Meredith invented the definitive chocolate cake for our upcoming book, Everyday Raw Desserts.  She and her friend Simone prepared it this weekend for the birthday dinner of my partner, Dara Prentice, which was held on the patio of 105degrees.

Triple Layer Cacao Cake

Wet Ingredients

• 3 C Date Paste
• ½ C Almond Milk
• ½ C Maple Syrup or Agave
• 5 tbsp Vanilla
• ½ C Coconut Oil, melted

Dry Ingredients

• 4 C Almond flour
• 4 C Hazelnut flour
• 1 C Coconut Powder
• 1 C Cacao Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• *¼ C Irish Moss Paste can be used with wet ingredients or ¼ C flax meal with the dry.
  This is optional and creates a fluffier mixture.

Wet Ingredients

In a vita mix thoroughly blend all the wet ingredients except for the coconut oil until smooth. Then add the coconut oil and continue to blend until well combined.

To Make Cake Batter

In a mixer or food processor mix the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Slowly add the wet ingredients. It is better to use a standing mixture as this will keep the mixture lighter and more fluffy, but if you do not have a standing mixer it can be done in the food processor if you lightly pulse the wet ingredients in. You do not want a dense heavily blended mixture.

Fudge Frosting

• 2 C soaked Cashews
• 2 C Almond Milk
• ½ Maple Syrup
• 4 tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 C Cacao Powder
• ¼ tsp Salt
• ¾ C Coconut Butter, melted
• Cacao Shell*

Frosting

In a vita mix thoroughly blend all the wet ingredients except for the coconut oil until smooth. Then add the coconut oil and continue to blend until well combined and creamy. Place in the refrigerator for 30 min to an hour until slightly firm, but still able to be easily spread.

Assembly
Divide cake batter into thirds. Press one layer of batter in a 9 inch spring form pan and alternate with frosting. Refrigerate just before serving and glaze with Cacao shell.

Makes one 9 inch cake

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A summer meal at Primo in Rockland, Maine highlighted everything about the growing Maine food scene that I love - a passion for sustainable, local ingredients, clean but imaginative cooking and talented operators who understand their market.  Honey from their own hives, Price’s excellent bread and pastries, and Melissa’s talent with some of the best products in the state – greens, herbs and flowers all grown on property add up to an incredible experience.  The most recent night I was there, capenters were building an outdoor chicken coop under spotlight for the 100 laying eggs that were due to arrive the next morning.  In the same way that many travel to the Costa Brava in Catalonia to experience the ethereal cuisine of Ferran Adria, others go out of their way to find Primo during their travels in the Northeast.

www.primorestaurant.com

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There is no need for another full review of Born Round, the recently published memoir by Frank Bruni, who ended his tenure as the New York Times food critic a few weeks ago. The book has been widely publicized and critiqued, with mostly glowing reviews. Having read many food memoirs, including those of a previous critic, Ruth Reichl, I have become somewhat disillusioned with them, finding the content a bit syrupy and unrealistic as it relates to the subject of the enjoyment of food – typically, relatively unhealthy food.

Although I’ve grown to respect and enjoy Mr. Bruni’s writing, I couldn’t help but notice that a large volume of his early reviews were meat-centric, and that his taste in cuisine was far different than what I personally enjoy. Over time, I have mostly stopped reading food reviews in general.

When I heard that this book would be different, provocative and far more revealing than may have been expected, my interest piqued and I began watching out for the book’s arrival date.

Then, when the food bloggers began to receive advance copies, the surprises began. It turns out that Mr. Bruni spent a great deal of his writing on the subject of his personal struggles with weight loss, overeating and bulimia. I once again lost interest – not that I am insensitive to this subject, but I was disheartened that someone in such a position of power, someone who could and did reshape dining in America, was not fully enough in tune with food to appreciate it properly. With everything that is wrong with our food supply chain, and consumptive habits, I have a hard time not believing that further damage was done by the Times, in allowing a writer influenced by more than just good taste, to pen articles that influence the day to day food decisions of millions.

Just when I was prepared to write Born Round off entirely, I was forwarded an interview that a New York City blogger posted with Frank Bruni. One question/answer really caught my attention.

Frank, I was surprised to find out that your book was going to be about bulimia and this kind of thing. I expected something along the lines of Ruth Reichl.

“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control” – Julia Cameron, writer

What does raw food bring to mind? Freshness, health, holism, life and energy, elements of earth and water, and all things green. What does a great food memory include? Good company, inspired conversation, perhaps a sense of discovery. How about dessert? Look but don’t touch, or the best part of the evening?

Early this summer a rustic cottage was filled with a combination of all these sentiments in order to create a book that many people would connect to. Everyday Raw Desserts is the next in a growing line of cookbooks due to hit the shelves spring 2010.

The process behind the shoot was intensive, and the stage was set with all the elements necessary to invoke a natural and cozy sense of imagery. Together we pieced together sweet delights from nostalgic recipes twisting and converting favorites both old and new. The experience, as is the norm with raw food was alchemistic.

Unassumingly basic ingredients transformed in our blenders, processors and dehydrators into whimsical variations of traditional and modern classics. The project was complimented with a talented and creative photographer, and our challenge as a team was to explore and highlight how beautiful raw desserts could be.

