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Day Four | Mr Popple's | Dense raw chocolate mousse

Posted by 2 · March 25, 2012

Day Three's winner of CHOC Chick master Kit is Stewart Johnston. The winner is chosen at random, but their answer to 'What famous living person would you make your own raw chocolates for?' was 'Helen Mirren'. Congratulations Stewart!

ELEVEN DAYS OF RAW CHOCOLATE GIVE-AWAYS

TODAY'S PRIZE: Complete collection of Mr Popple's raw chocolate bars

1 x 88% Strong

1 x Cherry Aid

1 x Euphoric Orange

1 x Uplifting Mint & Lime

1 x 69% Strong

1 x Super Fruit

worth £17.95 (US $28.50)
www.mrpoppleschocolate.co.uk

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MY REVIEW

88% Strong ingredients: totally raw cacao solids (88%), yacon syrup

Cherry Aid ingredients: totally raw cacao solids (57%), yacon syrup, lucuma, yacon, cherries

Euphoric Orange ingredients: totally raw cacao solids (69%), yacon syrup, lucuma, yacon, natural orange flavouring

Uplifting Mint & Lime: totally raw cacao solids (69%), yacon syrup, lucuma, yacon, natural lime flavouring, organic peppermint flavouring

69% Strong ingredients: totally raw cacao solids (69%), yacon syrup, lucuma, yacon

Super Fruit ingredients: totally raw cacao solids (57%), yacon syrup, lucuma, yacon, goji and inca berries, blackcurrents and bilberries

My Popple's chocolate bars is my most recent discovery online, where the natural, warm and welcoming tones of their website instantly made me want to explore their products. When the chocolate collection arrived at my door, I was over the moon to find the packaging look and feel just as they did on my screen! That is- very cool, creative and tastefully designed.

The flavour I went for first was always going to be anything peppermint, and I just loved that Mr Popple had a combo of 'mint and lime'! I would've liked for the flavour to be more pronounced, but then again I'm the biggest critic of my mints. So the next bar I decided to sample was 'cherry aid' which surprised even me, because cherry is not something I'd ever liked combined in anything. Until now! What a delicious surprise! It just gave so much depth, flavour and texture to the chocolate, BIG thumbs up!

Euphoric Orange is a delicious bars and like the rest, being packed with superfoods- pretty much a good meal replacement. The chocs are a little grainy, so don't expect a smooth creamy melt, but this is actually a really good thing, I love that for a change. To me it just makes it obvious how much amazing superfood you are having and how close the ingredients are to their natural state, which is so hard to find these days in packaged products, even many raw food brands. I love that the bars include yacon syrup for a sweetener instead of the common agave.

Super fruit was another surprise for me. I would never go for a fruit and nut kind of bar, because I end up picking out all the raisins (just can't do raisins), and to my biggest ever delight- no raisins!! But what there was is a generous selection of the most beautiful dried fruits and berries ever- even inca berries, the taste took me all the way back to Ecuador for a moment... a really really good moment.

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RECIPE SUGGESTION: DENSE RAW CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

1 1/2 ripe avocado

1 bar of Mr Popple's 88% Strong

3 medjool dates, pitted

10-15 drops natural vanilla extract

Grate the entire chocolate bar and melt gently either in a double boiler or a dehydrator

Transfer to a blender and add all the remaining ingredients

Blend well with a tamper or by pulsing

Serve with berries

[This mousse is so delicious, try using it as a base for nut shakes too, just add nut milk and blend]

How do you like the recipe? If you do, just wait till you see another 21 in my eBook Seduced- Raw Chocolate Recipes to get very excited for! Available to download in seconds! More please>>

________________________________________________________________________

HOW TO ENTER TODAY'S GIVE-AWAY

Your entry is 3 steps away:

1. Go to Better Raw's Facebook page and 'Like' the page if you haven't done so yet

2. Click the 'Share' button on today's Facebook announcement for the Give-Away and paste this into your status "I just entered this awesome chocolate give-away, you should too!" and then click 'share status'

3. Click the 'Comment' button on today's Facebook announcement and answer this question "What is your favourite flavour of all time?"

The terms: All three steps must be completed for your entry to be valid. Competition is open to everyone worldwide, I will post anywhere. You must be a Facebook user, sorry no answers will be taken into consideration if posted elsewhere on the internet this time. There are 11 prizes to be won, one prize per day. Today's entry is for today's prize only, please come back again tomorrow to enter for a different new prize. Winners will be chosen randomly using random.org.

2 comments

Day Three | CHOC Chick | Raw Chocolate fruit nut clusters

Posted by 2 · March 24, 2012

Day Two's winner of Mulu raw chocolate bars and buttons is Kelly Mitchell. The winner is chosen at random, but her answer to the question 'If you could only grow one thing in your garden, what would it be?' is 'would have to be cherries xx yummy xx'. Congratulations Kelly!

