Birthday Cake - Chocolate, Banana and Caramel Cake

It's been a busy week here.

Hubby had his birthday on Sunday and I wanted to spoil him and make sure he had a great birthday weekend - oh the perks of your birthday falling on a weekend day and not a week day!

I had booked him a V8 supercar to drive at the QLD Raceway at Ipswich. It was very booked out, which meant the only time we could get in was 7am. So it was an early birthday morning start, leaving at 5am to get there in time. 

After some safety and driver training, he lucked out and was able to get the car he had his eye on. He didn't tell me until later, that in the driver safety training they spoke about the brakes and the traction control and that the cars although V8 race cars, are slightly modified for more learner drivers. When he was strapped into the racing harness in the front seat, foot on the pedal, ready to drive the overseer in the passenger seat told him something of interest. He said, 'ignore everything you just learnt in the driver training course. This car has just retired from the track and has not yet been tuned down or modified to be a learner race car. There is no traction control or adjusted brakes. This is a fair dinkum racecar.' 

Hubby smiled and took off - he had 9 incredible laps and track times. The smile on his face when he climbed out from the driver seat was ear to ear. He reached top speeds of 200km and did the track circuit in 1.08 minutes, 4 seconds behind the professional instructor who races this track weekly. 

Of course I learnt about the car not being modified and the superb track time once it was over. Which I am so glad for, I was shaking at the knees with nerves, it was scary knowing he was flying along the track straights at 200kms!

He then was able to experience 5 laps in the passenger seat with the racing professional driving. After all this racing, high speeds and excitement, I insisted on driving us back home to the Gold Coast. I didn't want to be trying out nay new tops speeds of him getting a speeding fine!

After a long leisurely breakfast at our favourite cafe, some lounging by the pool and a movie it was time to meet the family down at a new Mexican restaurant at Coolangatta. I had joked to Hubby that after dinner, I may have organised some fireworks. It was sounding like a pretty incredible birthday at this point right?! 
The fireworks were part of the Christmas Carols in the park, but hey, I did manage to ensure we were in the right place at the right time though?! That counts for bonus brownie birthday planning points surely!

But then it gets better. Every year that we have been together, I have always made a birthday cake for Nathan without fail. I love to make something he loves and he knows alot goes into it and this year was no exception.

Let me introduce to you...

Indulgent, three flavoured and layered to the max with goodness. There is so much to love about this raw birthday cake!

You have have seen me post about it here on Instagram?

Chocolate, banana and caramel cake

No refined sugar, egg and dairy free, gluten free and just full of goodness.

Base

1 1/2 cups walnuts

1 1/2 cups pecans

2 tbsp cacao powder

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 cup pitted medjool dates

Grease a spring form pan with coconut oil and set aside.

In a food processor, process nuts and cacao until crumbly. Add coconut oil and then dates, one at a time. Continue to process until no large chunks remain. The mixture should be sticky, if not, ad 1 tablespoon of cold water until the mixture combines well.

Press nut mixture into the prepared tin. Freeze whilst you prepare the other layers.

 Caramel

1/3 cups cashew, soaked overnight and rinsed well

1 cup dates, pitted and soaked in 1 1/2 cups water overnight

3 tbsp almond butter

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Drain the dates, careful not to discard the water. Blend all ingredients in the food processor, starting with 1/2 cup of date soaked water until smooth. Gradually add the date water until the entire mixture is smooth. Add a little more sweetner if needed!

Remove the prepared base from the freezer and spread a thin layer of the caramel on top of the base. Reserve half of the caramel mixture for the top layer. Pop back into the freezer to set whilst you make the banana cream layer.

 BANANA CREAM

3 cups cashew, soaked overnight and rinsed well

3 tbsp coconut oil

1 large ripe banana

1 cup coconut milk + extra
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, starting with the 1 cup coconut milk, until smooth. Add extra banana, sweetener or cinnamon at this point if needed. 

Remove the cake from the freezer and pour banana mixture evenly on top. Return to the freezer to set (a few hours) and then pour over remaining caramel mixture. Freeze for 6+ hours to set.

I then topped it with a drizzle of chocolate on top, you can melt dark chocolate and do the same, or make your own.

This recipe is from the Eat Dessert for Breakfast book, by Nicole Job. My sister bought me this book a few years ago as a birthday gift and I had been eyeing off this cake recipe for some time. I am so glad I finally got to try it out!

This cake, along with the fireworks was a fabulous way to end a fun day and weekend of birthday celebrations.

They are not the greatest photos and the cake does have a little freezer burn in the photos, as it had just been plucked from the freezer to snap a few pictures of the finished product before we heading out the door to dinner.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

 DO YOU LIKE THE LOOK OF THIS CREATION? WHAT WOULD YOUR ULTIMATE BIRTHDAY CAKE LOOK LIKE?

I am off to deflate Hubby's ego - he is thinking he can go and be a V8 Supercar driver now hehe. I will be hearing about his track time for many more days (or even weeks!) I think! 

Thanks for stopping by x

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