This recipe for Raw Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake is creamy and tangy and extremely delicious! It’s no bake, vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free and totally free from coconut oil, in fact it doesn’t contain any coconut at all.

Every year, for the longest time, my eldest daughter requested a cheesecake for her birthday. So every year I made her a gorgeous creamy cheesecake topped with fresh berries and we ate huge slices of cheesecake until we couldn’t eat any more, finishing the rest for breakfast the next day. Cheesecake for breakfast is honestly the best! 😋

When we switched up our diet from vegetarian to vegan, we missed a few cheesecake years, happily eating cakes. We were fine, don’t worry! Anyway, after being in lockdown for our birthdays last year and not being able to see each other IRL, I wanted to make something extra special to celebrate being together this year.

And these plant based cheesecakes are exactly that, EXTRA SPECIAL!

How to make a raw chocolate raspberry vegan cheesecake

To make a creamy dairy free cheesecake you need to plan ahead, as it’s best to soak the cashews for at least 6 hours, or overnight, so they are soft and blend easily with the other ingredients to become the creamy cheesecake filling of your dreams.

When you forget to soak the cashews, it happens, then pop them into a small saucepan. Covered with water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes, drain and they are ready to use. If you use this method the cheesecakes will still be no bake but will longer be considered raw food!

So now you’ve got your cashews sorted.

Making the base:

• Weigh out the dates, walnuts and raw cacao powder and using a blender, blend until the mixture sticks together when pressed. There will still be some visible bits of walnut and this is fine.
• At this stage divide your chocolate base evenly between the muffin moulds and press down firmly until flat. I try to make them as flat as possible, using the back of a spoon or just pressing with my fingers.
• If your house is really warm, then refrigerate the bases until you are ready to add the white chocolate cheesecake layer.
• I like to wash my blender after this layer, so I don’t get any dark chocolate in the white chocolate layer, but if you really don’t want to you don’t have to. If you don’t, your white chocolate layer might not be quite as white.

Making the white chocolate cheesecake centre:

• For the white chocolate layer set up a double boiler* to melt the cacao butter. (See end of post for notes on how to set up a double boiler.)
• While the cacao butter is melting, add the cashews to the bowl of a blender and blend with the unsweetened plant based yoghurt, maple syrup and vanilla essence until blended and smooth.
• Keep blending, stopping regularly to scrape down the sides, making sure to incorporate all the cashews, until you have a smooth mixture.
• Once the mixture is smooth and while blending pour in the cacao butter and keep blending, scraping down the sides and blending some more until the mixture is fully blended and smooth.
• Evenly divide over the 12 bases, smooth the top and refrigerate while making the topping.

  

  

  
  

Making the raspberry cheesecake topping:

• Following the same instructions for the white chocolate cheesecake centre.
• Add in the freeze dried raspberries and the raspberries instead of the vanilla essence.
• You already have your double boiler set up, just reheat the water. Also, I don’t wash the blender between cheesecake layers, any white chocolate parts leftover will just blend in with the raspberry batch.
• Again, once the mixture is fully blended and smooth, divide evenly over the 12 white chocolate centres and smooth out the tops.
• To smooth out the tops, gently tap the pan against the bench. Check out the difference between the raspberry cheesecake layer in the muffin pans, before being tapped, and the finished photos of the same cheesecakes that are a lot smoother after being tapped.
• This time freeze the cheesecakes until set. Freezing makes them so much easier to remove from the silicone muffin pans.
• Once frozen, carefully remove from the muffin pans. To remove from the silicone pans, I find it easiest the gently push up from the bottom.

Storing and serving:

• Store these delicious plant based cheesecakes for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge or for longer storage in an airtight container in the freezer.
• Allow them to defrost before serving.
• I like to serve my choc raspberry cheesecakes with a raspberry compote for an extra raspberry kick.

How to make raspberry compote

Seeing as I went to effort of making creamy raw vegan cheesecakes I decided to keep the compote raw as well.

Making a no cook compote is probably the easiest way to make it.

• To a bowl, add 250g of fresh or frozen raspberries, gently mash with the juice of half an orange and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup.
• I like to leave some chunky bits of raspberry.
• If you are using frozen raspberries then allow them to fully thaw before using. If you want to strain away some of the juice then do it, it is up to you how thick you want your compote to be.
• Add more or less maple syrup to suite your personal taste.
• Store in an airtight container in the fridge, remember this is raw and won’t last as long as a cooked compote will. Use within a couple of days and check for any signs of fermentation before eating.
• You’ll know if it’s started to ferment as there will be an audible popping sound, when you open the lid as the extra air is released.

Helpful Tips

• If you soak your cashews in the fridge overnight, allow them to come to room temperature before using, even rinse with warm water. This will help to prevent the cacao butter from setting before it is poured into the muffin pans.
• I use homemade unsweetened soy yoghurt in my cheesecakes, but any unsweetened plant based yoghurt will work.
• Use almonds instead of walnuts in the base if preferred.
• You can use coconut oil instead of the cacao butter, they will work, but personally I don’t enjoy the flavour.
• If you don’t have silicone muffin pans, I recommend using patty pans to line a metal muffin pan.
• Or make a large cheesecake instead. I haven’t made a large cheesecake with this recipe but I estimate that it should make a 20cm round quite nicely. It will certainly set and taste great. The size of a large tin will just affect the height of each layer.

*HOW TO SET UP A DOUBLE BOILER

Setting up a double boiler, also known as a bain marie. To melt the cacao butter for this recipe, you only need a small saucepan and a heatproof bowl that sits firmly on top of the saucepan. Fill the saucepan with approximately 5cm of water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl or you may overheat and burn your cacao. Bring the water to the boil with the lid on the pot. Then turn off the heat, remove the lid and rest the bowl, containing the cacao butter, on the saucepan. You can leave the cacao to melt while you make the rest of the filling.

If you have any comments or questions on how to make these, please leave a comment in the comments section below!

If you made these mini vegan cheesecakes and share on Instagram, I would love to see these, please tag me @sweeterwithdates and #sweeterwithdates