Love Fed

I’m thrilled to be a participant in the blog tour for the gorgeous cookbook Love Fed: Purely Decadent, Simply Raw, Plant-Based Desserts by Christina Ross, which is chock full of gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free vegan treats.

Christina’s recipes are enticing in name alone, (Triple-Layer German Chocolate Cake, Raspberry and Coconut Glazed Doughnuts, and Maple Banana Tiramisu Trifle to name a few), but add her gorgeous photographs, and I guarantee you’ll be running to the kitchen to make one of her beautiful desserts.

I chose to make her Maple Banana Tiramisu Trifle, and am happy to be able to share the recipe with you!

Maple Banana Tiramisu Trifle

Name:	Love-Infused Quinoa Bowl
Cuisine:	Fusion
Prep Time:	15 minutes
Cooking Time:	25 minutes
Total Time:	40 minutes
Servings:	4 servings
Yield:	4 quinoa bowls

This is my raw-vegan mash-up of two favorite European desserts: English trifle and Italian tiramisu. The result is a sophisticated dessert worthy of any fancy tabletop.

CREAM

1 c. cashews, soaked and drained

1⁄8 tsp. sea salt

1⁄4 c. almond milk

1⁄4 c. cold-brewed coffee or 1 tsp. coffee extract

1⁄4 c. maple syrup

1 tbsp. melted coconut oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. lemon juice

CHOCOLATE SAUCE DRIZZLE

1 tbsp. cacao powder

1 tbsp. maple syrup

1⁄4 tsp. vanilla extract

3 bananas

11/2 tsp. cacao powder, for garnish

Instruction

To make the cream: Place the cashews, sea salt, almond milk, cold-brewed coffee, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and lemon juice in a blender and blend until very creamy.

Whisk the cacao powder, maple syrup, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl until smooth. Transfer to a squirt bottle, if you have one, or leave in the bowl until ready to use.

Cut each of the bananas into 3 even sections. Slice each section in half lengthwise (you will have 18 total pieces of banana). Place 2 of the banana sections in the bottom of a 33⁄4×41⁄4″ trifle glass or ramekin. Repeat in a second glass or ramekin. Squirt chocolate sauce (or drizzle with a spoon) along the rims of the glasses all the way around, reserving some for garnish. Next, add enough cream to cover the bananas. Layer another 2 bananas sections on top, then the cream.

Stand up the remaining 10 banana sections vertically around the sides of each glass (5 per glass), then pour in the cream to the top. Gently sift cacao powder on top and garnish with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Serve immediately or let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

The individual components of this trifle are fantastic all on their own, but when you combine them together, the result is pure bliss. I’m a sucker for coffee & chocolate together, so the coffee “cream” and chocolate sauce are – in my opinion – a match made in heaven.

Using bananas in place of the traditional ladyfingers in this raw version of tiramisu is brilliant. You can’t clearly see them in these photos because I drowned them in coffee cream and chocolate sauce, but there are bananas in there, I promise!