Raw Chocolate Cheesecake with Berries (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

As much as I enjoy cooking, one of the best bits about Mother's Day at our place is that I don't have to cook! Bliss!

I always get something yummy for breakfast with a cup of tea and then a special dinner and dessert made by my hubby with the help of the kids.

If your family needs a hint as to what you'd like for your Mother's Day dessert then I have the perfect recipe for you.

This chocolate cheesecake was luscious, creamy and just plain delicious. It is free from both gluten and dairy and no baking required so it's a great one to get the kids involved with.

I actually made this last month for Easter Sunday but I think it would be just as perfect for Mother's Day!

You could also make some fun variations with the flavours.

Maybe leave out the berries and add some peppermint oil to the filling, or perhaps leave the cocoa out of the filling add some citrus. The possibilities are endless and I consider it my duty to test them all out for you over the next few months! You're welcome :)

Make sure you give it a solid 30 minutes out of the freezer before serving, otherwise it will crack a little like you can see in the photo above. Another 10 minutes and it would have been luscious, creamy perfection as it was in my bowl when I was eating it!

Oh and remember you will need to start this the day before so the cashews can soak overnight! You can cover them with boiling water for an hour or so if you get absolutely stuck but the end result won't be quite as smooth and creamy.

Raw Chocolate Cheesecake with Smashed Berries

Base
1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup dates
1ts vanilla
1/2 ts salt
1 heaped tbs coconut oil

Filling
2 cups raw cashews (soaked for at least 6 hrs or overnight and drained well)
1 can Ayam coconut cream
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw cacao
100-120g raw honey (adjust to taste)
2 ts vanilla extract
Pinch salt

1 1/2 cups mixed berries, divided
1tbs raw honey, extra
3 drops Wild Orange essential oil (optional)

Grease a 20cm springform pan and line the base with baking paper.

To make the base, place all ingredients into food processor or Thermomix and process until the mixture sticks together. Press into the base of the prepared pan. Scatter over 1/2 cup of the berries and place in the freeezer while you prepare the filling.

To make the filling, place all ingredients into same food processor or Thermomix bowl (no need to wash it) and process for 2 minutes until completely smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides halfway through. Pour the mixture over the berries on the base and place back in the freezer until ready to serve.

To make the berry sauce, just before serving place the remaining 1 cup of berries and extra honey into a bowl (and orange oil if you are using it) and smash with a fork until you have a chunky sauce.

Remove the cheesecake from the freezer 30 minutes before serving. Top each serve with berry sauce. Enjoy!

Do you have any special Mother's Day traditions or recipes at your place?

Let me know! x

Baking with Julia - Berry Galette

After making a delicious (but boring) apple pie last time, there was no way I was passing on berries again this week! I did have to resort to frozen berries but honestly they worked just fine.

This is one of those cases where the end result is far greater than the sum of it's parts. The galette is a simple, buttery pastry folded around mixed berries. That's it. 

I made only slight changes to the recipe, based on what I had in the pantry. That meant using semolina instead of cornmeal in the pastry. After reading the P & Q this week I decided not to add any water at all to my pastry. I used 3 heaped tablespoons of natural yoghurt (instead of sour cream) and the dough came together perfectly. I also added the zest of 1/2 an orange in with the berries and sugar which gave a lovely citrus perfume when it came out of the oven. 

The resulting galette was insanely good and seemed far more special than just pastry wrapped around frozen berries!

I was surprised by how small the galette was, and I think next time I would use the full batch of pastry with double the fruit.

Our hosts this week are Lisa of Tomato Thymes in the Kitchen and Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness. They will post the recipe under today's date so make sure you check it out. Like Dorie says, this recipe is a keeper!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Strawberry Shortcakes

So this week Cathy of The Tortefeasor chose Dorie's Tender Shortcakes. I, having no real idea what a shortcake was, wasn't particularly enthused. Till I figured out they were big, buttery scones covered with cream and berries!

These are incredibly quick to make but just as with the Sweet Cream Biscuits from a few weeks ago, the amount of liquid/cream in the recipe was woefully inadequate. I had to add a full 1/4 cup extra to get something even resembling a crumbly, scone dough. Certainly nothing like a soft dough that you scoop out and plop on the baking tray.

No matter. These baked up buttery, golden and melt-in-the-mouth tender. Smothered with diced strawberries and a big dollop of sweetened whipped cream, you have something truly sensational!

I made just a half batch and got 7 gigantic shortcakes. Some are headed straight for the freezer.

You will find the recipe at The Tortefeasor under today's date. Thanks for a great pick Cathy!

Next week we have Raisin Swirl Bread chosen by ... ME!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Quick Berry Tart

What's quicker than a Quick Classic Berry Tart? These even quicker Itty-Bitty-Puff-Berry-Tartlets! As much as I love Dorie's sweet tart dough I wasn't in the mood for making pastry this week, especially since I only wanted to make minis.

Why? We're still working our way through the fabulous Banoffee Tart my lovely hubby made for dinner on Mothers' Day, along with this delicious rack of lamb with roast veges.

So for this week's TWD I chose the cheat's option and grabbed a sheet of puff pastry from the freezer and cut out little circles. The pastry cream takes only minutes to make and I topped each one with 3 perfect blueberries (frozen ones because they are always in season).

I will definitely make the original Classic Berry Tart sometime as I adore fruit tarts. My apologies to Cristine of Cooking with Cristine for not making the exact recipe which you can find on her blog. But I hope you enjoy my version!