Oh, right, back to food! I was on Cloud Nine for a bit meeting one of my food idols, Chef Michael Smith. After that a lot of work drama occurred, and I've since resigned and will be starting my new job in about two weeks. I'm going to be doing a lot things such as recipe developing, food styling, food blogging, tweeting... the list goes on! I'm really excited about these upcoming projects. I'm also going to be able to have a semi-relaxed Summer which is much needed to help me feel grounded and generally normal again!
I made this cake about a month ago, and I got the recipe from RawMazing, which is a fantastic site that you all should check out! I don't have a dehydrator (yet... if I can find a suitable place to store it my boyfriend will give me the OK) so I've been making recipes that don't require one, such as this cheesecake.
One of the things that I noticed about it is how many cashews it required! Wow, it was a lot of nuts. And for some silly reason I felt cheated because the ingredients only yielded enough for a 6" round. Well, I should have guessed how rich it was just from the cashew content alone! Wow, one tiny sliver made me full and kept my sweet tooth satisfied. I sometimes found it too coconut-ey, because of the coconut butter, and I really just wanted to taste the cacao and orange sometimes. Perhaps next time I'll try cashew butter instead, or maybe just slightly refined coconut oil (is that still considered raw? Maybe someone could chime in with more information!) in order to reduce the coconut taste.
Being silly with my raw creation!
This may be a slightly strange observation and fascination, but I really was glad when, after having it in the fridge for awhile, that it grew mold. I always get suspicious of things that don't grow mold after being opened, so it was nice knowing that I was consuming something that was riddled with preservatives.
I had a little bit of leftover topping leftover, so I put it on my yoghurt one morning - delicious! This crust would make a lovely "granola" topping for breakfast, there's nothing bad in it.
One thing with raw desserts, especially a "cheezecake", is that you're never going to be able to replicate the texture of the original entirely, and you try all you want, but I'm fairly convinced that this is just not something that can be done. It is a dense cake (so. many. nuts), and while it has the looks of a cheesecake, it's definitely not soft, nor squishy like a regular cheesecake is. This is ok though, because the density of it makes you want to consume less, which is good, because I really believe that everything, even good things, should be eaten in moderation :). The texture was very smooth, but next time I'm going to process it more so that I can fully liquify any little bits of nut that hang around. That, or I might try straining it. All in all this was a fantastic recipe and next I'm going to try making a raw tart! Mmm.
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