Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Banana Mousse Tart

This is a recipe I got from Call Me Cupcake. It was originally called a chocolate mousse cake, but I don’t like that name for two reasons: 1) this isn’t a cake; and 2) chocolate isn’t even the dominant flavor. You can very much taste the banana and peanut butter; it’s a good mix, but not the decadent chocolate treat I was expecting. I am omitting the coffee from the filling below, because I felt it was too much, but I’m leaving the coffee in the crust as is. Note that this makes a very small cake, but the original recipe says it could be doubled and put in a bigger mold (and it also says that if you forget to soak your cashews overnight, you can soak them in very hot water for 1 hour instead).

For the crust
½ cup (100 g) pitted dates
½ cup (85 g) almonds
¼ cup (25 g) shredded coconut
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
pinch of salt
½ to 1 Tbsp. espresso or strong coffee (optional)

For the filling
½ cup (85 g) cashew nuts, soaked in water overnight, then drained
3 Tbsp. coconut oil
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2-3 Tbsp. maple syrup (to taste)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 banana

For the chocolate sauce
1 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
½ Tbsp. maple syrup

For topping (optional)
cocoa powder
chopped pistachios or nuts of choice
shredded coconut

Soak the dates in warm water for 15 minutes, then drain.

Put almonds in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the dates, coconut, cocoa powder, salt and pulse until a paste forms. Add espresso as needed and pulse until paste is smooth.

Press mixture into a 6-inch springform pan with the bottom covered with plastic wrap (I covered mine with parchment paper). Put the pan in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

Put coconut oil, coconut milk, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and peanut butter in a saucepan and heat very gently until mixture is quite loose and all ingredients have melted.

Pour the ingredients from the saucepan plus the cashews and the banana into a blender or food processor and mix until mixture is as smooth as possible. Pour the filling into the crust, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 2-4 hours or until filling is set. After that, I recommend keeping the tart in the fridge, because it will be easier to cut slices and the texture will be more pleasant to eat (but if you don’t think you’ll finish this within a few days, do put it in the freezer).

Mix all the chocolate sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Powder some extra cocoa powder on top of the cake. Drizzle sauce over cake and top with chopped pistachios and shredded coconut, if desired.