Strawberry Vanilla Vegan Cheesecake – A thick and creamy cashew vanilla cream topped with sliced strawberries over a layer of melted chocolate and a naturally sweetened date & hazelnut crust | Paleo + Raw

Alright, folks.

We’re about to enter fully into TREAT-YO-SELF territory here with this Strawberry Vanilla Vegan Cheesecake. It’s rich, decadent, and takes a some preparation and time to make, but after the first bite you know it’ll be worth the effort.

Also, Monday was my birthday and I was a little desperate to interject a little colourful fruitiness into my life. These cold and grey winter days are starting be a real drag, ya know.

So….Let’s indulge!

How to Make: Strawberry Vanilla Vegan Cheesecake

It all starts here with the nutty, hazelnut and date crust. It’s literally just nuts & dates – just throw everything into a blender or food processor and blitz until you get a sandy, crumbly mixture that sticks together when you squeeze it. This crust is my usual go-to for all my cheesecake/pie needs.  Sometimes I’ll even eat it on its own. SO GOOD. It’s super easy to make and incredibly tasty.  If you don’t have any hazelnuts on hand this is also great with walnuts and/or pecans.

Next up is just a simple layer of melted chocolate because why not. Over the top is our vanilla bean cashew cream, a mixture of: soaked cashews, vanilla extract, coconut cream and a touch of maple syrup. This creamy layer isn’t too sweet since we’ve got so much else going on but you can increase the amount of sweetener here if you like.

And then finally we top it off with some freshly sliced strawberries. Now, we are still in the later winter months here (at least in some parts of the world. If strawberries aren’t quite in ripe and ready where you live then please feel free to swap out the berries from something else more seasonal. Since the main cheesecake layer is just vanilla you can use that as a blank slate and play around with different flavours of your choice and fully make this your own. If you do that then please make sure to leave a comment or tag me on instagram to let me know what you did because I looove seeing that stuff!

I recommend keeping this stored in the freezer and letting it defrost for about 15 minutes before slicing and serving to soften the cheesecake layer. Then it becomes more ice-cream cake like. What’s not to love about that?

Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!

Recipe

Strawberry Vanilla Vegan Cheesecake

Yield: 10 slices Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes

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A thick and creamy cashew vanilla cream topped with sliced strawberries over a layer of melted chocolate and a naturally sweetened date & hazelnut crust | Paleo + Raw

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cup | 200 grams hazelnuts
• 1 cup | 130 grams medjool dates with the seeds removed
• 4 oz | 100 grams melted dairy free dark chocolate

Strawberry Vanilla Cheesecake

• 2 cups | 290 grams raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 4 hours
• 1 cup | 240 ml canned coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons | 30 ml maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons | 45 ml melted coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon | 5 ml vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 cup sliced strawberries

Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.

Instructions

1. If you haven’t already add the cashews to a bowl and cover with water. Leave the cashews overnight to use when you need it the next day.

Crust

1. Make the crust by adding the dates and hazelnuts to a food processor or high powered blender. Blitz together until the dates and nuts are broken up into small pieces and come together. If your mixture is too dry add a couple more dates. You may need to stop to scrape the sides down occasionally.
2. Press the crust into an 9 inch round, loose bottom tart/pie pan until evenly spread. 
3. Pour the melted chocolate over the bottom of the pan and spread across the entire bottom. Once spread place the pan in the fridge or freezer to hard the chocolate before adding the cashew layer. 

Cashew Cream

1. For the cheesecake layer, begin by draining the water from the cashews and then placing them in a high speed blender or food processor with the  coconut milk, maple, coconut oil, vanilla extract and salt. Blend it all together until it becomes smooth. If you need, stop and scrap the sides down to get all the bits mixed in. 
2. Pour filling over the harden chocolate. Use the back of a spoon to spread the cashew cream evenly all across the chocolate and crust. 
3. Carefully add you sliced strawberries over the top of the cashew cream. Arrange them in any way you like - in a neat pattern or scattered across.
4. Cover and place it in the freezer for 4-5 hours to set.
5. Remove the cheesecake from the freezer to allow it to thaw for about 15 minutes before cutting it and serving. Enjoy!

Notes

Once full frozen you can keep these stored in the fridge

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Hands on prep time is about 15 minutes. Freezer time is about 4 hours. 

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To soften the cashews quickly cover with water and microwave in a heat safe bowl for 5 minutes. 

Nutrition Information

Yield: 10

Serving Size:

slice Calories: 443Saturated Fat: 13gSodium: 17mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 4gSugar: 17gProtein: 8g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© A Saucy Kitchen, Sarah Nevins

Course: Desserts Cuisine: Gluten Free