Raw Mango, lemon and ginger cheesecake

Decadent desserts are a fabulous way into raw plant based food, and I think that even the most hardened of raw sceptics would be pressed to turn this down. Even if raw food isn’t your bag, then this cheesecake is a really delicious gluten free and dairy free alternative. For this to be at its best, your mangos need to be perfectly ripe.   Don’t be put off by the amount of ground ginger in the base – this is the correct measurement and the fiery nature of it is tempered by the creamy cheesecake.

If you love your ginger, you can substitute half the agave with a little stem ginger syrup from a jar of stem ginger. Whilst it isn’t raw, I think that it adds to, rather than takes away from the cheesecake. If you are steering clear of agave and stem ginger syrup (and most raw sweeteners have some kind of controversy around them) for health reasons, then you can use raw honey instead. If you are steering clear of honey for ethical reasons, then the agave and stem ginger syrup will give you the best culinary results.  With a dessert that is this dense with nuts, you wouldn’t be eating a lot of it, hence this recipe would serve up to 12 people.

This recipe would also work well with ripe skinned peaches or apricots.

Storage: Chill until firm and then slice and refrigerate. This will keep for 3-5 days in the fridge (depending on the temperature of your fridge) and you can also keep it in the freezer for up to 3 weeks and remove it a slice at a time, allowing it to defrost slowly in the fridge before devouring.

Raw mango, lemon and ginger cheesecake

Prep time: 30 mins

Yield: 10-12 servings

INGREDIENTS

Cheesecake Base:

280g (2 cups) almonds, dry

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

Filling

390g (3 cups) cashews, soaked for 2 hours

400g (2 cups) fresh ripe mango, cubed

160ml (2/3 cup) agave or 80ml (1/3 cup) agave and 80ml (1/3 cup) stem ginger syrup

125ml (½ cup) lemon juice

60ml (¼ cup) almond milk

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extracts

310ml (1 ¼ cups) melted coconut oil

2 tablespoons lecithin

Topping

1 ripe mango, thinly sliced

METHOD

1. In a food processor, whizz the almonds, ginger and vanilla until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2. Finally pulse in the pitted Medjool dates with 2 tbsp water until the mixture starts to hold together.

3. Press the mixture into the bottom of an 8 inch spring form cake tin lined with baking parchment. Chill until firm.

4. Rinse the soaked cashews well under cold running water.

5. Scatter cubed mango over the cheesecake base.

6. In the blender, whizz all the remaining cheesecake ingredients until smooth. Pour over the cheesecake base and chill under firm.

7. To serve, cover with thinly sliced mango and a little of the mango flesh pureed.

Notes

Setting time: 4-6 hours

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