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.
Anne-Laure wrote on March 7, 2010
We just tasted it, it is as delicious as it is beautiful. With such a treat you could convert anyone to raw!
Couldn’t find coconut butter and was afraid that with coconut oil, il would fall apart, but that was not the case. A recipe that keep its promises (it is not always the case…), that’s very satisfactory! I will certainly try others now. It’s worthy getting used to the cups and spoons measures which really confused me at start (I’m French and normally only rely on “grammes” and “millilitres”)!
Thank you very much for sharing your recipes through this beautiful blog.
Susan wrote on March 7, 2010
Thanks so much. When texture is considered, coconut butter and coconut oil are interchangeable. The taste of coconut butter is much richer…
Gloria wrote on February 12, 2010
Hi Susan,
I actually have the same question as a lot of folks…about the coconut butter. Never bought it before, where can you purchase- whole foods? trader joe’s? is there a brand you recommend? just don’t want to talk right by it in the store, which is very likely. Thanks! I’m going to try and make it for a friend this weekend. She forwarded me the recipe.
Susan wrote on February 12, 2010
Coconut butter is different that coconut oil. You can find a description of each of them here: https://rawmazing.com/articles/raw-food-all-about-young-coconuts/Coconuts. I would suggest trying to get the coconut butter because it has a richer flavor. We offer it in our store if you would like to buy it on line!!
Diana@Spain in Iowa wrote on February 11, 2010
Hi Susan, I’m planning on trying this recipe out for a Valentines dinner. Can coconut oil be substituted for the coconut butter? I’ve not heard of butter before.
Thanks!
Diana
Mike wrote on February 7, 2010
Hi Susan,
I am IN LOVE with all your pictures. I just did a few changes to the recipe so to fit better my view of the sweetner – I used mapple syrup (you know – Canada = mapple syrup 🙂 ). I have seen quite a few guys asking for a replacement of the coconut butter. Its been a while since I started looking for an answer to this question and so far I came to the point that Irish Moss is a good substitute and it is available in almost every food store around the world, however it will NOT be enough to keep the consistency. In order to achieve the perfect result I am suggesting 1 tsp of fine grounded husk flower plus the Irish Moss (in case you can find both). Using husk flower in the recipes is both health improving (cleansing toxins) and makes the cheese cake stay much longer in its shape outside of the fridge. The only “problem” someone can discover is that he have put too much husk as the gelling effect starts few minutes later. So give it a try with 1/2 tsp and if not enough, add a bit more.
Of course you can always find a good and reliable dealer online for coconut butter which is also very rich in good fats. Just wanted to share an idea of the substitution…
carina wrote on January 6, 2010
i used much more dates than it says in the recipe, i think about 10 (or more) + added 1 tablespoon water to achieve the right consistence.
after grating the zest from the oranges it only made 1 tablespoon, not 3. to compense this lack and because i didn’t use the orange oil either i squeezed half a lemon and added it to the filling.
all in all the cake turned out fine! the next time i’ll use more lemon juice to get a more sourly taste!
thanks for the recipe and your whole great website! 🙂
Susan wrote on January 6, 2010
You used 10 dates?! In the crust? Wow!
Christine wrote on January 5, 2010
What brand/kind of sweet orange essential oil did you use? I can’t find one that is food grade.
Susan wrote on January 5, 2010
There are quite a few of them out there. You need to google food grade essential oils.
evw wrote on January 5, 2010
for heidileon’s comment re looking for coconut butter … yes, you can make your own by removing the fresh coconut meat from the hulls, taking care to save the coconut water. Cream the fresh coconut meat in a food processor or champion juicer (or similar equipment that will not create high temp while creaming; a standard blender has insufficient power and the blades are not sharp nor strong enough) and if necessary, use some of the coconut water to get cream consistency.
Susan wrote on February 7, 2010
I never actually answered this but you can not make the kind of coconut butter needed for this recipe from fresh coconuts. You need it to be very solid at room temp so the cheesecake will set.
Susan wrote on January 5, 2010
Honestly, because of the consistency needed for this recipe, I would really want to try making the coconut butter before suggesting using it this way. Maybe I will do that this afternoon!
K&M wrote on December 30, 2009
I just discovered your website (via gliving). It’s rAwmazing! I love the pictures… surely enough to whet anyone’s appetite for raw food and inspire me to make more raw food. Fabulous.