Black Forest Cheesecake

You will need:

1 cup dates*

1 cup nuts (I used a mix of Brazil nuts, almonds and cashews)

1 cup dessicated coconut

2 T coconut oil

Pinch of salt

2 T cacao powder**

4 cups cashew nuts (soaked for 4 hours)***

3/4 cup sweetner (I used half honey, half maple syrup)

Scant 1/2 cup lemon juice

1 tsp salt
1 cup + 60ml Coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup cacao powder

1 overflowing cup berries (I used mostly cherries (pitted) and some strawberries to top up) blended to smooth purée 

2 T gelatin 

1/2 cup water

2 T sweetner (I used coconut sugar)

Food processor

18 or 20 cm Spring form cake tin, I used 18cm and had enough mix left to make a mini cheesecake too.

NOTES:

*depending on your food processor you might need to soak your dates in boiling water first.

**no cacao? Use cocoa instead. What's the difference? Cocoa has been processed at a high heat, stripping the product of some of its vitamins and minerals, whereas cacao is a raw product retaining important nutrients (like magnesium) and antioxidants. 

*** cashew nut free? I'm pretty certain macadamia nuts would work in place of cashews, just soak them overnight first, also you can alter the type of nuts in the base to suit your needs

Base:

1. Put the nuts and coconut in the food processor and blend into course crumbs. 

2. Add the dates, salt and cacao and blend to combine into sticky crumbs that hold together when pressed. 

3. Line the cake tin with baking paper. Press the mix firmly into the bottom of the tin.

Filling:

1. Put the cashews, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and sweetener into the food processor, blend until it's all super smooth and creamy. (While its blending I used my stick blender to blend the berries into a purée).
2. Add the coconut oil and coconut milk and blend again to combine.

3. Get two bowls, Pour 1/3 of the mixture into each bowl. Pour the 1/3 that's left in the processor into the cake tin and return to the freezer. 

4. In one bowl mix in the cacao powder, and in the other mix in 1/3 of the berry purée. 

5. Pour the berry filling on top of the vanilla and swirl it round a little with a knife to create a marble effect. Return tin to the freezer. Let that layer set in the freezer while you make the jelly.

Jelly:

1. Put the berry purée, water and sweetener in a small pot and bring to the boil, then simmer on low. 'Bloom' the gelatin by mixing with 3 T of cold water until it's expanded and thick, then add to the pot. 

2. Stir for 2 minutes until dissolved, taste it to make sure it's delicious. Add more berries, sweetner or whatever, if you need. 

To finish:

1. Add the chocolate filling layer to the cake tin, spoon it over carefully and evenly so it doesn't break through the other layers. 

2. Set in the freezer for 30 mins to an hour while your jelly cools and you clean up the horrific mess in your kitchen. 

3. Add the jelly layer to the top and return to the freezer for another 30 mins. Then you can either keep it in the fridge until it's time to serve (a couple of days) or keep in the freezer and thaw out the day of serving. 

If you are like us and usually stick to cheap ingredients and easy fuss free recipes you can now congratulate yourself on completing this monstrosity! (If you had a child helping in the kitchen and you kept your cool, you can also congratulate yourself on that too). I promise you will be impressed when you unfurl it from its tin, and marvel in its grandeur. 

This is a monster of a cake, we had 8 guests for Christmas lunch and we didn't even make it through half the cake. Serve it plain or dress it up with some fresh berries and whipped coconut cream, it looks magnificent either way!

 

 

If you want to follow more of our creations keep up to date on Chef Ashton's Facebook Page. 

Seed crackers

Made these at Playcentre with the kids today, with some beetroot hummus. They disappeared pretty quick so I think they were enjoyed by all!

You will need:

1/2 cup of each: 

• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Linseeds (flaxseed)

• Salt (scant half a teaspoon) 
• sesame seeds to sprinkle on top
• 1 heaped teaspoon flour (wholemeal, gluten free, buckwheat, tapioca). 
• Blender or food processor

Soak the seeds overnight, soak the linseeds separately to the rest.

Preheat oven to 180c.  Drain the seeds, the linseeds would have 'gelled' overnight and will be slimy and coated in the water (this is what helps to hold the crackers together) just drain off any excess water. 

Put the seeds in the food processor and process until it becomes a light paste but still has some visible chunks of seed. 

Mix in the flour and salt. 

Oil two baking sheets the size of your baking tray. Place half of the mixture on each sheet. Oil two more sheets and place on top of the dough. 

Roll out between the two baking sheets to about 2-4mm thin. Carefully, slowly peel off the top sheet. 

Scour cut marks into the dough so they easily break into squares when they are done. 

Sprinkle with some more salt and sesame seeds. Bake for about 20 mins. 

Sometimes the edges are done first, but the middle isn't crisp yet, if this is the case, break the crackers into squares then put the middle pieces back in to crisp for a further 5 - 10 minutes. 

Let them cool in the baking paper, then try not to eat them all at once! 

3 ingredient pancakes

 

3 ingredient pancakes - how easy and tasty are these!

You will need:

2 eggs

1 banana

1 Tablespoon peanut butter (or any nut butter)

Either mash the banana and add the eggs and peanut butter, stir to combine or whizz the whole lot up in the blender, or with a handheld blender. 

Fry with some coconut oil on low - med heat until bubbles begin to form and pop. Then flip and brown on the other side. 

We enjoy these with coconut yoghurt and berries. 

Chocolate "cream"

 

Saturday morning pancakes! We had nothing creamy to put on top so I whipped up a chocolate 'cream'

You need: 

1 avocado

1/2 banana

2 t raw cacao 

1T maple syrup 

1/4 c coconut milk

Blitz in blender

This is based on an avocado mousse I make for dessert (or breakfast!) and complements the pancakes perfectly where we would usually have whipped coconut cream or coconut yoghurt plus has the added bonus of nourishing avocado. 

You can't taste the avo at all, I use tinned coconut milk for this as its a bit thicker to help add volume and texture. 

Hummus

 

Hummus! It's so easy to make your own. The ones in the supermarket have added sugar, vegetable oils and preservatives. 

You need:

- A blender, food processor or stick blender of some sort. 

- 1 tin of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

- 1/4 c olive oil

- 1 t salt

- 1/4 c lemon juice

- 1 T garlic (I prefer the garlic cooked - you can pan fry or roast it first)

Optional - 1T tahini, parsley.

Dump all the ingredients together and blend! Add some water if it's too thick until it's the consistency you like. 

Once you have made this as a base you can add different flavours - some of our favs are roasted veges (kumara, pumpkin or carrots) or beetroot, or sundried tomatoes. Or cumin, curry powder, paprika and chilli all add a nice touch too.