I absolutely loved my mom's Napoleon Cake. As I looked for it in her cook book I found a dozen recipes! About half are named after the person that gave it to her, and the rest have a number attached to it. Yes, I do plan to attempt all of them.

So, why the vegan raw version? Well, my church was doing a Daniel fast in the month of January. I wanted to have something sweet and nutritious because I am still nursing, and I have a major sweet tooth and my kids can’t survive without dessert ( wow, we are so blessed to live in this country).

Ingredients:

For the layers
2 cups walnuts
6 -8 dates
The filling or cream part
2 cups cashews ( cover with water and soak overnight in the fridge)
1 cup coconut milk
¼ cup cocoa butter
½ cup coconut oil (melted)
3 Tbs maple syrup
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
Vanilla bean ( if using)
And I added cardamom essential oil, the flavor blew my mind ( Read more about Cardamom Essential oil here. )
The drizzle on top
1 Tbs cocao powder
¼ cup cocoa butter melted

The night before soak the cashews in water, make sure they are covered, and refrigerate.

Blend walnuts and dates in a food processor until fine and set aside.

I used a blender to make the cream part of the cake. Strain and rinse the cashews, and place in the blender. Start the blender and begin adding the remaining ingredients. Coconut milk, melted cocoa butter, melted coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, vanilla bean ( if using) and ONE drop of Cardamom essential oil (if using) . It will be beautifully blended and smell heavenly.

Begin to arrange the cake.

Divide the dates and walnut mixture into three, to get three layers. Spread the first layer in a parchment paper lined dish. Then pour about a third of the cream and place in freezer for an hour so this layer sets and you can easily spread the next layer. And repeat the process. The last layer you don’t want to freeze because you will be pouring the chocolate over it and want it to be creamy to make a design.

I used a little bag and cut a hole to pipe the chocolate out. Refrigerate overnight or a few hours before taking the dessert out and cutting it into rectangles.

Jasper loved it right out of the blender! he though it was ice cream.

Little tips on this post :

The pretty blue / grey throw is from the winter Cause box. Check them out https://causebox.com/ .
Sweater is by free people, I found at Nordstrom rack. One of my favorite brands.
Flowers were given to me by the awesome people at New Seasons just because I said I was making a Vegan Raw dessert on my blog. I love you New Seasons employees !
The cocoa butter was tricky to find, I had someone help me find it, it's expensive you guys, sigh, but I use it for under eye moisturizer, and put it in my black tea. The smell is incredible.