If you haven't yet made a dairy-free cheesecake then this is a great place to start. It uses cashews and coconut milk to create a texture and flavour that's as delicious as a dairy cheesecake without the heavy feeling afterwards. It also ticks the boxes for being gluten-free, refined sugar-free and vegan. This recipe is from Buffy Gill and it appears in Bronwyn Kan's book Whole: Recipes for Simple Wholefood Eating. See more from Buffy at begoodorganics.com, and read about some of the other contributors here.
Base
| 1 ¼ cups | Almonds, raw, or activated and dried |
| ½ cup | Shredded coconut |
| ¾ cup | Dates |
| 1 | Lemon, zested |
| ½ tsp | Vanilla, powder |
| ¼ tsp | Sea salt |
| 1 Tbsp | Coconut oil, melted |
Filling
| 2 ½ cups | Cashew nuts, soaked for 2 hours, drained and rinsed |
| 1 cup | Coconut milk |
| ¾ cup | Coconut oil, melted |
| ½ | Lemons, juice and flesh |
| ¼ cup | Raw coconut nectar |
| 2 Tbsp | Cacao butter, melted |
| 1 tsp | Vanilla extract |
| ¼ tsp | Sea salt |
| 2 cups | Mangoes, flesh, fresh if possible, chopped (Main) |
| 2 tsp | Turmeric |
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Directions
- To make the base, blend almonds and shredded coconut in a food processor until well chopped but still with some chunky texture.
- Add dates one by one while motor is still running. Then add remaining base ingredients and blend until well combined.
- Pour the mixture into a 20cm cake tin lined with baking paper. Press the mixture down with a spatula until firm and flat. Place in the freezer to firm.
- Blend all the filling ingredients, except mango and turmeric, in a food processor or blender until completely smooth, scraping down the inside of the food processor a few times to remove lumps. The mixture should be completely smooth like a thick cream.
- Pour half of the mixture into a bowl and set aside, then add mango and turmeric into remaining half and blend until well combined.
- Remove base from freezer and, using one quarter of the plain cream mixture, dollop generous spoonfuls on top of the base.
- Repeat this with dollops of one quarter of the mango mixture, then continue layering in this way until both mixtures have been used up.
- Using a chopstick, swirl figure-eight patterns through the mixture to create a swirling effect between the two creams. Don't over-swirl or you will end up with a completely light orange cheesecake.
- Place in the freezer overnight and then in the morning remove from the tin and place in the fridge. I like to slice and serve this around half an hour after removing from the freezer to maintain a lovely firm texture, similar to an Italian semifreddo. You can also slice the cake and return to the freezer in individual slices to remove from the freezer as you need.
