Tomorrow is my buddy Rawbin's birthday (you may have seen her riding her magical unicorn across the blogosphere), as I mentioned in this post (while you're there, wish Helen a happy b-day, since hers is today). She is also the inspiration for this n'ice cream and raw cupcake combo.You may have already guessed that the not-so-secret ingredient is acai, something Rawbin and I snuck a lot of when the vendors' backs were turned at a Green Festival a while back. They kept dishing up generous sample servings of their acai sorbet, of which the two of us grabbed more than our fair share (what can I say? It was good, and we were hungry).
The sorbet was served with bananas and granola, in the same fashion I had seen it sold at Robeks, a smoothie/salad/sandwich shop in our area. Although tasty, it is far from being raw.Now, neither of us is 100 percent perfectly raw all the time (obviously, as we ate multiple servings a piece of that stuff), but we do our best when we can. Certainly, we'd prefer my new version of this treat at home, where we have control over what's in it (too bad we couldn't get it at the festival).
Recently, I picked up a package of this acai powder at Whole Foods. It was perfect for adding a bit of acai flavor, color (although not quite as vibrant as in the sorbet) and benefits to my own recipes.
Of course, I had to try it out in a banana n'ice cream, adding some frozen berries to brighten the hue up a bit. Then, I topped it with some raw nuts, seeds, coconut and dried fruit, since I didn't have any raw granola at the time. I nixed the sliced bananas, as I already incorporated them into the n'ice cream (although sliced fresh fruit would be a refreshing addition).And, I couldn't forget to make a raw cupcake with this powdered acai, which I mixed in my basic spice cupcake (minus the spice). I also stirred some into the raw whipped icing, giving it a soft lavender color (sorry that it appears a little gray in the pic).
The raw cupcake is accented with berry-colored coconut sprinkles, a dusting of Imperial Acai Blueberry White Tea, and a dried (yet sweetened; I did say we're not always perfect) hibiscus flower garnish I picked up in a pack from Trader Joe's. It was just so pretty that I couldn't resist.The end result looks like something that would fit in very well at the fairy festival Rawbin has tried to get me to go to for the past several years (that's where she shows off her unicorn in person). Something tells me Hayden will be dragging me there in her fairy wings one day soon.
Happy birthday Rawbin and Helen :-)
You can still get in on the raw cupcake celebration here, as I'm always happy to post about/link to your cupcake creations, too. Check out the recipes from my raw cupcake e-book, whip them up yourself, take a picture and let me know where I can link to them (I gotta know about it, if you want me to highlight it on my site). Happy unbaking!BTW, this is an e-book, which saves some trees (unless you decided to do my cut-and-paste project). Please make sure to provide a confirmed e-mail address at the time of purchase, so I can send it to you. Thanks :-)
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Guess what?! I just discovered that I made the 50 Best Blogs for Raw Food Recipes and Inspiration list. Thanks, and congratulations to the other raw bloggers on the list. I'm in good company.
