Treating myself – Divaliciously Raw, a review


Every now and then it’s important to look after yourself, so when I stumbled across this site –Divaliciously Raw and all Gail’s amazing goodies I decided I should most definitely take the opportunity to treat myself to some deliciousness! I couldn’t decide what to try so went for the Valentine’s box, which gave me a taste of all her main products. Although that box won’t always be available as a package, all the contents are. They are all raw, gluten, wheat and egg free and vegan!

It arrived so beautifully packed – it really was like receiving a valentine’s gift! There was even a card!

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And then just look at how stunning these cakes look! I couldn’t believe it! Wow – just wow!

IMG_1275So in my box of goodies I got:

Raspberry Rapture Love Bomb

Magical Mint Love Bomb

Oriental Orange (Orange and Ginger) Love Bomb

Two Goji Bites

Ultimate bar

Zinger Bar

Unconditional Love Cake

Now where to start…Firstly they were all beautiful so it was really hard to know what to try first! I ended up going for the love bombs.

The love bombs were just perfect – lovely chocolatey coating, moist cake inside and then a surprise creamy filling. The flavours are really good in these and they really feel like a decadent dessert. They have a great nuttiness to them and a texture that really works. The creamy filling is definitely the best bit and it was hard not to eat them all at once! I’m not sure which my favourite flavour was to be honest – they were all so good!

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Goji bites – these were a lot larger than I expected – which was great! They’re a little harder in texture than the bombs and kinda crumble in to your mouth – which i really liked. Lovely flavours – nutty and with enough goji to really taste it and balance the chocolate.

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Ultimate bar and the zinger bar – these were both delish. The ultimate bar has mulberries, goji berries and buckwheaties in which give it a fantastic crunch and sweetness – this was great dipped in a cup of tea! The Zinger was just bursting with flavour from the Incan (golden) berries which were a great balance to the dark raw chocolate.

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Last and by NO means least – the unconditional love cake! Sharing is caring so I did share this – not only with my very good friend Colette, but also with my husband. And we all agreed this was out of this world. Raw chocolate, filled with raw chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, caramel and a malted cashew cream. Oh my word! This was just amazing! Definitely my favourite!

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So there you go! That was one big, delicious treat for me! I highly recommend you check out Gail’s page on facebook and place an order. The cakes aren’t cheap but the amount of love, care and sheer dedication that’s gone in to them mean they are most definitely worth every penny and they’re not small either so you’re getting a lot of cake for your buck! Do let me know if you try any!

 

 

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Guilt-free Chocolate cake (with beetroot!)


You can’t beat a good chocolate cake and this is definitely a good chocolate cake! It’s totally vegan and totally yummy! This was inspired by a delicious cake my friend Vicky made so I thought I’d have a go at veganising and gluten-freeing it! 🙂

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You will need:

250g cooked Beetroot

250g unrefined Raw sugar (coconut palm sugar etc)

190g self-raising gluten free Flour

60g raw Cacao powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

3 tbsp Chia seeds soaked in 9 tbsp water

180 ml Almond oil (or other non flavoured oil)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tsp Chocolate extract (or extra Vanilla if you don’t have this)

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Preheat the oven to 170 C. Lightly grease a 23 cm diameter cake tine.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cacoa and bicarbonate of soda. Then stir in the sugar.  Pop the cooked beetroot in to a food processor and blend until smooth. Place this in to a sieve over another bowl and push out any juices with the back of a spoon. You don’t need the juice for this recipe but don’t bin it – you can throw it in to a smoothie 🙂

Put the beetroot pulp back in to the processor and then turn on the motor and add the soaked chia seeds, vanilla and chocolate extract (if using) and then slowly pour in the oil.

Mix until well blended. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and add the beetroot mixture. Gently fold together with a large spoon. Pour the mixture in to the cake tin and place in the oven for 35 -40 mins (or until a skewer comes out clean). Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 – 10 mins in the tin, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

Then enjoy with a cup of tea (and maybe a cat)! 🙂

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Chocolate hazelnut cherry loaves


Fresh out the oven!

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Chocolate hazelnut cherry loaves – vegan and low in gluten (or gluten free if you want 🙂 ). I used the same recipe as my usual choc cherry loaves but used chunky hazelnut butter instead of almond butter and it’s divine!

Yum!

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