Friday, February 4, 2011

cheesecake deviants: do's, dont's, & disasters

this post is a supplement to the cheesecake post on common variations of this recipe. there are several companies here in pdx that make and sell these types of cheesecakes. my pal ben works for freshly wild making amazing cake incarnations from mint marble to maca turtle trails. this is a pic from camilia's blog of one of ben's gnache cakes.

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cheesecake - the best part is the crust

okay so these two post are for amanda and a couple other people that have asked me about this recipe.

basic cheesecake fill

!!!make the crust first(above)!!!

there are two basic base recipes for vegan cheesecake. the soy version w/ toffuti cream cheese (hydrogenated oils), soy, sugar, and all the other vegan junk food favorites. we're not doing that here because, well, i think its kinda gross. the way to make this happen is to use a cashew base. the basic recipe is as follows:

2 cups soaked cashew (soaked in h2o for two hrs, rinsed, & strained)
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
tiny pinch of sea salt

step 1(optional): gently warm coconut oil to its melting point (70degreesF or so) until its completely liquid. usually i just leave it around a warm spot like the stove top for an hour. the reason for this? emulsifying the mixture in the blender makes this recipe come out better, especially if you add fruit ingredients like blueberry or cherries.

step 2: pour cashews, lemon juice, vanilla, & touch of salt into the blender and blend. pour in agave as the mixture is blends. slowly pour liquefied coconut oil to emulsify mixture. if youre in a hurry and the coconut oil is still solid you can scoop it out and it will break down quickly with the movement and heat of the blended - the mixture will be a little less smooth and its harder to accurately measure this way. if youre making it at home, it'll be fine.

once the mixture is smooth, taste & adjust lemon and sweetness as needed. then pour the mixture over frozen crust in spring form tin, cover with cling form, and set level in the freezer to set for several hours.

once the mixture has set, place in refrigeration for an hour or so, cut, and serve!

the cheesecakes pictured below are black forest which is a personal fav' of mine w/ this recipe. check the above post for deviations on this recipe.

raw black forest cheesecake dessert vegan

now ill never get into stansberry...

so i havent posted for a while. unfortunately my toshiba stopped booting up so now i have to get the hard drive copied as that computer has all my pictures, music, life, ect from the last eight years. i do have some stuff saved online and on my external hard drive so im gonna throw that up here for the few of you who do randomly read this (im looking at you benj:) i got a descent amount of food and work pictures/stories to share. viva oso!