3 Raw Recipes from Be Love Restaurant in Victoria, BC

Blissful cake

We are so lucky that Be Love Restaurant, located in Victoria BC, has shared their most favourite 3 recipes with us!

Be Love Restaurant is an offering of sustainable organic cuisine to nourish and heal the body, mind & soul. Here to honour our earth community and one another , we mindfully source our ingredients, fostering change to provide a future of health, love & respect for all. ~Be Love Restaurant

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

Chocolate lovers will melt in ecstasy when they taste this. I can vouch from experience. Makes a 9″ springform cake.

Crust:

  • 1 1/3 cups hazelnuts
  • 4 large pitted dates
  • 3 tbsp coconut butter, melted
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • Pinch of vanilla powder

Hazelnut Mylk:

  • 1/2 cup hazelnuts, soaked
  • 2 cups water

Filling:

  • 2 1/2 cups cashews, soaked
  • 2 cups hazelnuts
  • 1 cup cacao powder
  • 2/3 cups cacao butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup packed pitted dates
  • 1/4 yacon syrup (or honey)
  • Pinch of salt
  • Pinch of vanilla powder

Instructions:

1. Crust: Place all crust ingredients except cacao butter in a food processor and process until fine. Add your cacao butter and process until combined. Line the bottom of a 9″ springform pan with parchment paper and press crust into pan. Place in fridge to set.

2. Hazelnut Mylk: Drain and rinse soaked hazelnuts and place in blender with 2 cups water. Blend until smooth. Strain  mixture through a nut-milk bag or cheesecloth.

3. Filling: Drain and rinse cashews. Place hazelnut milk, dates, cashews, honey, salt and vanilla in a blender and blend until creamy. Add cacao powder and continue blending until combined. Add cacao butter, and blend gently to mix. This can also be done with a rubber spatula.

4. Assembly: Pour cake mix over crust. Juggle crust from side to side so that mix settles evenly. Place completed cake in fridge to set for up to 8+ hours or overnight. Garnish with chopped hazelnuts, cacao beans or dust with cacao powder.

Multi-Seed Crackers

These are good with everything from olive tapenade to almond butter and jam or on their own like a chip. Nutritious and tasty, they never fail to satisfy my craving for something crunchy and salty. Makes 6, 1′ square sheets of crackers.

Ingredients:

  • 7 cups water
  • 2 1/2 cups golden flaxseeds
  • 1 cup ground golden flaxseeds
  • 3/4 cups sunflower seeds, soaked
  • 3/4 cups pumpkin seeds, soaked
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds, soaked
  • 1/2 cup hemp hearts
  • 1/4 cup chia seeds
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp nama shoyu or tamari
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

1. Place flax seeds and chia seeds in a large mixing bowl with 7 cups of water. Stir well and let soak at room temp. for at least 6 hours. The seeds should soak up water becoming a mucilaginous substance which is the base for the crackers. Stir the flax and chia seeds making sure the mixture is uniform with no lumps of dry seeds remaining. This works best using your hands.

2. Drain and rinse sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds and add to above mixture along with the remaining ingredients, mix well.

3. Using a rubber spatula or large spoon scoop approx. 2 cups of your seed mixture onto a dehydrator tray lined with Teflex*. Spread thinly and evenly to cover tray to the edges. Note: if holes are forming add more batter to fill them. If the cracker seems too thick spoon some batter back into the bowl. Repeat this step until all batter is used.

4. Dehydrate at 115°F for 12 hours. Flip them off Teflex and onto screens, remove Teflex and dehydrate for another 12 hours. Break cooled crackers into desired sized pieces, place in an air tight container and store at room temp. These will keep for up to one month, though they may lose some crunch over time.

*Note: The instructions are given for the Excalibur dehydrator with 12″ square trays. This recipe should fill 6 Excalibur trays. If you have a different dehydrator you may need to add more or less batter to each tray.

Bliss Kiss

Melt in your mouth raw chocolate truffles. A Cafe Bliss classic. Makes 2 dozen small chocolates.

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup cacao powder
  • 1/3 cup cacao butter, melted
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3 tbsp lucuma powder
  • 1 tbsp coconut cream
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp vanilla powder
  • Cacao powder for dusting

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender, first the wet then the dry. Blend gently on low until smooth. This can also be done in a mixing bowl using a whisk.

2. Pour chocolates into moulds (at Bliss we use rubber ice cube trays shaped like hearts, the rubber makes it easy to twist the chocolates out once set). Place in fridge to set for 1+ hour.

3. Dust with cacao powder.

Melting Cacao butter: To melt cacao butter place your cold butter in a glass or metal bowl and set in a dehydrator at 115°F. It will take approx. 1 hour to melt. If you do not have a dehydrator you can use a double boiler, setting the bowl of cacao butter over a bowl or pot of hot water. Cacao butter will melt faster if it is cut into smaller pieces. The same technique can be used to melt coconut oil and coconut cream. Coconut oil melts at a lower temp than cacao butter and will melt if set in a warm place. Quality coconut oil and cacao butter are very stable and do not need to be stored in the fridge.

Knowing How Much To Melt: All recipes above call for the amount of liquid butter or oil. Most cacao butter is sold in a 1 lb round, which becomes approx. 2 cups of melted liquid. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of melted cacao butter you can use 1/2 pound etc. Coconut oil is soft enough that amounts can be approximated before melting by spooning it into a measuring cup. It’s always better to melt more than you might need, keeping any extra for another recipe, or a relaxing massage!

Prep Tip: If you don’t have chocolate moulds you can use ice cube trays or pour the truffle mix into a pie plate or small pan and cut into pieces once set. If you lay parchment paper or plastic in the bottom of the pan the chocolate will be easier to remove.

 

 

Be Love Cafe

Be Love is a fresh new arrival on downtown Victoria’s restaurant scene. The restaurant was conceived by sibling duo Joe and Heather Cunliffe, and is operated on similar principles - local, organic, and raw - to their first venture, the wildly popular Cafe Bliss. Be Love attracts a loyal following for this reason alone. However, the addition of some cooked foods, a larger menu and a beautifully crafted interior provide for a completely different experience.

Latest posts by Be Love Cafe (see all)