It was a rough weekend of sickness and teething at home and thus many of the food preparation I usually get done for The Sweet Life got put aside for my more important job as Mama. Without a Monday recipe prepared, I have the chance to repost one of my very first recipes for this blog and my first raw dessert recipe, ever. When I made this I used maple syrup for the sweetener, unaware that it was not raw. For a truly raw dessert, agave nectar could be substitutes for the maple syrup which I adjusted for in parentheses.
Originally posted in early May:
Raw Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake
That’s right friends. And it is GOOD.
So far the biggest benefit of my soy/gluten freedom month has been the forcing of creativity and innovation. I have to admit, I used to have a sort of prejudice against raw desserts disbelieving in their potential goodness. Oh was I wrong. This is one of my favorite desserts I have ever made. Ever. This chocolate hazelnut cheesecake is so rich and creamy. On top of all that, it’s also healthy!
Raw Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake
(1) 9” cake or (12) individual mini cakes
Crust
1 cup hazelnut meal
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp raw cocoa powder
3 Tbsp maple syrup (or 2 tbsp agave nectar)
1 pinch sea salt
The Filling
2 cups raw cashews, soaked 4-6 hours and rinsed
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp raw hazelnut butter
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup maple syrup (or 1/4 cup +1 tbsp agave nectar)
1/2 cup raw cocoa powder
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
Chocolate Sauce
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup maple syrup (or 3 tbsp agave nectar)
1/4 cup raw cocoa powder
For the crust, blend all the ingredients together in a food processor until it is well combined and sticks together when pressed between fingers. Press the crust into the bottom of desired pan, about 1/4 inch thick.
Set aside while you making the filling.
In a food processor or powerful blender mix together cashews, maple syrup, water, and salt. Mix until totally smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor as necessary. Add cocoa powder, hazelnut butter and coconut oil to cashew mixture and blend all together, scraping down again, until mixture is uniformly combine.
*If you cant find raw hazelnut butter, you can make your own by blending raw hazelnuts in a food processor until smooth and buttery, scraping down the sides often. Chockohlawtay has a good hazelnut butter tutorial.
Spoon filling on top of the crust. Place cheesecake in the freezer until solid all the way through (at least 2 hours for individual cheesecakes, 4 for large cheesecake).
Once frozen remove cheesecake from the pan. If using silicone mold, they will easily pop out. If you have a muffin tin, run a sharp, hot knife around the edges of each cheesecake. Using knife as a lever, push down from the bottom. The cheesecakes should pop out.
Place cake in the refrigerator while making the chocolate sauce.
Mix ingredients together with fork. Scoop a little onto cold cheesecake. Place back in fridge and let sauce harden.
Top with hazelnuts. Serve cold
You might also like:
Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake
Raw Carrot Cake Bites
Sugar-Free Chocolate Pumpkin Fudge
Chocolate Banana Parfaits
Thanks for stopping by! The Sweet Life is a vegan food blog combining my love for good food, beautiful pictures, and compassionate eating. I am a long time vegan, trained in both photography and French Patisserie, excited to share my passions. Take a look around and enjoy The Sweet Life
YUM!!!!!
looks amazingly delicious! gorgeous pictures. yum!!
So, can individual pieces be frozen for later consumption?
Definitely. That’s how they should be stored.
wow amazing recipe. It really looks divine !!
This recipe looks delicious! I wonder, can you replace the cashews in the filling with any other type of nut?
Cashews work because they are fatty and mostly flavorless. Other nuts would not make such a creamy texture that is similar to whipped egg yolks. Macadamia nuts would probably work all right.
Well this just looks to die for!!
oh my god this looks fantastic – i adore chocolate and hazelnut together
I just made something very similar on my blog with strawberries. Don’t you just love what can be achieved with cashews? Your version looks great. I’m glad I found your blog and a chocolate version to have up my sleeve. I love the idea of hazelnut butter with it.
yeah, cashews are awesome! i have tons of strawberries right now, so maybe I’ll try yours!
I bought all the ingredients to make that delicious-looking cheesecake tomorrow for my father-in-law’s birthday! The pictures look delicious and the recipe is very well-explained. Thank you very much for posting this, I am sure it will be a huge success
I’m glad you are trying it out! I hope it goes well and everyone loves it!
It was the best cake I have ever had and everybody was impressed. Thank you very much for sharing this delicious recipe!
