About a week ago, @gringalicious posted a fantastic recipe and a beautiful collection of photographs of a German Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake that she created.
(I've included a link to her post, just in case you missed it.)
Her food photography work is magazine quality and I could envision her cake gracing the cover or commanding a 2 page spread in a major Food & Drink magazine.
I fell in love with the idea of a rich, decadent chocolate cake, with thick fudgey frosting and a caramel pecan coconut topping. The problem was, I don't eat a lot of the food items or ingredients that are required to make this well-loved dessert.
So, I percolated on the concept of re-working this classic favourite into a 100% Paleo, Gluten-free, Vegan, almost Raw, Lower Carb rendition.
Here's my finished version:
First let me start by saying that I do not profess to be an expert in the art of perfect raw food consumption, as a lifestyle.
I currently eat about 85% raw and follow a Paleolithic eating lifestyle, 100%.
I’ll translate that a little further with more specific clarification.
I eat most raw fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and some legumes. I also eat meat, very selectively, and not every day.
Everything else, (all refined sugars, grains, rice, corn, soy and white potatoes) are quite literally, off my table.
I came to eat and live this way in an effort to heal my body from the ravages of an autoimmune disease called Multiple Sclerosis. It has helped me to live symptom-free and ultimately in remission for the last 8 years.
Prior to that, I was having regular attacks of the disease for 4 years before I changed how and what I ate.
I also started eating a concentrate made from the flower buds of the cannabis plant.
Those two things together, have helped me to keep my eyesight and my ability to walk and be physically active. If you look at me today, you wouldn’t know. I’m really physically active and I don’t have any limitations.
For very obvious reasons, the majority of people who eat Raw are also Vegans.
Vegans choose not to take any sustenance from any substance that another sentinel being has given their life for or sacrificed most of their existence to produce.
From my perspective, the Vegan lifestyle is what Vegetarians often grow up to be.
I say that a little sarcastically but it’s only to make the point that the way any of us choose to eat is an evolution.
There is considerable thought and intention behind anyone who makes what they eat and how they eat it a “conscious” act.
I have yet to meet a Vegan who isn’t an animal activist at some level, just like I have yet to meet a Hunter whom doesn’t eat meat.
I think that what we choose to eat is a “hot button topic”... right up there with religion and politics. So, I’m cannon-balling right in the middle of the pool from the beginning and stating that I don’t judge anyone for how they choose to live their life. I just happened to be lucky enough to figure out how to fuel my body to keep it happy and healthy in the process.
The first thing that people are usually concerned about when even entertaining the idea of changing what they eat is whether or not they’ll have to give up their favourite foods in the process.
The answer is tricky because it’s both yes and no.
Quite likely, you’ll be exchanging what you traditionally ate with something very similar in look, texture and taste, but just made with different ingredients. Cheesecake is no exception.
You read that correctly. You can, in fact, make cheesecake without flour, eggs and cream cheese and it’s “no bake.”
The thing with raw food recipes is that they often require soaking or dehydrating time. This part is time consuming and means that you have to plan the lead time to construct your recipes and put each component together as it is ready before it can be plated, presented and enjoyed.
A lot of love goes into the culinary art of making raw food look and taste extraordinary.
It takes 2 days to make a raw cheesecake, but for a special occasion like a nice dinner with good friends or a family celebration, it’s worth the effort.
The first thing, you’ll need to do is gather your ingredients and then your kitchen tools.
Here’s the tools you’ll need:
4 medium bowls for soaking nuts and dates;
A 10 inch springform pan;
A spatula;
2 spoons;
A selection of measuring cups and measuring spoons;
A fine mesh strainer;
And a Food Processor, a Vitamix or high powered blender.
Here the ingredients you’ll need:
Crust:
2 cups almonds, soaked in water for 12 hours, in a medium sized bowl at room temperature.
10 Sayer pitted dates or 10 medium-sized dates of your choice, just make sure they don’t have any pits. They need to soak for 15 minutes in hot water to soften before you put the crust together.
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract.
1/8 tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.
Cheese Filling:
2 ½ cups cashews, soaked in water for 4 hours, in a medium sized bowl at room temperature.
2 ¼ cups coconut milk.
1 cup maple syrup (agave nectar can be substituted).
¾ cup of Cacao powder.
¾ cup of coconut butter or coconut oil. (If you use coconut oil, it must be a solid at room temperature. It helps to solidify the filling. If you were turning this recipe into a cannabis- infused edible, you would simply use 1/3 cup of medium chain triglyceride cannabis infused coconut oil and 1/4 of a cup of regular coconut oil. )
Here's the link from one of my previous posts about how to make medium chain triglyceride cannabis infused coconut oil:
2 tbsp of ground chia seeds (They help the filling to solidify over time, also.)
