providing the icing. Mixed berries topped things off.
I have made Hannah's brownies, and I have made many a batch of chocolate avocado mousse, but I have never made anything quite like this cake. Rest assured - I shall be repeating it at home now.
You can freeze homemade nut milks. I don't know why this never occurred to me, but it is very helpful to know now. Freezing in ice cube moulds would be a really handy way to do things.
Setting raw cheesecakes for 2 hours in the freezer and then overnight in the fridge may give best results in setting speed and texture consistency.
I think I make my cheesecake bases too moist; Laila's were drier and probably more like traditional, biscuit crumb, bases.
Marbelling is a really effective way to fancify a cake!
You can do an incredible amount with a tiny ingredient list. Nuts, cacao, dates and coconut butter go a very long way.
If you make your own nut butters, adding brazil nuts to almond or cashew nut butters will help to reduce processing time and food processor effort. Brazil nuts have a higher fat content than almonds and cashews, so are more amenable to being turned into a spreadable form.
More generally, it deserves note that the workshop was well run and a very enjoyable way to spend a few hours. Laila is full of energy and clearly very enthuasiastic about what she does - and lots of fun to be around. I was also glad that while we had plenty of opportunities to participate in the processing / creating process, there was also no obligation to do so and you could sit back and watch if preferred.
Have you been to many / any food-related workshops? Or do you have any favourite raw / vegan dessert recipes of your own?
Thanks Kate! As for the almond pulp - throw it in a bowl with cocoa and a nut butter of choice. Mix together and then roll into balls and coat with coconut!
Wow - this looks awesome!! I have never done a raw dessert class but I have always wanted to experiment to see what each ingredient lends to the final product. I have made a few cheesecakes but they have all been so different, yet still so yummy. I totally want to try the marble swirl! I think my favourite so far has been my Better Than Nutella Cheesecake.
Wow, tbe cheesefakes and mud cake look devine!
Don't they just?! The magic of raw vegan desserts will never cease to amaze me.
I'm in love with that chocolate chai cheesecake - wow!
Really? It only took 15 mins of active prep time? It look so pretty. I can spend a couple of hours and it would never look that pretty!
I do doubt my abilities to get it that pretty ever, but I can assure you that wherever our skills will allow us to reach, we'll get there in an amazingly short period of time!
Long time no write :). I love raw desserts but find them really rich. A little goes a long way!
I love cheesecakes but am also interested in cheesefakes (love that new term for me) - the marble swirl looks so pretty and that whole workshop sounds like fun and a great learning experience - blogging is great but sometimes I miss the shared cooking I did sometimes in student houses, swapping tips and tasting what others make.
Thanks! They were really fun to make (or watch being made ;) ).
I'm glad you liked them - they were particularly helpful for me too!
I have been to a soy cooking class! it was great fun!
I'm so glad you had such an amazing experience! It sure sounds like it was a lot of fun! And delicious ;). Chocolate chai cheesecake really does sound good but since I'm not a huge fan of cheesecakes either, I may share the same opinion as you. I must try adding brazil nuts next time! So many wonderful tips. Thank you for sharing, Kari!
I think it would be worth it!
Oh these cakes look just divine! How did you get them to freeze so quickly during the class? Or were the cakes made beforehand? And thanks for the tips, freezing nut milk sounds so clever!
Thanks Sophie! Nothing was made beforehand but we did the cheescakes first and they went in the freezer for a couple of hours before the class finished :-) I think Laila added a little more coconut oil than usual too, to facilitate the setting! They were still a bit soft by the time we cut them, but obviously firm enough to cut and survive transfer to a container.