Cacao & Hazelnut ‘Cheesecake’

Serves: 2
Cooks in: 30 minutes + freezing time
Difficulty: 7/10
Gluten free

“Surprisingly Light, creamy, chocolatey & raw & gluten free, a beautiful dessert that can be stored in the freezer for a few weeks until ready to serve”

Ingredients

Base:
1  & 1/2 cups of Pitted Dates
1 cup Hazelnuts
1 Tbs of Coconut Oil
1tbs of Vanilla Essence (optional)
1 tbs of Nutriseed raw cacao shavings/cacao nib

Filling:
2 cups of Raw Cashews Nuts soaked in Hot Water for 1 hour
4 Tbs of Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Coconut Oil melted
1  tin of full Fat Coconut Milk
3 tbs of Raw Cacao Paste
4 tbs Maple Syrup or Agave Nectar

Chocolate drizzle-
125g of Dairy Free Dark Chocolate

Optional toppings;

Chunks of dark Dairy Free Chocolate
Fresh fruit, I used Physalis
Candied Hazelnuts (using a cocktail stick dip the nut into melted sugar, carefully lift out and let the sugar harden as so it forms a droplet- be careful sugar will be very hot)

Method

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper & place your moulds on the tray – I used 80mm diameter stainless steel rings as moulds which can be bought from Lakeland. Make enough room in your freezer for the tray. Alternatively you can youse a loose bottom baking tin lined with greaseproof paper. I just like the individual small cheesecakes.

In a food processor I used my Ninji Kitchen system, pulse the ingredients for the base until the mixture is fine and starts to combine.

Remove from the mixture from the food processor pack into your moulds about 10mm high. Place into the freezer whilst you make the filling.

Give the food processor a quick clean and add the cashew nuts and blitz until extra fine, add the filling remaining ingredients and blitz until it forms a thick creamy consistency. Make sure its completely smooth.

Pour this mixture into the moulds and place in the freezer for a couple of hours. Meanwhile prepare your toppings.

For the Chocolate, simply melt the chocolate in a bowl over some simmering water then allow to cool ready to drizzle over your cheesecakes.

Bring the Cheesecakes out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving to give you a little time to decorate them and for them to melt slightly, they will be very hard if you try eating them straight from the freezer!

A little tip if using rings like I did, pour boiling water over a tea towel and wrap it around the ring when you bring the cheesecakes out of the freezer, this will loosen the edges making it easy to push the cheesecake out.

Enjoy.

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