ELEVEN DAYS OF RAW CHOCOLATE GIVE-AWAYS

TODAY'S PRIZE: CHOC Chick Master Kit

1 x Organic raw cacao butter 250gm

1 x Organic raw cacao powder 250gm

1 x Sweet Freedom- low GL natural sweetener from fruit 300gm

4 x gift bags and stickers

1 x CHOC Chick recipe book

worth £24.99 (US $39.50)
www.chocchick.com

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MY REVIEW

CHOC Chick and their famous slogan 'Love Chocolate? Make Chocolate!' have been hitting lots of press as of recently and for good reason! More and more people are discovering the amazing supercharge, superpower, super-health benefits of raw cacao and more and more people want to have a go at making their very own chocs!

"The new CHOC Chick Master kit is perfect for those who have discovered how easy making raw chocolate is and want to indulge in a range of raw chocolate recipes and share the love."

The pictured white and dark layers of chocolates are one of my creations in Seduced, using Choc Chick's cacao butter and cacao powder. You know I do love making my own chocolate and having the butter and powder as separate ingredients, I can always play with different chocolate intensities from white to milky to really dark chocolate, just by changing the proportions.

This kit has all the beautiful quality and basic ingredients you need to get started with your chocolate making and has enough in there to make around 80 individual raw chocolates or 6-8 chocolate bars (using plastic containers) and over 100 truffles! Also use it to create a bunch of recipes (included in the kit) such as raw chocolate cake, ice cream, chocolate mousse, fondue and chocolate cocktails (CHOCtails!)

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RECIPE SUGGESTION: FRUIT& NUT CLUSTERS

1/2 cup melted cacao butter
1/2 cup cacao powder
2 Tbsp Sweet Freedom
Pinch salt
2 cups mix of dried fruits and nuts (I used- pineapple, goji berries, macadamia nuts, almonds and cacao nibs)

Gently melt the cacao butter in a double boiler or a dehydrator
Add the cacao powder and stir well
Add the sweetener and salt and stir well
Pour the chocolate mixture over the fruit and nuts in a bowl and stir
Scoop the mixture by the spoonful onto a non stick or lined tray
Transfer to the fridge to set for 15 minutes
Store in the fridge

This recipe was especially selected from my eBook Seduced-Raw Chocolate Recipes to get very excited for! How do you like it? If you do, just wait till you see another 21 creations! Available to download in seconds! More please>>

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HOW TO ENTER TODAY'S GIVE-AWAY

Your entry is 3 steps away:

1. Go to Better Raw's Facebook page and 'Like' the page if you haven't done so yet

3. Click the 'Comment' button on today's Facebook announcement and answer this question "What famous living person would you like to make your own raw chocolates for?"

0 comments

Day Two | MULU Raw | Jumbo chocolate chip cookies, no dehydrator

Posted by 2 · March 23, 2012

Day One's winner of Pulsin' brownies and Beond snack bars is Steve Andrew! Steve's answer to 'If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?' is 'Plum'. Congratulations Steve!!!

ELEVEN DAYS OF RAW CHOCOLATE GIVE-AWAYS

TODAY'S PRIZE: Mix box of MULU raw chocolate bars and buttons

3 x Mulu Dark with raw cacao nibs 68gm

2 x Mulu Silk 74gm

2 x Mulu Dark 74gm

8 x Raw Chocolate Buttons 22gm

worth £28.95 (US $46)

www.muluchocolate.co.uk

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MY REVIEW

Mulu Dark with raw cacao nibs ingredients: raw cacao mass, raw agave nectar, raw cacao butter, raw cacao nibs, sunflower lecithin, bourbon vanilla, (cocoa solids minimum 67%)

Mulu Silk ingredients: raw cacao butter, raw agave nectar, raw cacao powder, sunflower lecithin, ground vanilla, (cocoa solids minimum 65%)

Mulu Dark ingredients: raw cacao butter, raw agave nectar, raw cacao powder, sunflower lecithin, ground vanilla, (cocoa solids minimum 70%)

Mulu Raw Chocolate Buttons ingredients: raw cacao butter, raw agave nectar, raw cacao powder, sunflower lecithin, ground vanilla, (cocoa solids minimum 58%)

I absolutely love the simplicity of just five ingredients in MULU products. Five best ingredients in the world of chocolate making and Mulu picked them all and married them in a way I love to enjoy my chocolate.

