Article - Breakfast cake

Photo: Raw Food Oslo

"Eating cake in the morning does something to you. Your brain can’t believe you are eating something that good for breakfast, and your body will thank you for the cake’s healthy ingredients!"

Tiril Lunde Refsum (25) is the founder of Raw Food Oslo. Here she makes food with healthy ingredients which are neither heat-treated nor processed. According to Tiril, this way the food is most alive, and its life energy is transferred directly to our body and makes us happy. And when cakes are her speciality – it must be true, right?

"I’ve made cakes for six years, but I’ve never baked any of them," she says beaming. I’d rather call myself a food chemist than a baker!

A nutritious flavour bomb

And rightly so: Tiril is experimenting every day with new cakes – without eggs, sugar or flour. In the kitchen, she plays with coconut oil and cacao butter under different temperatures. Layer upon layer she puts cacao mass or desiccated coconut on a base of seeds, nuts and kernels. Everything is topped with a fresh and colourful mix of fruits, greens or berries. Or why not sprouts or spruce sprigs? The result is a kind of a solid smoothie, simply a compact and energising taste bomb. And as Tiril says:
"Your head should burst with the feeling of, 'Wow, this was great'!”

This is what Tiril’s breakfast often looks like. What’s not to like?

Eating a piece of raw cake for breakfast will also make you feel full and satisfied for longer because it’s full of proteins and healthy fatty acids from, for example, avocado and nuts. This is slowly processed during digestion, and you don't feel full as quickly as when you eat fast carbohydrates. Tiril also recommends serving a sweet raw breakfast to kids. It guarantees an appetite early in the morning, and at the same time, it’s a good way to 'trick' kids into eating some fruit and vegetables.
"It’s silly to force kids to eat slices of bread if they don’t want to. It’s better to give them a chocolate ball made from raw cacao beans, soaked buckwheat, dates and coconut!"

Mindfulness for the stomach

'Raw food' is a type of diet that made a comeback in the 1970’s when people wanted to introduce raw food and fermentation back into the household. The idea with raw food is that it’s most nutritious when it’s not cooked or fried, and it's even better if it's organic. Therefore, raw food often consists of fruits, vegetables, beans, seeds, nuts and crops. Raw food has gained a new lease of life recently with the trends of yoga, mindfulness, juicing and 'clean living' for both body and soul.

Whilst many raw food supporters believe in a totally raw diet, Tiril refrains from lecturing and criticising when she spreads her message about raw food: "In Norway it’s cold, so we need warm food once in a while. I don’t exclusively eat raw food either, I eat what I want. My point is that there shouldn’t be so much worry concerning food and, first and foremost, we should eat what we like and what gives us energy," claims the food enthusiast.

Tiril’s half n’ half cakes for those who cannot decide. Photo: Raw Food Oslo

According to Tiril, raw food is not about detox or slimming, it’s about the body automatically favouring what’s healthy and nutritious: "You notice how the body and skin respond well to raw food. And it’s no surprise considering it contains all the ingredients you need – without gluten, lactose or environmentally hostile soya," she says.

Living nutrition for a hectic working day

Tiril is constantly working. On average, she usually makes and delivers fifteen cakes a day, and at busier periods, the amount can be more than double. Hi Yoga, The Juicery and The Well are just some of her regular customers who love her cakes. In addition, Tiril gives courses and workshops in raw food and is a yoga instructor. Starting the day with a raw brownie and coffee enables her to maintain energy and stay full during busy days. "Waking up to a piece of cake makes life a little more fun! We deserve the best," she concludes.

Tiril’s tips for a good start to the day

Set clear goals for what you want from the day so that things don’t seem to happen at random. Who do you want to be?

Take an ice cold shower and scrub your skin well. This way you take care of the body’s biggest organ by kick-starting blood circulation. Drink lukewarm lemon water to get the rest of the system started.

Afterwards, enjoy a raw cake – then the day can start!