Raw Orange Chocolate “Cheesecake”
What do you do when a blizzard cancels your raw food cooking class and you have cashews soaking for prep? Make a great raw recipe for cheesecake! I love the combination of orange and chocolate. A bag of beautiful, fragrant oranges was sitting on the counter. Time to have some fun. The texture came out beautiful, and the taste is divine. Another recipe that would be perfect for holiday entertaining. I used a little orange essential oil in this to really kick up the orange flavor. You might want to note that essential oils are not considered raw and you want to be sure you are using food grade oils for recipes. This is a really simple, quick yet impressive “cheesecake”.
Orange Chocolate Cheesecake
SERVES 12
Crust
- 1 cup almonds*
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- 3 dates
- Combine all ingredients in the food processor. Process until ground fine. Mixture should hold together when pressed. If it doesn’t, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time until texture is achieved. Set aside 1/4 cup.
- Press remaining mixture into bottom of 6″ spring form pan. Place in refrigerator.
*I always pre-soak all my almonds and dry them as soon as I get them.
Filling
- 3 oranges (make sure you have very good oranges)
- 2/3 cup agave (or liquid sweetener of your choice)
- 2 1/2 cups cashews (soaked at least 3 hours)
- 3/4 cup coconut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet orange essential oil (optional as it is not raw but still very healthy)
- Grate the zest off of all the oranges. You should have at least 3 tablespoons. Be careful to only get the orange part as the pith (the white) is bitter.
- Squeeze the juice out of all the oranges. You should have about 2/3 cup.
- Place cashews, agave, coconut butter, zest, essential oil, and agave and orange juice in the food processor and process until very smooth.
- Pour over crust, sprinkle extra crust on top and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Ugne wrote on May 30, 2014
Hello, I am about to try this recipe. Does it really say 3 dates or is it a typing mistake and should be 3 cups? Thanks
Susan wrote on May 30, 2014
Yes, three dates. Three cups? Wow that would be a lot of dates! Cheers!