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.
Alicia Neville wrote on November 23, 2010
So excited to see this one 🙂 I have decided to make this as my dessert contribution for Thanksgiving!
Susan wrote on November 16, 2010
Just don’t soak and dehydrate them. If a recipe calls for soaked and dried nuts, you can just substitute the nuts. If it calls for soaked nuts (not dried) you must do that for texture and consistency.
Liza wrote on November 16, 2010
I see how you soaked the almonds but what if i don’t have a dehydrater? I’m not a complete RAW foodie but loved a chessecake I had at a RAW resturant. So do I have to soak and dehydrate the almonds? How long will i have to leave them out to dry?
patty wrote on October 12, 2010
Ok so whole foods is the only place besides on line that you can buy coconut butter. I just made the cake. It is awesome!!!! I am so excited!! It was not hard at all!! 🙂
Susan wrote on October 12, 2010
It depends on where you live. I can buy coconut butter at almost all of our local coops. So glad you like the cake!!
Eva wrote on October 11, 2010
what do you use to curl your orange peel?
Susan wrote on October 11, 2010
I wrapped it around the handle of a wooden spoon.
patty wrote on October 10, 2010
I can not find coconut butter at ANY stores! HELP:(
Susan wrote on October 10, 2010
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WV153I?ie=UTF8&tag=rawmazing-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000WV153I
You can order it here.
Asia wrote on September 9, 2010
Looks yummy. But I’d prefer not to use agave. Any other sweetener suggestions? I noticed that honey did not work well for one poster.
Jennifer wrote on September 3, 2010
I used just the crust recipe and it turned out perfect!