By Chef: Chris Anca
Posted: October 30, 2014
Difficulty/Moderate
This fancy cheesecake by Chris Anca features several wonderful superfoods that garner some attention. Mesquite, a mildly sweet and caramel-like legume rich in calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc (among others), adds a wonderful complimentary flavor while acai powder adds a serious punch of antioxidants. This cake is rich and satisfying and a little goes a long way!
And if you’re still on the fence about making it, here’s a word from the chef:
“I truly believe that through the combination of raw chocolate and date caramel we can achieve happiness and world peace.”
Enjoy!
Ingredients
The Base
- 40g raw almonds
50g any variety of dried grapes (sultana, raisins, currants – just make sure they are oil free and sweetener free)
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
The Filling
- 150g cashew nuts, raw, unsalted
1/3 cup water
4 tablespoons of raw, unfiltered honey (or pure maple syrup for a vegan option)
1 tablespoon mesquite powder
1 teaspoon unhulled tahini (or 1 tablespoon of regular, hulled tahini)
pinch of sea salt
8g melted cacao butter raw cacao butter(coconut oil works too)
3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
1 tablespoon acai powder
Toppings
- extra cacao powder
cacao nibs
date caramel truffles
To make 6 date caramel truffles
- 2 Medjool dates, pitted and each cut in 3 crushed almonds
Instructions
- To make the base of the cake, add the ingredients to a blender and process until you get a sticky ‘dough’.
- Scoop out the ‘dough’ and press it into the cake pan lined with cling film at the bottom (this helps remove the cake easily when it’s ready).
- Place the cake pan in the fridge.
- Melt cacao butter (or coconut oil) using the bain marie method.
- Add all the ingredients for the filling to the blender, except for the cacao and acai powders, and process until you get a really smooth, creamy mix.
- Scoop out half the mix and set it aside in a bowl.
- Add the cacao and acai powders to the remaining half of the mixture in the blender and process for another few seconds until you get it mixed through.
- Scoop out the cacao filling in another bowl.
- To make a patterned cake, add one tablespoon of the caramel filling on the cake base, right in the middle. Gently smooth it out, but don’t spread it over the entire surface. Then add a tablespoon of the cacao filling on top of the caramel one, and similarly smooth it out, but don’t spread it throughout. Continue alternatively with caramel then cacao fillings until they finish. Level the surface of the cake, cover it and pop it in the fridge to set.
- When ready, dust it with cacao powder and few cacao nibs. If you want to drizzle a bit of chocolate as well, all you need to do is melt 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and mix it with 1 tablespoon of cacao powder until you get it incorporated. Using the spoon, drizzle that on top of the cake.
- To make the date caramel truffles, roll each piece of chopped Medjool date into a tiny ball and roll it in crushed almonds. Add on top of cake.
Enjoy and be happy.
