When my favourite cafe, that got me addicted to their raw tiramisu slice, closed down, I had to figure out how to make this myself.

I reckon I’ll be evolving this one for a while, going by memory and personal taste. There isn’t a good raw tiramisu slice recipe anywhere, that I’ve found yet, which comes close to the cafe’s original.

This recipe is now on iteration #2. I reduced the ladyfinger layer by about 30%, soaked the dates first, used more oats and less almonds, and processed it longer to make it less course. I replaced the coconut cream with more coconut manner along with the date soaking water and extra water to top up. And used liquid vanilla extract in the cream layers instead of vanilla powder (to make it invisible in the finished product). This is how iteration #1 looked, before these changes:

And here’s now iteration #2 looks:

Some further notes:

• Cacao butter is used for firming, and giving a “white chocolate” flavour to the vanilla layer.
• Tiramisu authenticity isn’t a goal here; just pleasure in the final product.

This makes 6 big slices that would be great for a dessert, but I prefer to make 12 smaller pieces for a daily snack with coffee (that won’t turn me into a fatty-fat-fat).

LADY FINGER BASE
50g raw almonds
75g rolled oats
3 medjool dates, pitted and soaked for a couple of hours or overnight
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM
180g raw cashews, soaked for a couple of hours or overnight, then drained
100g coconut manna (also called coconut butter or creamed coconut)
1 scant cup water (use up the date soaking liquid and extra water to make up the difference)
1/4 cup maple syrup (or coconut syrup)
1 tsp vanilla concentrate (syrupy version, not alcohol based version)
100g raw cacao butter, melted

COFFEE CHOCOLATE CREAM
Half the batch of vanilla cream layer, above
1 1/2 tsp finely ground coffee beans (not raw, obviously)
2 tbsp cacao powder

TOPPING
1 tbsp cacao powder, for sprinkling

PROCEDURE

Line a small tin with wax paper. Mine is a small brownie tins, which is about 25cm long by 7.5cm wide by 4.5cm deep, for the above quantities. If you only have a normal sized pan, use double the above ingredients.

In a food processor (mine is a Breville Kitchen Wizz Pro and I use the large bowl and double blade), grind the almonds and oats to a flour, which takes about 60 seconds.

Then add the dates and vanilla powder and blitz until a moist crumble forms, and for the Wizz Pro it’s about 60 seconds to make it stick together into a moist cake-like texture.

Press this into the lined tin. The smoother the press, the neater the layers will look when the finished product is sliced.

Put the white chocolate cream ingredients, except for the melted cacao butter, into a high speed blender (e.g. Vitamix). Blend until silky smooth. Then pour in the melted cacao butter and blend until well combined.

Put half of the white chocolate cream to one side (in a jug, and keep on the bench, rather than the fridge, so it doesn’t set). With the other half still in the blender, add the ground coffee and the melted chocolate and blitz until well combined.

Pour the coffee chocolate cream over the lady finger layer, and put in the freezer for 10 minutes (to firm up enough to resist mixing with the white chocolate cream layer).

When the coffee chocolate layer is firm, remove from the freezer and pour the remaining white chocolate cream over the coffee chocolate layer.

Refrigerate until very cold and firm all the way through.

Sprinkle cocoa powder to cover the top (I use one of those metal spring-loaded tea leaf infusers). Use the wax paper overhang to pull the tiramisu out of the tin.

Cut and serve, but know that it is best the next day, as the ladyfinger layer is cakier and the cream layers are firmer.