Salted caramel is everywhere, but this creamy caramel slice is good with or without the salt.

I just keep copying and modifying the recipes for my other raw slices, to make up new ones like this. There probably isn’t enough maca powder to have huge health benefits, but it does lend a slightly caramel flavour to the slice. Dates, with a decent dose of vanilla, do the bulk of that job, but I’m less inclined toward sweetness these days, so happy to reduce the dates if maca powder makes up for them.

BASE
100g (3/4 cup) raw almonds
50g 90% dark chocolate (5 squares of Lindt Excellence)
3 medjool dates, pitted and soaked for 15 minutes in 125ml (1/2 cup) water from a recently boiled kettle
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

FILLING
150g (1 full cup) raw cashews, soaked for a couple of hours or overnight, then drained
5 medjool dates, pitted and soaked with the dates for the base (above)
200ml coconut cream
1/2 to 2/3 cup water (use up the date soaking liquid and extra water)
1 tbsp gelatinized maca powder (experiment with more)
1 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt (or to taste)
100g raw cacao butter, melted
OPTIONAL: 1-2 tbsp of crushed raw cacao nibs

PROCEDURE

Line a small tin with wax paper. I used my usual small brownie tin, which is about 25cm long by 7.5cm wide by 4.5cm deep. For a normal sized pan, use double the above ingredients.

In a food processor, grind the almonds to a flour. That’s about 30 seconds in the Breville Kitchen Wizz Pro.

Then add the chocolate and dates and vanilla powder, and blitz until a moist, finely chocolate chipped, crumble forms. Another 30 to 60 seconds of blitzing. Press this into the lined tin.

Put the filling ingredients, including the date soaking water and extra water but excluding the melted cacao butter, into a high speed blender like a Vitamix. Blend for a minute or two. It should be silky smooth, but if it’s too thick for the blender to easy blend, add a bit more water. Then pour in the melted cacao butter and blend until well combined.

Pour the filling over the base layer, smoothing it out. If using, sprinkle over the raw cacao nibs now.

Refrigerate until very cold and firm all the way through. Use the wax paper overhang to pull the slice out of the tin, slice and refrigerate until eaten.

If cacao nibs aren’t your cup of tea, then it might be nice to instead decorate the top with a drizzling of melted very dark chocolate, or caramel white chocolate (I’m thinking Loving Earth’s Salted Caramel raw chocolate), or a caramel sauce (like this one on the Feasting on Fruit blog).