Henrietta from Clean Cakes has become a firm favourite of ours at teapigs HQ – she kindly whipped up some absolutely BEAUTIFUL chai cakes for our birthday party and is always keen to share her wonderful tea inspired recipes with us!
This month, we’re all about matcha in a bid to kick start the New Year and get back on track following the indulgent festive months. Sadly this means trying to avoid our favourite past time, cake. Luckily, Henrietta’s recipes are as clean as they possibly can be (whoop!) and she’s been kind enough to share her cracking recipe for matcha, lime and blueberry cakes with us all – Yum!
Matcha-moringa cacao-buckwheat-crunch base
60g pumpkin seeds
60g sunflower seeds
60g buckwheat groats
1 tsp matcha green tea powder
1 scant tsp moringa powder, I use Aduna
½ tsp Himalayan pink salt
20g cacao nibs
120g Medjool dates
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp water, preferably filtered
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
Blueberry cream
200g cashew nuts, soaked with 400ml filtered water with ½ scant tsp Himalayan pink salt for 3-4 hours
130g/ml almond milk
80g raw honey
100g coconut oil, melted
4 tsp blueberry powder, I use Arctic Power Berries
6 tsp lemon juice
Avocado lime mousse
135g avocado flesh
170g natural coconut yogurt
35g coconut nectar syrup, blonde
25g raw clear honey
55g coconut oil, melted
Finely grated zest 1 lime
50ml lime juice
Start by soaking the cashew nuts for the blueberry layer.
To make the matcha-moringa base, line a 30cm x 20cm brownie tin with baking parchment. Place all the ingredients from the pumpkin seeds to the cacao nibs in a food processor and blitz a few times. Add the rest of the ingredients until everything comes together. Tip the mix out into your prepared tin and press it in until even and flat. It's helpful to put a piece of baking parchment over the raw base, and press the base out and smooth it with your hand. Freeze.
To make the blueberry layer, drain and rinse the cashew nuts thoroughly. Place everything in a blender and blend until completely smooth, stopping now and again and scraping the mix down. Pour over the base, spread the mix out and then bang it a few times on a surface, just to make sure that it's all level. Now place the tray in the fridge until the blueberry layer has set firm; this can take up to 4 hours so leave it overnight if you want.
For the avocado lime mousse, place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour over the firm blueberry layer and return to the fridge to set once more, which will take a few hours. When set, cut into squares. To make nice clean cuts, dip a sharp knife in hot water then dry it before cutting each slice; clean the knife in the hot water, dry and cut again; continue for the rest of the cake. I like to cut my cakes into about 3.5cm square pieces, but see what size you prefer.
Decorate with fresh blueberries, buckwheat groats, seeds and edible flowers (I use violas, violets and pansies from my garden). The cakes will last in the fridge for a good 4 days.
Enjoy!
NOTES-
Replace the raw honey with coconut nectar syrup if you are vegan.
For an alternative finish, leave the avocado lime mousse in a separate container in the fridge until set. When set and the cakes have been cut into squares, pipe four circles of the mousse on top of each square, using a piping bag fitted with a size 10mm nozzle.
Replace the moringa powder with more matcha if you don’t have moringa.
To see more of Henrietta's recipes, be sure to check out her website: http://www.henscleancakes.com/
