New to Van Clarke? Subscribe to our newsletter for 10% off your first order. Start your haircare journey today.

Gaby's Bakery - Raw Chocolate

December 23, 2021

Gaby's Bakery - Raw Chocolate

Chocolate has been consumed as a drink for thousands of years in South America. It was brought to Europe over 500 years ago by Christopher Columbus having discovered it on his fourth mission there. Used also as a savoury addition to some dishes, it made little impact until introduced to the Spanish Court, where it became very popular.

They started to add sugar to sweeten the naturally bitter taste, and from here it spread throughout Europe. Chocolate’s bad press is largely down to high added sugar and fat content. But the unadulterated raw cacao can be seen as a superfood, high in anti-oxidants, that may have beneficial effects related to cholesterol levels, cardiovascular issues, cognitive decline and strokes.

Raw Chocolate

These raw chocolate hearts use powder from the Peruvian lucuma fruit as an alternative sweetener, to soften the naturally bitter taste of the raw cacao. It has a low-glycaemic index and a good amount of fibre, sweetening a little, without smothering the rich intense flavour. This makes it strangely satisfying after just one chocolate unlike your everyday addictive sweets.

Ingredients:
50gms cacao butter
40gms cacao powder or cocoa powder
30gms lucuma powder
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tbsp coconut oil
Topping of choice; nuts, crispies, dried fruit

Method:
Gently melt the cacao butter and coconut oil in a bain-marie on the lowest heat, then take it off just as everything melts. Sieve the cacao powder, coconut sugar and lucuma powder into a bowl and then add the melted cacao butter/coconut oil and mix together.

You can use moulds, a flat tray etc. to set the chocolate in. Using small heart moulds today, I’ve left some chocolates plain, into some I've added a crushed buckwheat and chia seed cracker which tastes like a chocolate crispie, and some roasted chopped hazelnuts into others.

Pour the mixture into the mould and then place in the freezer to set for appx. 1 hour. The chocolates will melt at room temperature so take out at the desired time, but store in the fridge or freezer.

Enjoy.


 Gaby Van Clarke





Also in Blogs

You Can Burn Your Bra - but here's an easier way to feel liberated
You Can Burn Your Bra - but here's an easier way to feel liberated

March 28, 2024

You can burn your bra. But here's an easier way to feel liberated. In the 1960s women were also freed from their weekly roller-sets under a hood dryer, by Sassoon’s short flat bobs. Those short bobs have now become long bobs and the hood dryer exchanged for...

Continue Reading

The Great Bonding Hoax
The Great Bonding Hoax

March 26, 2024

Were people misled or did they helpfully misunderstand? About ten years ago a great whirlwind of marketing was created about a new bonding product. Something that could reconnect some of the bonds broken by bleaching. This seemed to gift a 'get out of jail free' card to colourists the world over to jet-hose peroxide with gay abandon. Hundreds of other copycat products followed...

Continue Reading

Myths & Misunderstandings - Can I over-protein my hair?
Myths & Misunderstandings - Can I over-protein my hair?

March 23, 2024

Can I over-protein my hair? Did you think that too? It’s a myth whizzing around the internet and popping up in forums, so let me explain. Healthy hair is essentially 97% protein and 3% water. Hair cannot be overloaded with protein but it can become so dehydrated with

Continue Reading