Hey, hey, hey! Coming at you today from Starbucks. Do you ever feel like you can get a lot more work done sitting in a coffee shop and not at your house? That's totally how I feel and it's a definite fact that I am so much more productive out in public verses chilling in my bed.

This would be all fine and dandy if I actually had a coffee shop to go hang out in. But no such thing exists in my town. Crazy, right?! Starbucks is about 45 minutes away and today I only worked a half day at my "real" job so I decided to come hang out here for the afternoon. It's nice!

Anyways, on to more important things like this chocolate layer cake. Raw, vegan, gluten free; the whole works. I've realized that a lot of my recipes are raw which would give you the idea that I'm into that type of thing. And I totally am, but not as much as it seems. I eat a lot of smoothies and stuff but other than that I eat mostly cooked food. Isn't it funny how things can be portrayed on the internet? Things usually aren't what they seem. Scrolling through social media and seeing perfect pictures is filtered content that the artist only wants you to see. You don't see the whole story and I think that's important to remember. For example, here you see a picture of some rockin' vegan cake. What you don't see is the messy kitchen with a sink full of dishes or the bags of "props" (hemp seeds, pomegranate, cacao powder) sitting right out of sight. I guess my point is to let social media uplift you and inspire you. I want you to look at this cake and think about how you can make an awesome cake just like this one or maybe persuade a friend to try it out because you're trying to get them to eat a bit healthier. I don't want people to view my content and feel anything but positivity and inspiration. Even though the pictures I share are the whole story, they're a part of the story that I want you to be able to take away something good from.

I was going to talk about this chocolate cake, but that rant too me to other places. So let's just move on to that recipe.

Chocolate Layer Cake

serves 6-8

1 1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup buckwheat
1/4 cup cashews
3 tablespoons water

Blend together ingredients until a dough forms. Place between parchment paper and roll out until about 2 inches thick. With a large circular cookie cutter cut out two layers of the base. Set aside.

1 cup oats
1 cup dates
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons cacao powder
2 tablespoons almond butter

Blend together all ingredients until smooth. Spread a large amount of icing on top of both base pieces. Stack them. Top with cacao powder, pomegranate seeds, hemp seeds, or whatever you desire!

Serve, enjoy!

Store in refrigerator for up to 7 days. You might have extra batter which is a great addition to banana ice cream or a smoothie!

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