Mini Mint Creme Cakes

These delicious vegan no-bake cakes are a wonderful treat for everyone who loves the cool, refreshing taste of mint. They are gluten free and can easily be frozen and thawed without compromising the heavenly creamy texture. I got inspired by all the peppermint that I have (over-) growing in my garden. Since mint is a medicinal herb you could probably look at these mini cakes as some form of remedy. Well, at least they are the perfect treatment for a sweet tooth 😉

Remember to soak cashews for at least 4 hours or overnight!

To give the cakes plenty of time in the fridge it’s best to make them ahead of time.

You will need:

• a high speed blender
• muffin pan
• either paper liners or individual silicone muffin molds (12 – 15 pieces)

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 4.5 oz (125 g) pitted, dried dates
• 4.5 oz (125 g) raw, unsalted cashews
• 1/8 tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1½ Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder ( optional, if you like a dark, chocolaty crust)

For the mint creme:

• 3.5 oz (100 g) raw cacao butter
• 1 generous cup (140 g) raw, unsalted cashews, soaked in sufficient filtered water for at least 4 hours or overnight, drained
• two 5.4 fl oz (160 ml) cans coconut cream (not coconut milk!!! / I used Native Forest)
• 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp (90 ml) maple syrup
• ¼ tsp green spirulina powder (not really necessary, it only gives the creme its light green color)
• ¼ tsp peppermint essential oil (food grade!)
• 1/8 tsp Celtic sea salt

For the dark chocolate:

• 1.8 oz (50 g) raw cacao butter
• 2 tsp virgin coconut oil
• generous 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 drops peppermint essential oil (food grade!)

Garnish:

• some sprigs of fresh mint

Preparation:

Prepare muffin pan by placing either paper liners or silicone cups into the molds. I used silicone cups because they are reusable and produce less waste.

For the crust, pulse dates in your blender on low to medium speed until only very small pieces remain and a ball forms. Scrape them into a medium size bowl. Place cashews with salt into the blender and also pulse until only very small pieces remain. Don’t try to pulse dates and cashews together at the same time. It doesn’t work that well. Add the cashews to the bowl with the dates, add cocoa powder, if you like the crust chocolaty, and thoroughly knead everything until well combined. Distribute the dough evenly into the muffin liners and press with your fingers to the bottom to make little crusts. You can get 12 – 15 mini cakes from this recipe. The silicone cups are a little smaller than the paper liners, so I ended up with 15.

For the mint creme, melt cacao butter in a double boiler or water bath. Don’t let it get too hot!

Place all the remaining mint creme ingredients into your blender, add the melted cacao butter, and blend on the highest setting until very smooth, about 1½ minutes.

Pour the liquid into the lined molds on top of the crusts.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Only for silicone molds: before you make the dark chocolate, pop your cakes into the freezer for about 15 minutes. This will make it easier to remove the silicone.

Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate.

Melt cacao butter and coconut oil in a double boiler or water bath. When they are melted, remove pot from heat source and gradually whisk in all the remaining chocolate ingredients. No lumps should remain.

After their time in the freezer, peel off the silicone from the cakes by turning them inside out.

If you used paper liners, just take the muffin pan(s) out of the fridge.

Now use a spoon and carefully drizzle liquid chocolate in streaks on the cakes. There’s also the option to pour the chocolate into a ziploc bag, cut a tiny hole in one of the corners, and then squeeze the chocolate onto the cakes. Since I like to eliminate as much plastic waste as possible, I don’t use this method and also don’t recommend it. You can make pretty nice chocolate streaks just with a spoon.

Garnish with some mint sprigs, and chill in the fridge until you serve them. Enjoy!

Notes:

• As mentioned before, they can be frozen until you need them. No sacrifice in texture or flavor! I suppose a couple weeks will be alright. Mine didn’t last that long.
• Don’t feel like you have to buy spirulina just for this recipe. They look as pretty in white!