Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!
For me, there was a nice surprise: A Dozen Roses from Scott! I know I said before that we don’t exchange gifts on holiday, and so I was shocked he bought these for me!
I don’t care if a woman says, “Oh, You Don’t Have To…” It’s always nice to get flowers and he scored major points! Even after 9 years of marriage and 11 years together, it’s nice to still feel special with pink (my favorite color!) flowers…thanks babe!
And as I mentioned yesterday I would be doing, I gave my Raw & Vegan Foods Presentation as part of the completion of my 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Program! Things went really well in terms of the food I made, live and in front of 15 people, while talking, answering questions, multitasking, and trying to appear cool-as-a-cucumber.
Ok so it’s time for a new recipe! But I have to give you the backstory on this one! This recipe is inspired from a memory I have of a trip to Grand Cayman that Scott and I took when we had been dating about 3 weeks. I said, hey, let’s go to Grand Cayman next week, and we did. We just got on a plane and went, just like that! Life was alot different back then! Anyway, we were at a souvenir shop and they had samples of Rum Cake. The cake was pretty much saturated in rum. But I was a heavy drinker at the time and thought, no way could I catch a buzz from cake. Well, I did.
I loved that cake so much that I bought a really overpriced cake and carried it home with me on the plane. Once at home, I was all excited to break into my little treasure I hand-carried from the Caymans. However, when I got it home and opened it, the cake was dry, had hardly any rum, and was nothing special. I was duped by the free samples which were clearly spiked to increase cake sales! Well, more than 10 years later, I am still thinking of that perfect drunk rum cake and decided to recreate a No-Bake, Vegan version of Rum Cake. Here’s What I Came Up With.
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No Bake Vegan Rum Cake Balls-Gluten & Soy Free
Ingredients
1/4 c Cashews–Grind them first, then add the remaining ingredients.
1/2 c Medjool Dates
1/4 c Raisins
1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (or similar clove, cinnamon, lemon spices)
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp Dark Rum (or a rum you enjoy; note that schnapps such as banana, mango, peach, or pineapple schnapps would all be heavenly in this recipe)
Optional (I used all and in the amounts listed) & See Common Sense Tips:
2 Tbsp Agave (or stevia to taste)
3 Tbsp Almond Meal (or 1/4 c almonds that you grind)
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
Common Sense Tips depend on:
1. How Moist Your Batter is and
2. How Sweet you Like Things
Here’s a Basic “Troubleshooting Grid”
If your mixture is too wet, add more almond meal.
If your mixture is too wet and not sweet enough, add more brown sugar.
If your mixture is too dry (doubtful but anything’s possible), add a tbsp of water if you don’t want to impart sweetness.
If your mixture is too dry and not sweet enough, add more agave.
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Instructions
Add Cashews
GrindThem
Then Add Medjool Dates. I used a scant 1/2 c, loosely packed. Forgot to break out my new food scale, silly me.
And Raisins. I used a scant 1/4 c.
Add the dates & raisins to the cashew flour
Then I added Pumpkin Pie Spice, Cinnamon, Bourbon Vanilla Extract
And Rum!
All Into the Vita
The dough was Too wet and Not sweet enough. Added 2 Tbsp Agave
and Added 3 Tbsp Almond Meal, and 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar. Again, follow my advice above and use common sense, if it’s too wet, dry it out with flour. If it’s not sweet enough, sweeten it. Don’t be scared, this is just dessert, not rocket science.
Grind Again. Perfect.
Remove Dough
Form into Rum Cake Balls
Would that be a bad thing?
Seriously, the scant amount of rum in this entire recipe flavors the dessert rather than getting you buzzed.
This picture reminds me of my Ball Jokes Post
Slightly like the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Remember this Post with my Vegan Peanut Butter Vanilla Balls?
And Ball Jokes: Leaning Tower of Pisa Balls
Here’s a Few Pictures of Skylar and I as she played with her 3 books, 1 pair of socks, and 1 string of red beads for Valentine’s Day that I so handily scored from the Target $1 Bins!
Socks as Puppets
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