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.
Frugal Babe wrote on December 29, 2009
This is amazing! Very easy to make, and tastes fantastic. Mine does not look quite as nice as yours, but it tastes amazing! Thanks for sharing
Marion wrote on December 29, 2009
Hello,
I may be a bit late, but I hope my question will Be answered.
Well, I don’t understand what is meant with “cashews, soaked”.
English is not my native language. I know cashews as white, somehow “curly-like” nuts.
Are these nuts meant ? If so, in what are they “soaked” ? Water ? Orange Juice ? Are the cashews grated or grounded ? I find it difficult to soak nuts of this size in anything ? Maybe it is really a language problem. And is it correct to use a 6 inch pan which means à Little less than 16 cm ? In Germany a standard cake pan is of 26 cm which is about 11 inches I think.
I hope someone reads this and can help me, although the original post here is already a few days old.
Seasonal greetings from Germany
Marion
Susan wrote on December 29, 2009
You soak the cashews for a couple of hours in water to soften them up. The spring form pan used is small…only 6″ but the cheesecake is so dense that you still get 8 servings out of it. You then use the food processor to make the filling with the soaked nuts. I hope this helps…
Diana@Spain in Iowa wrote on December 28, 2009
Susan, am I ever excited to have found your blog. Your recipes are rawmazing! You’ve inspired me! Thank you and I look forward to following you 🙂
polly raichert wrote on December 16, 2009
Made this recipe this weekend and it was very good. Not all essential oils are food grade are they? I had some aura cacia but didnt use it becuz whole foods said it was not food grade ( although that makes me somewhat nervous about using it other ways). What kind did you use? Thanks
Carole Hicks wrote on December 14, 2009
When you say “good oranges” what do you mean? Naval? Valencia?
Susan wrote on December 14, 2009
An orange that tastes really good. So many are dry and don’t have that great orange flavor.
mado wrote on December 12, 2009
orange + chocolate + raw = sinful, blissful heaven. now to find an excuse to serve this with brunch…..
carol giambri wrote on December 11, 2009
Raw cheesecakes rock. Thanks Susan for my drooling eyes and also recipe helps tons.
carolg
remember me when visiting Boulder for unite
Julia wrote on December 11, 2009
Hi,
The photo looks amazing. But where is the cheese in the cheesecake?
Susan wrote on December 11, 2009
It is a “cheesecake” done the raw food, vegan way. So, no animal products are used. Only healthy, nutrient dense ingredients. Thus the quotes. 😉