Blackberry Lemon Cheesecake

An epic raw blackberry cheesecake marbled with syrupy berry juice swirled into an ultra smooth and creamy cashew filling. You need to make this cheesecake! If you’ve ever been mystified by how dessert chefs acquire that gorgeous marbled effect Amie Sue of Nouveau Raw shows us exactly how it’s done!

Yield: 1, 8 inch springform pan

Ingredients
Crust:

• 2 cups raw almonds
• 3 oz date paste
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
  
  Blackberry syrup:
• 1 cup frozen blackberries, thawed
• 3 dates, pitted  (presoaking for 10 minutes is helpful but not required)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup of blackberry juice (from the thawed berries)
  
  Cheesecake filling:
• 3 cups of raw cashews, soaked for 2 hours
• 1 1/2 cup almond milk
• 3/4 cup raw agave syrup
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp liquid vanilla
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 Tbsp lecithin
• 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 pints of organic blackberries, for decoration (if desired)

Instruction
Cones:

1) In the food processor, fitted with the “S” blade, pulse the almonds into small pieces.  Add, salt, vanilla and 1/2 the amount of date paste.
2) Process all ingredients until the crust starts to rise on the sides of the bowl.  Be sure to stop and scrap the sides down.
3) Add the remaining date paste and continue processing until the mixture is consistent.  The final crust dough should hold together when you pinch it between your fingers.
4) Assemble the Springform pan with the bottom facing up. I used a 8″ pan here.  Opposite way from how it comes assembled.  This will help you when removing the cheesecake from the pan, not having to fight with the lip).  Lightly grease the pan with coconut oil.
5) Distribute the crust evenly on the bottom of the pan, using even and gentle pressure.  If you press to hard it might stick, making it hard to remove slices.  You can either just make the crust on the bottom of the pan or you can also bring it up the sides.  It is up to you.
Set aside while you make the cheesecake batter.

Blackberry Syrup:

1) In your blender, blend together all of the ingredients, until smooth.
2) Pour the mixture into a nut bag and squeeze the juice out, leaving the pulp / seeds in the bag.
3) Transfer syrup to a squeeze bottle and set aside.

Filling:

1) Add to the blender all of the ingredients except for the coconut oil and lecithin.  These will be added towards the very end.
2) Blend until nice a creamy.  This can take 3-5 minutes.
3) Stop the blending and add the coconut oil and lecithin Resume blending until all is well incorporated.
4) Pour the batter into the Springform pan.  Fill to the top.  I had used a 8″ pan for this pie and had a small amount of batter left over that I poured into a glass cup for a snack for my husband. 🙂
5) Tap the cheesecake gently on your counter top to bring any bubbles up.Time to add the swirls.
6) Take the tip of your squeeze bottle that has the blackberry syrup in it. Insert the tip of the bottle down into the cheesecake batter, squeeze and release. Repeat this in about 10 different areas into the cheesecake.
You won’t see the syrup at this stage.  (this is the magic after the cake is cut and you see the color swirled through the cheesecake.
7) Use a chop stick, skewer or toothpick and insert it into the cheesecake, making swirling motions. Be careful that you don’t dig into the crust, breaking bits of it into your cheesecake.
The idea here is to drag your chop stick through the syrup, causing an under-current of swirls.
8) Now take your squeeze bottle and make several dots all over the top of the cheesecake.
9) Again, using your chop stick (clean one), drag it through the batter creating a beautiful design.
10) Place your cheesecake in the freezer to set for 1-2 hours or until the middle of the cake is firm to the touch.

Storage and life shelf:  This cheesecake will keep for at least 4 days. Store in fridge, covered.