But there is so much more to these bars. The packaging is just gorgeous- my boyfriend Elliot being in marketing taught me to appreciate the right fonts and colours for specific brands- I have NOTHING to criticise Mulu for! The square shape of their bars also adds to the enjoyment experience, because not only is it already different by being raw and vegan, but Mulu is not trying to be anything like their non vegan conventional chocolate counterpart. Also you can break them up into little squares and have a whole plate of mini chocolates to serve at dinner parties. So many possibilities!

When choosing my favourite, logically I would have to go for the Dark with Cacao nibs- it does after all have it all- the smoothness of a chocolate bar, the added crunch of texture and the richness of cacao, but I'm going for Silk! This bar really hit the spot for me on my constant quest for creamy, 'milky', indulgent chocolate!

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RECIPE SUGGESTION:
NO DEHYDRATOR JUMBO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2 packets MULU's raw chocolate buttons

1 cup cashews

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

3 Tbsp coconut butter/oil

10 drops natural vanilla extract

1/4 tsp himalayan sea salt

Process the cashews in a food processor until broken down

Add the remaining ingredients apart from chocolate buttons and process until well combined

Lay out a teflex sheet or another non stick sheet/tray and divide up the mixture into five equal portions onto it

Form balls from each part of the mixture and flatten them into pancakes

Use your hands or a soft spatular to smooth out the edges of each cookie

Gently press in the chocolate buttons, slightly tilted so they can set in the 'dough' [Note I chopped some buttons into halves]

Transfer to the fridge to set for an hour

Store in the fridge in an airtight container

How do you like the recipe? If you do, just wait till you see another 21 in my eBook Seduced- Raw Chocolate Recipes to get very excited for! Available to download in seconds! More please>>

________________________________________________________________________

HOW TO ENTER TODAY'S GIVE-AWAY

Your entry is 3 steps away:

1. Go to Better Raw's Facebook page and 'Like' the page if you haven't done so yet

3. Click the 'Comment' button on today's Facebook announcement and answer this question "If you could only grow one thing in your garden, what would it be?"

The terms: All three steps must be completed for your entry to be valid. Competition is open to everyone worldwide, I will post anywhere. You must be a Facebook user, sorry no answers will be taken into consideration if posted elsewhere on the internet. There are 11 prizes to be won, one prize per day. Today's entry is for today's prize only, please come back again tomorrow to enter for a different new prize. Winners will be chosen randomly.

4 comments

Day One | Pulsin' & Beond | Chocolate sauce

Posted by 2 · March 22, 2012

ELEVEN DAYS OF RAW CHOCOLATE GIVE-AWAYS

TODAY'S PRIZE: Mix Case of Pulsin' brownies and Beond snack bars

12 x Pulsin' Raw Choc Brownie 50gm

6 x Beond organic raw chic bar 40gm

4 x Beond organic acai berry bar 40gm

worth £33 (US $52)
www.pulsin.co.uk

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MY REVIEW

Pulsin' Raw Choc Brownie is a luxurious snack of dates, cashew butter, raisins, peruvian raw cacao, almonds, brown rice malt, cacao butter, brown rice powder, vanilla pods. sea salt and green tea extract.

The moment I picked up this brownie in its packet, I knew it was going to be dense and chewy- it felt nice and heavy for the packaging it was it- exciting! I was right- dense, sticky, chewy and chocolatey, the way a brownie should be. Most of all I loved whole almonds all through the brownie, so pretty much every bite had a nice crunch to it as well, makes everything so much more fun!

Beond Acai berry bar ingredients: raw dates, raw almonds, raw raspberry powder, raw acai powder, raspberry flavour. Beond Raw choc bar ingredients: raw dates, raw almonds, raw cacao powder, raw raisins, raw agave nectar.

The raw choc bar has actually been my recovery food after running for well over a year now, so you can imagine my delight when Beond agreed to participate in the competition. It's pretty filling for a small bar and I love everything about it- the texture, chewiness and of course the taste. The Acai Berry Bar is simply ridiculous! I don't even know what to say. My favourite raw snack bar on the market!! It is so juicy, soft, chewy, sweet and tangy all at the same time. It also just melts in your mouth and disappears far too quickly. Top marks!

The winner will be mega pleased that's for sure!

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RECIPE SUGGESTION: SIMPLE RAW CHOCOLATE SAUCE

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/3 cup cacao powder

1/2 cup pure water (or better yet for a milk chocolate sauce version- nut milk)

1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract

1/4 tsp himalayan sea salt

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth

Serving suggestion: warm up the brownies and sauce in a dehydrator and serve or blend the sauce for a while until it heats up slightly. [Also you do get much more sauce than is pictured, so do serve your brownies in a whole bed of it, or if any is left over, just add nut milk and whizz it up into a smoothie]

How do you like the recipe? If you do, just wait till you see another 21 in my eBook Seduced- Raw Chocolate Recipes to get very excited for! Available to download in seconds! More please>>

________________________________________________________________________

HOW TO ENTER TODAY'S GIVE-AWAY

Your entry is 3 steps away:

1. Go to Better Raw's Facebook page and 'Like' the page if you haven't done so yet

2. Click the 'Share' button on today's Facebook announcement for the Give-Away and paste this into your status "I just entered this awesome chocolate give-away, you should too!" and click 'share status'

3. Click the 'Comment' button on today's Facebook announcement and answer this question "If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?"

