Maca Latte Tart
A coffee-cacao-maca raw tart with cashew cream filling and chocolate drizzle
Serves 8 (or makes 2 small 4.75-inch tarts) · 30 min active · 4 hr total · winter · evening or after-dinner
Ingredients
Crust
½ cup raw pecans, walnuts, almonds, or cashews
½ cup raw cashews
½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
½ cup medjool dates, pitted
1–2 tbsp raw cacao nibs (or chocolate chips)
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp coconut oil
pinch sea salt
Coffee-maca cream filling
1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked at least 6 hours
¼ cup brewed espresso (about 4 shots) or strong cold brew coffee
3 tbsp pure maple syrup or coconut nectar
6-7 tbsp full-fat coconut milk
2 tbsp coconut cream
1 ½ tsp maca powder
¾ tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ cup cacao butter, melted
pinch sea salt
Garnish
whole coffee beans, crushed
raw chocolate ganache drizzle
extra coffee-maca cream (for piping)
Method
Make the crust. Pulse the pecans and coconut flakes in a food processor until they break down into small pieces.
Add the cashews, dates, vanilla, coconut oil, and salt. Pulse until the mixture sticks together.
Add the cacao nibs last and pulse a few times to incorporate.
Press the crust dough evenly into 2 small 4.75-inch tart pans (or one 9-inch tart pan). Freeze until set.
Make the filling. Drain the soaked cashews. Place in a high-speed blender with the espresso, coconut nectar, coconut milk, coconut cream, maca, vanilla, and salt.
Blend until very smooth and creamy.
With the blender on low, stream in the melted cacao butter until incorporated. Don't overblend.
Pour the filling into the tart molds. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours, or until set.
Reserve any leftover filling in a piping bag for decorating later.
One hour before serving, remove the tarts from the freezer.
Pipe the reserved filling decoratively on top with a star nozzle. Garnish with crushed coffee beans and a drizzle of chocolate ganache.
Nourishment Notes
Maca powder is one of the more interesting "adaptogens" of the modern wellness world — it's the dried, milled root of Lepidium meyenii, a Peruvian Andean plant cultivated at altitudes above 13,000 feet for at least 2,000 years. The Inca civilization used maca as both a food and a medicinal preparation, and modern research has documented its complex profile of plant sterols, alkaloids, and amino acids. The flavor is mildly nutty, slightly butterscotch-like, and pairs especially well with coffee and chocolate — which is why the "maca latte" became a wellness-world staple in the early 2010s.
Cacao butter (also called cocoa butter) is the structural element that makes this filling set into a sliceable tart rather than an unstructured mousse. Cacao butter solidifies below 75°F and stays liquid above it — which means a tart filling made with cacao butter behaves like classic French truffle preparations. Used here at ¼ cup, it provides the right amount of structure without dominating the flavor. The same ingredient is the foundational fat in real chocolate (the kind that's labeled "real chocolate" rather than "chocolate-flavored").
The combination of coffee with maca and cacao is a nervous-system layering — three plant compounds that interact differently with the body's neurochemistry. Coffee's caffeine provides immediate alertness through adenosine blockade; cacao's theobromine provides a longer, more sustained energy through different pathways; maca's compounds (the macaridine alkaloids and beta-ecdysterone) provide adaptogenic support without direct stimulation. Used together in a single dessert, the three compounds produce a more complex experience than coffee or cacao alone.
Storage: Freezer up to 3 months. Thaw 1 hour before serving.
Recipe inspired by Lore Salas