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.
Nichol wrote on March 24, 2012
Susan,
I see that the question has been asked about substituting the Agave and that you answered by saying that some people don’t like it (which I am one) and that there are substitutes… though 2 people have used honey, one worked with the recipe, the other did not.
Can you offer any other substitutions for the Agave? Stevia or Xylitol perhaps? I’m new to this and don’t want to make a disaster and have no real clues what works for substitutions in this type of situation.
thanks!
Joanne wrote on March 22, 2012
HI
with the sweet orange oil it says not to be taken…. could you please tell me if i am missing something
Thanks
Joanne
Susan wrote on March 22, 2012
You need to make sure your sweet orange oil is food grade, as stated above. Cheers!
kévin wrote on January 10, 2012
Sorry I made a mistake : Susan ! 🙂
kévin wrote on January 10, 2012
Hello Martha,
Thanks for sharing your recipe, your cake looks delicious. I was wondering if I could replace the coconut butter with coconut cream, i live in france and i cannot find coconut butter anywhere.
matha wrote on November 11, 2011
Can this cheesecake be put in the freezer instead of the frig? I’m assuming the orange doesn’t freeze well. I would like to make it several days or possibly a week before it is eaten.
Susan wrote on November 11, 2011
Hi, Martha! I have not tried freezing it yet. I will let you know when I do.
JennyB wrote on September 19, 2011
I didn’t see cheese as one of the ingredients – and it’s called an orange cheesecake! :))
Susan wrote on September 19, 2011
Since this is a raw, vegan site, we use titles loosely. 🙂 If we call it an orange, chocolate cashew cake, just doesn’t represent it. It is very similar to a cheese cake. We also make our “cheese” with nuts.
Mariana wrote on September 11, 2011
Wow , thank you Susan, i just make this beautiful recipe and it turned out exactly the same as yours 🙂 This orange cake is going to be a birthday cake for a very dear friend of mine. Greetings from Byron Bay, Australia.
Amanda wrote on August 11, 2011
Your cheesecake looks absolutely delicious. I’m new to raw deserts. When you dehydrate your nuts what temp do you use and for how long.
Also does the cheesecake easily come out of the Pan?
And finally if I were to make a berry version would I follow your recipe
Why do some of the posts want an alternate sweetner ? Is something wrong with Agave? Thank you in advance.
Susan wrote on August 12, 2011
I keep the temp under 116 and dry until the nuts are dry. I realize that sounds vague but there will be a big difference depending on many different circumstances. How humid it is, etc.
Susan wrote on August 12, 2011
Some people don’t like agave. So, I like to let them know there is alternatives. Some agave is not as good as others. Personally I really like Xagave. If you use a spring form pan, there is no problem getting the cheesecake out. I can’t comment on the berry version as I don’t know how you would make it…but I would think it would work. When ever you change ingredients, you change the outcome. You could always experiment….
Freea wrote on June 12, 2011
I just made this and it turned out exactly as the picture. Absolutely DELICIOUS! Thanks so much. I was looking for a choc orange cheescake that was brown as I had one in a raw food cafe – this is different, but in a different YUM way. I love your web site, I look forward to exploring more 🙂 Thanks a million from down under (Perth, Australia).