RECIPE: Lemon & Cashew Vegan Raw Cheesecake

Lemon & Cashew Vegan Raw Cheesecake Crust

• 400g (3 cups) ROAR activated almonds
• 90g (1/2 Cup) desiccated coconut
• 80ml (6 tbsp) ROAR coconut blossom nectar – you can reduce this if you wish.

Lemon & Cashew Vegan Raw Cheesecake Filling

• 500g (4 cups) cashews soaked for 1-4 hours and rinsed in water
• 100ml (7 tbsp) ROAR coconut blossom nectar
• Zest of 6 lemons (4 tbsp tightly packed)
• 375ml (1 1/2 cups) Lemon Juice (this is about 6-10 meyer lemons which are the juiciest variety)
• 1 large pinch of sea salt
• 125ml (1/2 cup) water – more or less
• 300g (1 1/2 cups) ROAR extra virgin cold-pressed coconut oil

Lemon & Cashew Vegan Raw Cheesecake Topping

• 400ml (1 Can) ROAR coconut cream (you must only use one with no emulsifiers for this) – ideally chilled in the fridge for a couple of hours first
• 20ml (2 tbsp) ROAR coconut blossom nectar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups of summer berries (cut larger ones in half)

  Put a can of coconut cream in the fridge (if you don’t have one in there already) and start soaking your cashews for 1-4 hours – if you don’t have time for this it is ok, just add approx 2 cups of water to the recipe, which we will explain later). This recipe is for a 30cm dish.

Lemon & Cashew Vegan Raw Cheesecake Crust

Now to make the crust. Put all of the crust ingredients into a blender and whizz into a fine paste (you can leave it a little chunky if you like the texture, but making it fine will make this dish taste more refined). The oil from the coconut and the moisture from the nectar should be enough to bind the ingredients, but if it looks dry or you are having trouble blending you can add a little water here to help the process (you shouldn’t need more than 50g or 1/4 cup) of water here. Put the crust into a 30cm tart dish with a loose bottom (or adjust the recipe if you are using a different sized dish). Try and make an even flat layer of approx 7-10mm high. With moistened fingers, press down as hard as you can on it to compress, paying particular attention to the sides of the dish – as this will be where you will have breakage issues and get this right will make the dish look better too. Place into the freezer to cool and harden while you make the filling.

Lemon & Cashew Vegan Raw Cheesecake Filling

After the cashews have soaked for 1-4 hours, rinse and drain the them and put into a blender. Bear in mind that if you don’t have a powerful blender that you may want to do this in a couple of batches. If you haven’t had time to soak the cashews just add a little water into the blender along with the unsoaked cashews (approx 1 cup of water basically you want the liquid components of the filling including the melted coconut oil, lemon juice and any added water to reach the same height in the blender as the cashews). Melt the coconut oil, and add to the blender along with the rest of the filling ingredients including the lemon zest and juice etc. Blend until completely smooth. Taste the mixture and check that you are happy with the flavour. If it is too sour you may want to add more coconut nectar or if you want to it be more sour then you may want to add a little more lemon juice. Lemon juice is quite variable to you will have to use your palate here to get it just right. Add the filling on top of the crust layer. Be sure to smooth it out really well and you can even bang the tart on the bench a few times to ensure there are no water bubbles in the filling. Refrigerate for at least an hour (put in freezer for more immediate results).

Lemon & Cashew Vegan Raw Cheesecake Topping

Take the chilled coconut cream out of the fridge and scrape out the thick cream that has separated to the top of the tin. Discard the water at the bottom of the tin (or even better use it in a smoothie later). Whip using a kitchen hand or beater on the highest setting until it starts forming soft peaks. Add in the coconut nectar and vanilla and whip a little longer to combine. Pour the whipped coconut cream over the set Lemon and Cashew Cheesecake base and sprinkle freshly cut or defrosted frozen berries to decorate. You can also drizzle a little coconut nectar to decorate.