Chocolate Love Cake

I'm in love with this cake! I couldn't believe how delicious this was! Whenever I go to RAW restaurants I order one of their desserts because they look so amazing in the refrigerators just calling out to me. The work put into this was moderately easy. There's soaking involved and scraping those impossible little vanilla beans. Does Pampered Chef have anything to make that job easier? This recipe was from my RAWlicious book....which if you haven't noticed by now, it's one of my favorites! It called for agave nectar, but I used maple syrup instead. Reason being that agave is actually not that healthy for us and has higher levels of fructose than corn syrup. AND it's not even made from natural ingredients. NICE! A lot of raw foodists use agave, but I have put a halt on it! Shame.... So, I'm not sure if that's why my crust was a little crumbly. Perhaps next time I'll use honey to have it gel better.
I had to use a little cocoa b/c it's all I had, but cacao is better since it has magnesium in it to support heart health....and it's just all around better than cocoa which is processed and stripped of it's nutrients. Poor cocoa!
This cake is HUGE! You'll definitely want to save this for when you have guests! It is now sitting in my refrigerator looking at me saying, "Really? Do you think you're going to eat all of me? Did you feel how much I weighed?"
It's a little pricey to make this cake, so put it together once in a great while.

For the base:
3 cups almonds, soaked for 2 hours
1 cup pecans, soaked for 2 hours
1/4 cup agave
Seeds of 2 vanilla pods
1/2 tsp. sea salt

In a food processor, grind the almonds and pecans until fine. Add the agave, vanilla seeds and salt. Process all the ingredients together until a sticky, crumble-like base is formed. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides. Press into a springform cake tin or quiche tin with removable base. Make puncture holes in the base using a fork and put it in the refrigerator while you make the topping.

For the topping:
4 cups pitted dates, soaked in warm water
1 1/2 cups coconut oil
1 cup cacao powder
1 avocado
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod
1 tsp. sea salt

Blend the dates with a little of the soak water (keep some on reserve if you need more) in a power blender or food processor. Add the coconut oil, cacao powder, vanilla seeds, avocado, and salt. Blend until all ingredients are mixed through. (This part didn't work out so well for me. I actually needed to dump it all out into a bowl and mix by hand due to overheating). Transfer into the cake or quiche tin and spread evenly. Decorate with cacao beans and pecan nuts (optional). Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Keep it in the refrigerator. Enjoy!