3 tbsp of sunflower lecithin.
1/8 tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.
Frosting Layer:
2 ripe avocados.
½ cup of maple syrup.
½ cup of Cacao powder.
2 tbsp of coconut oil.
1 tsp pure vanilla extract.
1/4 tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.
Top Layer:
½ cup of pure creamed coconut. (This is a heavy solid at room temperature.)
½ cup of maple syrup.
1 cup pecans coarsely ground or roughly chopped.
1 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut.
20 Sayer dates pitted and soaked in hot water for 15 minutes. (Save the soaking water.)
¼ cup date water, left over from soaking the dates.
1 tsp pure vanilla extract.
½ tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.
4 pecans left whole, to decorate the top of the cake.
Directions:
Start by soaking your almonds. They should soak for 12 hours.
The cashews need to be soaked for a minimum of 4 hours. I often soak them just as long as the almonds to streamline the whole process.
These nuts have been soaking for a few hours. You can see that the water is turning a cloudy white colour. This is due to the phytic acid, coming off of the nuts. Phytic acid is part of the plant's survival mechanism. It keeps the seed or nut from being easily digested or broken down. Seeds and nuts are nutrient dense and Mother Nature's goal is to keep the seed or nut completely intact. So, by design, they are engineered "tough" to allow them to pass right through a bird, animal or human so that the plant species will survive.
In the raw food world, we want to soak the nuts to make their exceptional nutrients easier for us to digest and absorb.
After many hours, you can see that the cashews have softened and plumbed up.
The next thing to do is to prepare your 10- inch springform pan. I like to cover the bottom with a large piece of plastic wrap. This makes it very easy to transfer the finished cake to a cake stand or serving platter if you plan on presenting it on your table.
One 10 inch cake should served 12 to 16 people, depending on how big you cut your pieces. This cake freezes exceptionally well and once thawed will last about 5 days in a refrigerator. It's great when you are serving a larger crowd.
Soak the 10 dates for the crust in hot water for 15 minutes. This will soften the dates and make it easier for them to hold the crust together.
To make the crust, place all the "crust ingredients" into a food processor and blend until the nuts and dates are finely ground and sticking together.
Add this crumble mixture to the bottom of the springform pan and press down to create an even crust or base of the cheesecake.
The crust is held together by the stickiness of the dates.
For the filling, drain the cashews and add them to a Vitamix blender, along with the coconut milk, and maple syrup. Blend well until you've achieved a smooth, creamy consistency.
Add all the remaining filling ingredients and blend well. Once blended, the filling will become thicker and dark chocolate brown in colour.
Pour this mixture on top of the crust in the springform pan. Cover the top of the pan with plastic wrap and freeze for 12 hours.
After the crust and filling have had a chance to freeze for 12 hours, remove the cake from the springform pan onto your cake stand or serving platter.
To make the frosting, remove the pits from the avocados, peel the skin off and cut the halves into small chunks.
Add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and cacao to a Vitamix blender and blend until the cacao is evenly blended all the way through. Add the coconut oil and salt and blend again. The finally mixture will be really thick and creamy in texture.
This mixture is thick enough to stand a spoon in, once it has a chance to cool in the fridge. In addition to the best healthful chocolate frosting, it also makes a wonderful chocolate pudding or it can be frozen in popsicle molds to make fudgsicles.
Apply the frosting to the top and sides of the cake.
To make the topping for the cake, gentle heat the creamed coconut in a small sauce pan over very low heat to melt it. Add the maple syrup and stir frequently so that the mixture becomes caramelized. Keep the temperature really low and be careful not to burn it.
I used this brand of pure creamed coconut. It is very solid at room temperature, but you could also use regular coconut oil that is also a solid at room temperature. I find that the creamed coconut has a more distinct coconut and caramel taste. It's perfect for this cake.
Next, roughly chop the pecans and soak 20 Sayer dates in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain the water from the dates and save a 1/4 cup of the date soaking water.
Add the creamed coconut and maple syrup mixture to a Vitamix blender and add the soaked dates and 1/4 cup of date water. Blend well.
Next, add the coconut, salt and vanilla extract and blend well. Lastly, add the chopped pecans and fold in the mixture. There should still be small chunks of pecans visible.
Apply this mixture to the top of the cake and decorate the centre with 4 whole pecans.
Keep refrigerated before you serve it and let stand for 20 minutes at room temperature, before you present it, cut it and serve it.
You can see how dense this cashew cheesecake is. It cuts beautifully and will stay together once plated.
The only thing left now, is to simply enjoy it.
Thanks for making it all the way to the end of this post.
I invite you to follow me and I welcome your comments.
~Rebecca Ryan