Rule of thumb – keep it real, what you see is what you get. Each picture was to be the exact recipe with no fillers or fluff. As one would expect time and temperature weren’t always working on the same side. The challenge of shooting living food dishes are all the natural side effects that come with the territory. Pure ingredients being unrefined or stabilized weep and melt – they practically ask to be eaten often before the shoot is complete. We worked quickly and embraced all the poetically perfect imperfections. Unexpectedly, some of the best shoots were the ones that ended up improvised. We all ended up most pleasantly surprised when we surrendered, simplified and allowed the light of the creation shine through.

These sweet results led me to consider how manufactured our visual modern experience is, and how deeply conditioned we can be to associate beauty with engineered perfection. This stands for the human form, as well as the food we put into it.

The project was blessed with the right environment and team for a concept people can connect to on an everyday basis. There is something for cozy snack, or some more creative entertaining (look for en entire chapter on raw chocolate.) It’s designed to demystify the most exciting side raw food. These are the creations you pass around to win over the skeptics. The recipes taste as good as they look. They are simple and what will eventually grace the pages of ERD is tangible in your kitchen (or cottage.) The images will show how wonderful the final results really were, and hopefully the inspiration that was in that cottage early this summer will be felt long after its over.

Vladimir Horowitz “Perfection itself is imperfection”

“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.” Martin H. Fischer

“The crucial variable in the process of turning knowledge into value is creativity.” John Kao

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White Corn Filling

• 12 corn husks
• 5 cups white corn kernels
• 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and minced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and minced
• ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1¼ cups pine nuts, soaked 1-2 hours
• 1¼ cups cashews, soaked 1-2 hours
• 1teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
• 2 tbs. minced red onion
• 2 tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2cup lime juice

Place 3 cups of the corn, the tomatoes and the red bell pepper in a bowl; set aside. In a food processor, blend the remaining ingredients until very smooth. Pour into bowl with other ingredients and mix well with hands.

Serrano Spiced Portobello

• 4 Portobello mushrooms, cut in half and into 8 slices per side.
• 1 Serrano Chili, Seeded and minced
• 3 tbs. olive oil
• Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Toss mushrooms with olive oil, Serrano and salt then spread on Teflex sheets to dehydrate for 12 hours. Mix corn filling with Portobello.

Raw Cacao Mole

• 6 dried ancho/chipotle chilies, soaked 2-3 hours and drained
• ½ cup chopped red onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbs. sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hours and drained
• ½ cup almond butter
• ½ cup raisins, soaked 20-30 minutes
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbs. agave
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• ½ tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp.cayenne
• 1 cup cacao powder

Blend all ingredients in vita-mix until smooth.

To Prepare Corn Husks

Soak corn husks in warm water for 1 to 2 hours. Dry carefully. To assemble, lay the corn husks flat and place about 1/2 cup of the corn mixture onto the center of each. Fold the bottom up over the filling and then fold the sides over. Using the husk strips tie the tops of each tamale. Place the tamales in the dehydrator for 2 hours.

Guacamole

• 3 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped
• 1 large handful cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 scallion, finely chopped
• 1/2 red chili finely minced
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced

Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mash well with a fork.

Assembly

• Cacao Powder for garnish
• Cilantro Leaves

Spoon a generous amount of mole sauce on each plate, and set two tamales on sauce. Spoon Guacamole on top and garnish with cacao powder and cilantro leaves.

Recipe excerpted from Entertaining in the Raw, published by Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2009. Click here to purchase online.

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One of the most exciting things about raw foods, aside from the health benefit, is having the opportunity to reinvent dishes. Sometimes you feel like an artist that has discovered a new medium. This is one aspect that I find most inspiring – being creative. Some dishes are easy, some dishes are incredibly complex and a lot of them have just never been done before! So when I was given the task of working on a traditional French Macaroon I could have not been more excited. Matthew and I both love them so aside from chocolate this is the next best thing

I actually cannot put in words how much I love macaroons. I LOVE them! Never again will any one of my family members try to steal a macaroon from me (it almost ruined Christmas one year). For me they bring back images of Paris, peering over the counter at Laudreee trying to choose from all of the beautiful colors. So many beautiful colors! As a gift, they are intoxicatingly romantic little desserts. Delicate, rich and beautiful truly a one of a kind treat.

However, making a dainty raw dessert is somewhat tricky. Raw desserts are often very dense and heavy- completely opposite from a French Macaroon. My efforts in the kichen have been surprisingly successful thus far, although I have not been able to quite capture the glow that you get on a traditional macaroon. I will. I have been working with different flours and sweetners to add flavour, but not density. There are no secrets to be revealed yet. It is a work in progress- but the end result is worth endless hours of trail and error!

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While most writers may find it more practical to write a book from the beginning, Everyday Raw Desserts began from chocolate. There are a number of chapters I’m excited to write about (and taste), but none as much as Cacao.

I’m fortunate to be working on this book with Meredith Baird, who is not only talented but also extremely clever with the raw beans and their multiple uses. Meredith recently moved to New York, from Napa Valley, where she worked in the wine industry (along with chocolate, another living essential!). As with all food in its natural state, the success of raw chocolate is largely based on the integrity of its ingredients. In our case, Meredith was able to source something extremely special, which we’ll write more about later, and also develop a new method for preparing the chocolate at a very low temperature.

This chocolate was rich and buttery, not overly sweet but lacking a harsh bitterness that often accompanies raw cacao. It also remains very firm, regardless of heat or humidity (within reason, of course).

Another valid reason for beginning a book with raw cacao: If it’s good enough, you won’t have trouble staying awake to write the next 9 chapters.

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