#vegan chocolate

Base:

Cheating - buy a box of gluten free chocolate brownie mix

Or -

• 1 cup of gluten free flour (you can use wheat flour if you want)
• 2 tablespoons of ground linseed/flaxeseed
• 3 tablespoons of oil
• ¼ cup of almond or soy milk (others are fine too)
• ¼ cup cocoa powder (you can also leave this out and have a vanilla flavoured base)
• ¼ cup soft brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• A pinch of salt

Optional

• Cinnamon
• Dessicated coconut
• Ground almonds, walnuts etc

Mousse

• x2 Silken tofu (this stuff: https://www.morinu.com/)
• 1 block of whittakers plain dark chocolate (50% or higher is fine). You can use baking chocolate but it isn’t as good. If you can’t get whittakers, aim for a good quality block of 50% or higher chocolate that’s around 400 grams (or 14 ounces)
• ¼ cup almond or soy milk (others might work too depending on your tastes)
• A pinch of salt
• ¼ cup of soft brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (natural is better but not essential)

Optional

• Cinnamon and nutmeg
• Strawberries or other fruit
• Maple syrup
• 1 ripe avocado
• Coconut oil
• Agar Agar
• Guar Gum
• Cocoa powder
• Chilli
• Coconut flakes
• Nuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)
2. Get a round spring form pan, it makes everything so much easier. Grease it if needed
3. Mix up all your base ingredients in one go, you’re looking for a fairly thick mixture. Add almond milk and oil by the tablespoon if it’s too dry. Press the mix into the pan and make it as even as you can.
4. Put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Either use the guide on the baking mix box, or if you’re not cheating, look for the surface of the base to gently spring back when you press on it a little. Worst comes to worst it’s not gonna matter if it isn’t super well cooked. Under cooked is better than overcooked.
5. Leave the base to cool. If you’re in a hurry, put it in the freezer. I usually leave it in the freezer for an hour at least.
6. Now you have to “press” the tofu. Get a bowl, put a seive over the top, and line the seive with a clean tea towel or cheese cloth. Put the tofu in the cheese cloth, and squeeze it, I find twisting the corners around helps. Water will come out, after a while, leave it in the seive to keep draining.
7. Half fill a pot with water, now find a metal bowl that will fit in the pot. Break up the chocolate and put it in the metal bowl, and then float the bowl in the pot. It helps if they’re close in size, so just the bottom of the bowl is in the water. Bring the water to the boil and slowly melt the chocolate.
8. Put the tofu in a blender, add the melted chocolate, and blend until smooth. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla and blend again. Over time it will get thicker. Taste test, add sugar if needed, or if it’s too intense, add a tablespoon of almond milk. Blend and test until it’s how you want it. Bear in mind that the flavours will smooth out in the fridge. I usually add cinnamon, maple syrup, and other stuff during this stage.
9. If you want to use avocado, you’ll likely need extra cocoa powder. If it’s too runny, add some melted coconut oil, or a little agar or guar gum. Remember it will get a bit firmer after being in the fridge.
10. Pull the base out of the freezer. If you want strawberries round the edges, now is the time to put them there. Then use a spatula to scrape the mousse into the pan. Spread it out as evenly as you can and add strawberries/other fruit, nuts, coconut etc on top.
11. Chill in the fridge for at least a few hours. you should notice a change in how firm it is. When you want to take off the sides, run a knife around the edge first to loosen it.

Solid 10/10.

One of the nicest chocolate bars I’ve ever tried.

Lovers Box - filled with all these amazing artisan chocolates

Loco Love

Byron Bay - Melbourne - Australia

Loco Love artisan vegan chocolates

Loco Love

Byron Bay - New South Wales - Australia

Mini Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Cakes | Barbara French Vegan