Vegan Passion Fruit Cheesecake Slices
Great exotic flavors in one small bite. A fresh new raw treat for the spring and summer bringing citrus flavors into your home.
Exotic flavors!
Passion fruit is the star of this week's recipe. Its sweet-and-sour taste is strong, easily recognizable, and contributes to the freshness of the dessert. There are different sorts of passion fruit and this recipe would taste great with whichever one you choose or is available in your region.
To make the cheesecake bites, only the juice of the passion fruit is used. Seeds are removed to keep the texture of the cheesecake smooth. Nevertheless, the dessert can be served alongside fresh passion fruit meat that would amplify the citrus flavors and add crunchiness.
If you have never tried passion fruit before, you should definitely consider trying this recipe out. The citrus-flavored soft cheesecake combines extremely well with the sweet and chewy crust. A fresh taste that will brighten up your day.
Plant-based cheesecake!
This dessert is soft and light. Its texture is very close to the texture of the classical cheesecake. The dessert does not contain animal products and the cheesecake in this recipe is prepared in a different manner. The key ingredient responsible for the texture of the cheesecake is cashews. Cashew nuts are naturally soft nuts that can soak up water fast. They also have a mild cheesy flavor. All of these properties make cashews an essential ingredient in the plant-based kitchen.
Since these cheesecake slices are raw, they need to be set in the fridge. To make this possible, coconut milk is added to the cheesecake. And more specifically, the solid part of coconut milk in a can. Using full-fat coconut milk will guarantee the success of this recipe by helping the cheesecake set properly.
There are only five main ingredients for the cheesecake. As you may have remarked, I love using maple syrup as a sweetener but you can, of course, replace it with honey or another liquid sweetener. You will notice that a very small amount of sweetener is added to the cheesecake. The sweetness comes mainly from the dates in the crust and creates an interesting contrast of flavors with the acidity of the cheesecake.
Last but not least, the dessert is easy to prepare. It is one of those no-bake treats that you can put together using only a powerful blender or a food processor. And the result will surprise you with its fresh flavors.
Ingredients:
Crust:
60 g oats
50 g almond flour
5 Medjool dates*
20 g almond butter
a pinch of salt
Cheesecake:
100 ml full-fat coconut milk (solid part)**
70 g cashews
30 ml maple syrup***
2.5-3 passion fruits****
5 g vanilla
Preparation:
Pre-step: Soak the cashews in warm/hot water for at least 4 hours (best overnight).
Crust:
Add all the ingredients to a food processor or a blender and process until homogeneous.
Transfer the mixture to a container and press firmly with your fingers to form the crust.
Place in the fridge until you prepare the cheesecake.
Cheesecake:
Extract the juice of the passion fruits (without the seeds).
Add the juice to a blender along with the cashews (drained from the water), the coconut milk, the maple syrup, and the vanilla.
Process until smooth.
Pour the cheesecake over the crust.
Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until set.
Once the cheesecake is set, cut it into rectangular slices and serve it with fresh passion fruit.
Do you like this recipe? Please share in the comments below!
Tips:
* You can use any dates of your choice but keep in mind that Medjool dates are usually bigger and softer than other sorts of dates. Therefore, if you use other sorts of dates, you may need to add more than 5. Ultimately, the mixture for the crust should be sticky.
** Using the solid part of canned coconut milk is key for having a well-set cheesecake.
*** You can replace the maple syrup with honey.
**** If your passion fruits are small, use 3. Otherwise, use 2.5.