Vegan Cherry Cheesecake

This is the best ever vegan ‘cheesecake’. This a recipe from my favourite vegan or raw food chef Sayuri Tanaka and the book is called Sayuri’s Raw Food Cafe. I picked up a copy in Bali at her cafe but I am sure you can grab a copy online. Her style of creating delightful raw healthy and wholesome food highlights the use of local, fresh ingredients in simple recipes that anyone can make. You will be amazed at how easy and delicious this vegan cheesecake is to make and without the need to bake there is no concern about over or under cooking the cake.

We used sour cherries from our orchard, and we had such a  huge crop last year we are still eating them from the freezer. Cherries are a nutritionally dense food rich in anthocyanins, quercetin, hydroxycinnamates, potassium, carotenoids and melatonin. Beautiful cherries are a high-fiber food and excellent vitamin C food source. They are reported to support better sleep probably associated with melatonin and help decrease belly fat and help reduce your waist line. These are two great reasons to include more cherries whether sour or sweet in your diet.

Get blending!

Ingredients

Base

• 1 1/2 cups of desiccated coconut
• 3/4 cup of cashews
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 3/4 cup of pitted medjool dates

Cheesecake filling

• 2 3/4 cups of cashew nuts soaked (soak for around 2 – 4 hours)
• 1/2 cup of lemon juice
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 3 tablespoons of lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or a vanilla bean pod scrapped
• 1 teaspoon of nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons lecithin
• 3/4 coconut oil*

* For a lighter version, reduce coconut oil to 1/2 cup and add 1/2 cup of Irish Moss Paste

Garnish

• 1 cup of fresh cherry jam
  

Combine 3 cups of fresh cherries and 1/2 cup of date paste.Date paste is created by blending 1 cup of medjool dates with 1/2 cup of water. Lasts in the refrigerator for one week.

Dried dates can be used if you remove the pits and soak them in hot water for 20 minutes or so until soft.