I just made this it is very good but IMO way too much salt in the filling. Thanks for the recipe.
oh wow! i just looked over the recipe again. total typo! i must have left out the (1/). i fixed it. thank you for catching this.
It doesn’t taste like cheesecake right? Just has a similar texture? I hateee cheesecake but wanna try this
That’s right. It doesn’t have the cheese-y flavor, just a similar creamy texture.
The first picture in this post is what originally lured me to your blog – after which I fell instantly in love with it! I’m a vegetarian and enjoy experimenting with vegan food, which for the past years mostly led me to Thai food or other hearty meals. After seeing this sweet recipe, I just HAD to try it, and it’s in the freezer right now, all prepared for a birthday party tonight. I’m already so excited to see how it turned out! I had some trouble finding some of the ingredients or getting the measurements right (I’m in Germany), but after only trying the filling I was already really happy with it. Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful blog!
I’m glad you found me! I hope you enjoy the cheesecake.
Hi there.
This looks unbelievably tasty, and it’s beautifully photographed. I will make it over the weekend, without a doubt.
I have one question regarding the recipe: For the chocolate sauce, you instruct, “Mix ingredients together with fork. Scoop a little onto cold cheesecake.” What should we do with the rest — drizzle it on top when serving?
Thanks for reading.
Hey I’m glad you’re gonna try this recipe. I made individual cheesecakes, so I scooped a little onto each cheesecake (using up all of it) but if you make on large one, just scoop it all on there and enjoy! If you have any left over, it would store for a couple weeks in fridge or you could scoop it on when serving or eat it with a spoon. The options are endless!
Enjoy!
Ah, of course — that makes perfect sense! Thank you.
I pressed the crust into an 8″ springform, but it looked thinner than I wanted — perhaps my cup of meal wasn’t packed tightly enough — so I switched to a 6″. This made the “cheese” to thick though. I will scale up the quantity of crust next time, and go back to the 8″.
Most importantly, the cheesecake tasted great! Thank you for posting something so good.
Thanks so much for sharing this! I made it for my birthday and it was AWESOME.
That is so good to hear! Happy Birthday. I hope this year is a good one.
Hi! This recipe and your supporting photographs look amazing! I was wondering if I could substitue agave nectar instead of maple syrup? If so, what would the ratio be?
Thank you. Since agave is quite a lot sweeter I would suggest using 1/2 the amount. You can taste as you go and adjust accordingly. The texture will be fine to do the substitution. Let me know what you find works!
Thank you so much for this recipe! It was so easy to make and so delicious. I made it for a group of non-vegans who couldn’t believe it was vegan. Such a big hit!
Made this today and it’s in the freezer right now… the filling tastes just like nutella!
Yummmy! This looks absolutely sensational!
There is no other way to describe this than heavenly! I’ve never made a raw cheesecake, but this chocolate hazelnut version has just made it to the top of my list. All of the elements sound so good I’d be afraid that I’d eat them all before the cake was assembled!
I am allergic to cashews and macadamia nuts. Would pine nuts work similar? Ay suggestions?
How sad! I have never tried using pine nuts, but I feel like they have a taste that might not be covered up even with the chocolate and hazelnuts. I would hate for you to try it and have it not turn out, but I really can’t think of any other options either. Sorry
This recipe looks fantastic and I will be most definitely be making this for the family tomorrow! A previous comment asked whether the individual pieces can be frozen, I was wondering how long would they need to be defrosted for?
At room temp, about an hour or less depending on the size. Or for the best result place in fridge for 4-6 hours to defrost slowly.
Great, thanks!
I modified it quite a bit but left the filling the same. Incredible. I really don’t think it needs a chocolate ganache on top! Thank you for such an awesome recipe.
This was my version: http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/better-than-nutella-cheesecake-almost-raw-chocolate-hazelnut-cheesecake/
I’m droolin’ here!!
May I substitute hazelnut butter with peanut butter without destroying the final product?
Yeah, I’ve done that before and it was great!
Do you think I could use almond meal for the crust?
Yeah, that would be fine.
I made your raw Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake today. I used almond meal instead of hazelnut meal, almond butter instead of hazelnut butter and Agave syrup instead of maple (same ratio). It turned out beautifully – very rich. One surprise I had was that it had a very strong coconut flavor from the coconut oil. I thought that the coconut would be almost tasteless. And a tip for pressing the crumbs into the pan; dip the back of a fork in cold water before pressing – it spreads the mixture more smoothly.
Thank you for your lovely website.