Chocolate and Banana Mousse Cakes
Sometimes you want something rich and gooey and it becomes an itch you can’t scratch until…well until, you make these little beauties! The heavenly combination of chocolate and banana might take you on a trip down memory lane when life was simple and the most taxing choice of your day was whether to drink chocolate or banana milkshake. Well with these yummy cakes you don’t need to choose! What’s even better is that most of these ingredients are raw so they are molto healthier than milkshakes or ice cream. As an added bonus I like to freeze these gorgeous vegan bites, so you can also enjoy nutritious chocolate and banana ice cream-style! What are you waiting for?
Ingredients
(makes approx. 8)
To make the crust:
150g chopped walnuts
150g chopped brazil nuts
8 medjool dates
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons cocoa or raw cacao if you have it
Sprinkling of sea salt
To make the mousse:
3 ripe (organic) bananas
3 tablespoons cocoa/cacao
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3-4 tablespoons nut butter (i used peanut butter)
120ml almond milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup dates/prunes
1 vegan chocolate bar, melted
To make the chocolate sauce:
2 tablespoons almond butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon cocoa/cacao
3-5 tablespoons vegan milk
Start by making the crust. Put the nuts in your food processor and process until they are crumbs, then add the dates so that it all now sticks together. Press into the bottom of big cupcake moulds lined with tinfoil and place in the fridge.
The next step is to make the mousse. Blend all the ingredients until smooth in the food processor. Spoon the mixture into each of the cupcake moulds and stick it in the fridge for an hour or more. It will now begin to thicken up.
When the mousse mixture has thickened up to its required consistency you can now make the yummy chocolate sauce – only do this when you are ready to eat them! Stir all the ingredients together. Take the mousse cups out of their moulds and drizzle on the sauce and serve. I decorated mine with a pretty campanula flower from the garden but you can skip this step and get straight to banana and chocolate paradise!
The delicious health benefits
Yes they taste like heaven but don’t overlook their inherent goodness. Firstly, bananas are a great source of potassium, dark chocolate is full of antioxidants and I read somewhere (no I can’t remember where) that we should see nuts as little magic nutritional bullets. Take walnuts for example – did you know that eating just as much as 25 g of these nuts each day provides about 90% of your recommended daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids? Research studies have shown that these fatty acids help to strengthen your immune system and lower the risk of blood pressure, strokes and cancer. Brazil nuts contain exceptionally high levels of selenium; in fact they are one of the highest natural sources of this powerhouse mineral. Selenium boosts your immunity and gives you healthy eyes and hair, plus aids the body in absorbing vitamin E.
I’m warning you, these chocolatey cakes are pretty moreish so try not to eat all 8 in one go!
With love,
Deliciously Miss V*
*An aspiring novelist who lives in London and turned vegan earlier this year