The terms: All three steps must be completed for your entry to be valid. Competition is open to everyone worldwide, I will post anywhere. You must be a Facebook user, sorry no answers will be taken into consideration if posted elsewhere on the internet. There are 11 prizes to be won, one prize per day. Today's entry is for today's prize only, please come back again tomorrow to enter for a different new prize. Winners will be chosen randomly.

5 comments

Raw Food Red Velvet Cake and Caramel Cream Icing

Posted by 2 · February 06, 2012

Valentines day is next week! You know what that means...
My Valentine gets a brand new beautiful cake and you get a brand new beautiful recipe.
Everybody wins!

Last year, when I posted the recipe for Raw Food Chocolate Cupcakes with Red Frosting and Chocolate shaped hearts, it quickly became one of the most popular posts in the entire history of my blog and remained in that category ever since. I recently noticed a massive amount of traffic coming to my website via Pinterest and to my surprise and delight I then discovered, it was all thanks these exact luxury looking raw food creations of love!

I always put a little extra time and effort into a special Valentine's Day treat for Elliot and this year was no exception! I've dreamed about creating Red Velvet Cupcakes for so long now, trying to make up formulas in my mind about how to substitute ALL the not-so-good for you ingredients in a traditional recipe for the best-ever-in-the-whole-world ingredients, without fake colourings, processed or animal products, but still tasting divine...

Well I could spend all day selling to you the scrumptiousness of how the cake turned out or quote all the amazing things Elliot said about it, but you really MUST try this for yourself!

PS If you are more into a live class and would love to see how I make it step by step, as well as learn how I make swirly marble tarts, cheesecakes and brownies, there are still a couple of spots left for the brand new Raw Food Sweet Sensations workshop, come and join me!

RAW FOOD RED VELVET AND CARAMEL ICING CAKE

For the essentials
7 inch (18cm) adjustable cake tin
blender
food processor

For the red cake

3 cups almond meal (left from making milk out of 4-5 cups soaked almonds)*

1/2 cup beetroot juice (from about 2 beets)**

8 medjool dates, pitted

4 Tbsp lemon juice

3 Tbsp cacao powder

pinch salt

For the icing

2 cups cashews, soaked overnight

3/4 cup coconut butter, gently melted

1/2 cup lukuma powder

1/3 cup agave

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 vanilla pod

For the optional decorations

goji berries

mulberries

*The prepared almond milk will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge and actually is an amazing compliment to this cake. Otherwise make superfood shakes or freeze in ice cube trays to use in smoothies later

**If you don't have a juicer, use the blender, like I've done here. Blend up the beetroot and strain the juice through a nut bag/ cheese cloth

-Process all the red cake ingredients in a food processor with an S blade

-For the icing, firstly scrape out the seeds from a whole vanilla pod. To do so, slice the pod in half lengthwise, then use a teaspoon to literally scrape all the seeds out until the inside of the pod is dry

-Blend all the soaked cashews with melted coconut butter, agave and lemon juice until smooth, then add the seeds of the vanilla pod and lukuma powder, blend until combined

-If your icing mixture happens to be really runny, add more lukuma. If too think, add more melted coconut butter. If it is too warm/hot, transfer to the fridge for a few minutes to cool down before icing the cake

-Now for the tricky/fun part: divide the red cake mixture into three equal parts, take one part and distribute it along the bottom of the cake tin, firmly pressing it down with your hand or a soft spatula. The trick here is not to spread a layer of icing and then add another layer of cake, as it will all turn into one big splurgy mess when you try and make a firm smooth layer of the cake again... so...

-Open up the cake tin and with a help of a knife or spatula, carefully remover the layer of cake and transfer to a clean serving plate, spread a layer of icing on top. Repeat this process of creating the red cake layer two more times, each time carefully removing it out of the cake tin, placing on top of the frosting layer and icing it again

-When all three layers of red cake and icing are structured into a cake, use the remainder of the frosting to cover the sides of your cake, until the red colour is no longer peaking through

-Decorate with berries / dried fruit of your choice

-Place in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours to set, then slice with a sharp knife, wiping it clean with a paper towel after each slicing

Happy day of love!!!

14 comments

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