Raw Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake

I started eating raw food after sampling the DELICIOUS food at Alchemy Cafe in Forth (which is near Devonport) their menu is small, all organic, all gluten and sugar free. They have vegan, vegetarian and meals with meat. It became a regular Saturday outing for me and my bestie until she upped and moved away!!

Anyways... we fell MADLY DEEPLY in love with Raw Desserts, specifically raw caramel slice and became obsessed with pinning every single raw dessert recipe on Pinterest.

I decided to cook her something special for her birthday dinner in May, being one of the last times for a while that we could get to celebrate together, and attempted to secretly make her a Raw Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake! ATTEMPTED being the key word there as my darling Simon very unintentionally gave it away haha!

I was SUPER stoked with how it turned out. At the restaurant, one guest mentioned how much he LOVED cheesecake, which made me terrible nervous as this recipe contains no cheese or dairy of any sort but he ended up eating at least two pieces! (what a pig hahaha).

I am a little bit of a add a bit of this, add a bit of that cook so I will try and put the quantities as best I can!! The best bit about a raw cake is you can taste test along the way as that will be how it tastes at the end.

CRUST

1.5 cups almonds (or other nut or seed)

1/3 cup unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder

3 tablespoons of maple syrup or agave

2 cap fulls

1/3 or so cup of coconut oil softened

pinch of Himalayan salt

whiz all that up together in a food processor, taste it, if it needs more cacao add some or more nuts etc. Spread over the base of your springform pan and pop in the freezer till its hard (my pan is fairly large, you might need to adjust the recipe to suit the size of your pan, if its smaller you can just have a thicker crust... yum haha!)

CHOCOLATE LAYER

1.5 cups raw cashews, soaked and rinsed (soak for at least 4 hours) 

1/2 A ripe avocado

1/2 cup maple syrup or agave

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coconut oil softened

1/2 cup unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder

whiz it all up together (this recipe is so lazy hahaha)... taste, add more cacao if required, spread over firm base and put back in the freezer

RASPBERRY LAYER

1.5 cups raw cashews, soaked and rinsed (soak for at least 4 hours) 

1/2 A ripe avocado

1/2 cup maple syrup or agave

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup coconut oil softened

Lemon Juice, just a squeeze

1.5 cups frozen raspberries

whiz it all up together... taste add more raspberries if needed and whiz again, add more lemon if needed, whiz again (remember it can be a bit tart as the chocolate evens it out) spread out over chocolate layer, cover in plastic wrap and leave to set in the freezer for a few hours (I left mine over night but it will only take an hour or so to set because of the coconut oil

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

1/4 cup coconut oil 

1/4 cup maple syrup or agave

1/4 cup unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

whiz together... taste (you get the drill) pour over your set cake and spread out with a spatula or spoon. (If you want to remove from the pan first so it runs out over the sides you can, run a warm knife around the edge and undo the latch on the springform pan. 

You will need a cake knife or a flat blade to slide between the base of the pan and the cake base and once air gets in there it should come off easily!

Decorate with raspberries and cacao! Can be stored in the freezer for quite some time, I did the choc glaze about 3 hours before it was eaten and it sat in a cool room at the restaurant for that time, was still very firm but easily eaten like a cheesecake.

If leaving in the freezer I would recommend getting out 30 minutes or so before you eat

I hope you enjoy!! It seems like a lot of work with this cake but it's really not, and there is no cooking so you can really just whip it up at a leisurely pace. I have a few other Raw Dessert recipes that I will share so stay tuned!!

Happy Cooking (from scratch!)

Erica xx