New Port café is sweet news for raw food fans
Sweet stall operator Raw Earth Dessert will open its first shopfront at the end of this month in Port Adelaide, in what will be Renew Adelaide’s final activation in the area.
A strawberry-topped slice by Raw Earth Desert.
Run by CrossFit instructor and self-described nutrition enthusiast Danni Walker, Raw Earth Dessert creates a colourful range of home-made raw cakes and protein balls which will be familiar to regulars at Plant 4 Bowden, where it operates a pop-up market stall.
It also pops up at the Market Shed on Holland, supplies a number of Adelaide cafes and stores, and creates custom-made raw cakes for special occasions such as weddings and birthdays.
Walker says the new Raw Earth Dessert Wholefoods Café, due to open on November 28 across from the council chambers in St Vincent Street, will take things to another level.
“I’d been looking through Renew Adelaide for a while trying to get something.
“We’ve put a lot into doing this property up … it’s going to be light with a nice wooden rustic natural feel but still modern.”
The shop – mainly offering takeaway but with a small sit-down area – will sell a range of items including salads, wraps, smoothies and smoothie bowls, as well as bulk wholefoods such as nuts, seeds, cacao and grains.
However, the main focus will be the raw sweets for which the business is known, including vegan slices such as “Golden Gaytime” slice, choc matcha mint, peanut butter “Snickers” and salted macadamia caramel; tarts, raw vegan cheesecakes, protein balls and biscuits.
Walker says Raw Earth Dessert, which started life with the name CocoaNuts, began as a result of her own struggle as a health and fitness instructor to find nutritious raw foods that also tasted good.
“A lot claim to be good for you but aren’t really,” she says.
“I started off making things for myself, then it grew from there with family and friends wanting them, then the pop-up came about.
“It’s all to do with health and nutrition and going back to basics of eating good food that’s not full of sugar and fillers … a lot of my social media and following has been through the fitness side of it as well.”
Walker says that rather than refined sugar, Raw Earth uses coconut nectar, brown rice syrup and raw dates as sweeteners.
Ingredients also include “superfoods” such as mesquite, acai and maca, and she uses fresh coconut flesh and water rather than the canned coconut cream more commonly found in raw sweets.
“I get a lot of people saying they find raw desserts too sweet and too dense but they try ours and realise they’re not … the coconut flesh is lighter and not so dense.
“We also use real flavouring like fresh mint and fresh lemon.”
The Port Adelaide premises Raw Earth Dessert Wholefoods Café is moving into was previously occupied by a bike shop, so has required extensive renovation work to transform it into a food business.
Walker found the space through Renew Adelaide, which connects start-up businesses with short-term, rent-free leases in vacant properties. Renew Adelaide has helped bring 28 new businesses to life in the area over the past five years, but as InDaily reported recently, the axing of State Government funding is now bringing the Port program to an end.
In an Instagram post this week, Renew described Raw Earth Dessert as “yummyness in action”, saying of the new shop: “It’s our last activation in the Port and it will be sweet.”
Walker says a significant chunk of the café’s initial six-month tenure has been taken up getting it ready for opening, but she is optimistic that it will be able to negotiate to extend the lease.
You can follow its progress on the official Facebook page. Raw food fans will be happy to know the pop-up stall will also continue to operate at Plant 4 Bowden.
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