No-bake vegan chocolate cherry cheesecake, this striking dairy-free cheesecake is made using natural, healthy ingredients and the bright pink colour comes from just cherries, no food colouring needed!
Equipment
- Heatproof bowl
- Food processor
- 20cm/8inch round springform cake tin
Ingredients
Cheesecake filling
- 300g frozen cherries (pitted)
- 80ml lemon juice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 200ml full-fat coconut milk
Ganache
- 120g dark chocolate, chopped
- 120ml full-fat coconut milk
Method
- To soak the cashews, cover them with boiling water and leave them for an hour or two, but you can also soak them in cold water overnight instead.
- Start by making the base. Place the dates in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 10 minutes
- While the dates are soaking, placed the hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts into a food processor and blend until they are finely chopped. Tip into a bowl and set aside
- Place the drained dates into the food processor. Blend until they are finely chopped, add the cacao powder and salt and blend again.
- Add the chopped nuts and pulse until they are well combined with the date mixture until it is thick and clumps together well. If the mixutre is too dry, add a drop of water, if it's too sticky add some ground almonds or fine rolled oats.
- Lightly grease a 20cm/8 inch round springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Transfer the date mixture evenly across the tin and pack it down firmly, put the base in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
- Place the cacao butter in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. Don't let the base of the bowl touch the water. Stir until melted then remove from the heat.
- Defrost the cherries in the microwave, you want them to be just warm so that the cacao butter doesn't re-solidify in the blender.
- Place the drained cashews in a blender with the defrosted frozen cherries, maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla extract, melted cacao butter and stevia leaf powder and blend until very smooth
- Taste the mixture and add more stevia leaf powder if you feel it needs more sweetness.
- From this point on you need to work quickly as once the agar agar has been activated it starts to set extremely quickly; so have everything ready and close to hand.
- Pour the full fat coconut milk into a pan and sprinkle over the agar agar powder. Whisk well until smooth then place the pan over a medium-low heat and whisk constantly as the mixture comes up to a boil. Allow to boil for a few minutes, whisking the whole time, until the milk has thickened.
- Remove the pan from the heat and immediately scrape the mixture into the blender with the rest of the cheesecake filling. Blend until it has completely combined.
- Straight away pour the filling mixture over the prepared base and spread it level. Refrigerate for at least four hours until the cheesecake has set.
- To make the ganache topping, place the chopped dark chocolate and full fat coconut milk in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water. Stir until melted and smooth then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Carefully remove the cheesecake from the cake tin and place it on a serving plate. Once the ganache has cooled but is still pourable, pour it over the top of the cheesecake and smooth it out with a spatula. Either serve the cheesecake right away or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
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