Raw Cheesecake Success!

 Our little sister turned 17 on the weekend and as a surprise we made her a raw cheesecake. It involved quite the production because we doubled the recipe to make a large cake (it was around 14 inches in diameter, but you can tweak the recipe to fit any pan).

Crust:

2 cups almonds
1/2 cup raw cacao powder or cocoa powder
10 dates

Process in a food processor until finely crumbled. Press into pan.

Cheese:

6 cups soaked cashews
1 1/2 cups coconut oil, melted
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
1 1/2 cups agave nectar or honey
1/2 tsp vanilla

Process in a food processor until very smooth. Pour over crust.

Place in freezer overnight or for several hours.

This was sort of an eclectic recipe. We got the crust recipe from http://www.rawmazing.com/ and the filling we got from http://maebird.blogspot.com/. We added a chocolate sauce/shell type thing by mixing coconut oil with agave and cacao powder and drizzled it on top. I would take it slightly easy on the lemon though, we found ours a bit too lemony, maybe leave out a 1/4 cup or keep tasting it to make sure it has the right balance. But the lemon is definitely necessary because it gives the cake a sort of tang, that would normal have come from the cheese. It's unbelievable how dense and rich this cake is, it is literally the exact same consistency as regular cheesecake.

-Jennifer