Raw Strawberry "Cheesecake" and The Cake Liberation Front meeting.

I've popped this recipe up for Kate. Have fun making it! :)

I caved. I bought a Thermomix. It's secondhand and refurbished so it was a bit of a bargain. I am so excited to have a high powered blender. It makes the creamiest cashew cream I have ever made. There seems to be a big rivalry between the Vitamix and the Thermomix. They're blenders. I really don't have time for all of the passion and energy that goes into choosing a side. Seriously, I have read some really personal attacks on forums between the two teams. So fucking crazy. Some people really like their high horses.
The first thing I made in my fancy pants new blender was this raw cheesecake for the Cake Liberation Front meet up yesterday. I was so happy to have new people along. For the last few months, it's been me, my mum and a guy named Don. Hopefully now that the weather is heating up more people will come along. I honestly don't have any close friends that are vegan. I have plenty of friends that are vegetarian and open to vegan food, but none that are full crazy vegan so it's nice to go to play dates like this and chat with other people that are passionate about the same issues and plainly just "get it". Oh, and swap recipes. That's the important bit.
You can make this recipe in a regular food processor too. The cashew cream may be a little grainy but still super delicious. I had many lovely comments about how good this tastes. It's rich, too, so you don't need to eat a tonne of it to feel satisfied.

Time: 10 minutes to prepare, overnight to set, so make it the day before. 
Serves: 8 to 10.

Ingredients:
Base:

• One and a half cups of macadamias.
• One cup of dates.
• Half a cup of coconut.

Filling:

• 3 Cups of Cashew which have been soaked in water and drained. 
• Flesh of 2 lemons.
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.
• Half a cup of sweetener like agave nectar, rice syrup or maple syrup.
• Half a cup of coconut oil.
• A pinch of salt.
• One punnet of strawberries, tops removed.
• Quarter of a cup of water.

Topping:

• One punnet of strawberries. 
• Quarter of a cup of rice syrup. 

Method:

For the Base:

Place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor until its crumbly.

Pour into a pie tin and press until it resembles a pie crust.

Place in the fridge whilst you make the filling.

The filling:

Place all of the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Leave about a half a cup of the filling separate if you want to use it to do fancy piping around the edge. Place in the fridge overnight. Get out your cake decorating gear and pipe the filling around the edges. Fill the inside with the following topping. 

The topping:

Place the strawberries and rice syrup in the blender/ food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. A few chunks is still ok. Pour on the top of the cake once the cake is set. 

Then eat and watch everyone get excited. This really is a good cake. There really aren't that many different ways to make a raw cheesecake. You can use this basic recipe and simply change the flavours. Maybe add some chai spices or cocoa instead of strawberries, or perhaps some mango or lime. Have fun and play. :) xx