Photo: Markus Karjalainen
I just made up this recipe in Helsinki for the raw food bar I organized for the famous restaurant day (http://www.restaurantday.org)
I am in Helsinki for the second time now and it's so nice to be here. Helsinki has amazing people and a good vibe and is naturally stunning. Especially in the summer months, there is plenty of raw products to work with, like fresh chanterelle mushrooms from the forest, Finnish Spinach, wild herbs and of course the most amazing berries.
I am here for teaching a 2-day raw food course at the local raw food center Elävän Ravinnon Yhdistys - The Finnish Association of Living Food (I know, what a weird name ;-), this Wednesday and Thursday (21/22nd of August 2013), so I offered to organize and chef their raw food bar and yesterday during restaurant day with an amazing Asian Menu, featuring my Chinese Beetroot Dumplings, Spring Rolls with Almond Ginger Dip and Phad Thai with Crunchy Ginger Almonds. Now that was my standard, but I really got creative when I saw all the beautiful wild blueberries that they picked for me, I instantly had the idea to use them for my favorite: Raw Cheesecake, the reason I became a raw food chef years ago when I tasted their version at Café Gratitude in San Francisco. And here is the recipe:
Crumble
2 cups walnuts
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup cacao nibs
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 t vanilla
1 pinch salt
8 medjol dates
1 T cacao butter, melted
Mix all dry ingredients in a food processor, then add one by one the dates and finally the cacao butter. Press the dough in the bottom of a pie pan.
Cheesecake filling
2 cups cashews
1/4 cup lemon juice (80 ml)
1 cup water
100 ml honey
1 t vanilla
1 pinch salt
2/3 cups coconut oil
1/3 cup cacao butter
Blend all except the oils in a vitamix until smooth, then add the oils and blend again. Pour onto the pie crust.
Blueberry Chocolate swirl
2 cups wild blueberries
1/2 cup dates
1/2 cup cacao powder
2 cups cashews
1 cup water
1 t vanilla
1 pinch salt
100 ml coconut oil
Blend all except the oil in a vitamix. Then add the oil and blend again until all is smooth.
Pour from about 30cm high into the white cheesecake filling to create a pattern. Then use a chopstick to create the fun swirls.
Let sit in the freezer for about 2 hours before eating.
Portion it well, cause you might eat the whole cake, but you really shouldn't eat more than a slice to prevent you from turning upside down in bed ;-)
Celebrating our success with a glass of wine
at Helsinki Harbour :-)
Celebrating our success with a glass of wine
at Helsinki Harbour :-)
