I’ve made several Raw Vegan Cheesecake, but this one is the best so far I’ve had! The combination of wild blueberries and lemon is simply delicious.
The inspiration for this cake came from my ⭒✩Beetroot and Raspberry Brownie✩⭒ that are one of the readers’ and mine favorite recipe on the blog, and the ⭒✩Cherry Dream Bars✩⭒ they are so simple and amazing, you must try them out.
Raw Dessert and Cake recipes relying heavily on dates and nuts. Raw desserts, nutty slices and cakes typically use a base of nuts and dates. The nuts provide bulk and body, the dates serve as a sweet binder. But I always find these raw sweets too nut-heavy for my taste also quite heavy on the stomach, so I lightened up the cashew layer with psyllium husk. It creates a firm texture and it does also to help reducing amount of nut in the recipe because of the water-absorbing ability of psyllium husk.
Let’s start with the crust – It’s made of shredded coconut, dates, carob powder and a pinch of salt.
Next the wild blueberry jam layer – It’s made of defrosted wild blueberries, coconut sugar, cinnamon and cloves. I added some lemon juice and zest for a bit of that tartness and freshness, because blueberries and lemon are a match made in heaven.
The second layer – Made from cashews, coconut nectar for sweetness, vanilla, butterfly pea flower tea for it’s gorgeous colors, some coconut milk, coconut oil and psyllium husk – blend it all up and that’s it. Of course, you’ve got to have cashews in a raw vegan cheesecake. Cashews make it super creamy and mousse-y. Lately, however, I have been experimenting with new recipes without or with uses less nuts. This is meant to be helpful to those interested in using less fats.
The cashew layer holds their form quite well due to the help of a little bit of psyllium husk. The psyllium husk gives the mixture a no-bake cheesecake-like texture and it won’t loses its firm texture once defrosted.
I also loved using a few extra superfoods in this cake toppers like hemp seeds and maca powder. Bliss balls – It’s of shredded coconut, dates, hemp seeds, maca powder and cinnamon.
As usual the cake is raw, vegan, dairy free, gluten free, refined sugar free and very yummy. I really hope you enjoy making this recipe.
- Base
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup soft dates
- 2 tablespoon carob or cacao powder
- pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon water if needed
- Jam layer
- 1 cup frozen wild blueberries, thawed at room temperature
- ½ cup blueberry juice, from the now thawed berries
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- juice and zest of a ½ lemon
- 2 tablespoon psyllium husk
- Cashew layer
- 1+1/2 cup cashew, soaked overnight
- ⅓ cup thick coconut milk, chilled
- 1 heaping tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 tablespoon coconut nectar
- ½ cup butterfly pea tea, at room temperature
- seeds of a half vanilla bean
- 2 tablespoon psyllium husk
- Bliss balls
- ¾ cup shredded coconut
- ¼ cup hulled hemp hearts
- 1 cup soft dates
- 2 tablespoon maca powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tablespoon water if needed
- Soak your cashews for about 4 hours or overnight.
- Base - In a food processor combine your dates, shredded coconut, carob powder and salt (add a tablespoon water if needed). Process until crumbly and sticky. Press into the base of lined 6-inch cake tin and set aside.
- For the jam filling - simply blend the thawed wild blueberries with some blueberry juice (from the now thawed blueberries) coconut sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and zest until it becomes smooth. Add two tablespoon psyllium husk and pulse together. Let sit on the countertop for about 20 minutes. Do a taste test to make sure the thickness and flavor is to your liking. Spread the jam over the base and let set in the freezer.
- Cashew layer - combine all filling ingredients (except psyllium husk) in a high-speed blender, pulse a few times to break down and then blend until smooth and creamy. Add two tablespoon psyllium husk and pulse together. Pour filling evenly over your jam layer and freeze for about 2-3 hours until set.
- Bliss Balls - To make the balls simply blitz (in a food processor) all the ingredients together until well combined. Wet your hands a little bit and roll spoonful of the dough into little balls.
** These layers are not in particular order. Next time instead of jam layer on the bottom, I top the base with half of the cashew layer then followed with the jam over it and topped with the remaining cashew layer, I think. Feel free to play around with the layers, decorate if desired or add toppings of choice.
Butterfly pea tea originates from South-East Asia where countries have been drinking a mixture of the butterfly-pea flower and dried lemongrass for centuries. Known for it’s gorgeous colors. Butterfly pea tea (Clitoria ternatea) is a caffeine-free herbal beverage. Aside from its many culinary uses it also has numerous health benefits. When steeped in hot water, the butterfly pea flower turns the water blue. Add in some lemon juice and the blueish tea turns into a dreamy purple.
