Caramel Chocolate Vegan CheeseCake

I love the ‘smittenkitchen’ blog (smittenkitchen.com) - and when I tried the chocolate caramel cheesecake recipe - http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2006/08/no-teddy-bear-guts-no-glory/ - I was definitely smitten.

In parallel, I had been considering making one of the cashew based raw, vegan ‘cheese’-cake recipes I had seen floating around the ’net.

After enjoying the chocolate caramel of the smitten kitchen recipe so much, I decided to see if I could merge the two to make something that Blue could eat - meaning Gluten-free and Dairy free.

The end results were pretty amazing.

You make this in three phases - I’d recommend making the crust first, then the chocolate-caramel mix, and then the cashews. But put the cashews on to soak now if you haven’t already - they should soak for at least an hour before you start.

crust:

2 cups of pecans
1 cup of dates (roughly 8 big dates - seeds removed)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend in food processor or blender - the pecans can still be relatively coarse. press into bottom of a greased 9.5” spring-form pan.

You can also use a brownie recipe / mix:

put greased parchement paper in the bottom of the pan
pour the brownie batter into the spring form pan - you want it to be thinner than you would for normal brownies.
bake at the usual temperature for your brownies, but less time - the mix I used called for 30-35 minutes, and it was ready in 20, since it’s thinner. Be sure to check if the brownies are ready with a toothpick.

Another option would be to just crush graham-style cookies (possibly mixed with 1/3 cup cocoa) and mix in 1/3 cup melted margerine and press that into the pan.

chocolate-caramel mix:

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cashew ‘cream’ - vegan cooking cream (Can also use almond or cashew milk, or even water in a pinch)
8 oz (~225 g) dark chocolate - chopped fairly coarsely (Variant tired Nov 12, 2022: 2/3 cup sugar. 1/2 cup water, 150g sugar)

put the sugar in a dry sauce pan over medium heat, and cook until it melts, stirring regularly - it will seem a bit wrong at first, but just keep stirring - once it is hot enough the sugar will melt and you'll get a liquid. Keep cooking until it turns golden brown and add the liquid - be careful - it will bubble and froth a lot, but keep stirring. You may end up with a solid mass of caramel in the middle of the liquid - if so, just keep stirring until it's all dissolved (for me this happened with real cream, but not the cashew 'cream'). Once it is dissolved, stir in the chocolate until it is melted.

Cashew Filling:

3 cups raw, unsalted cashews, soaked for at least an hour (pour boiling water over them) - in a pinch you can get away with simmering them in a pot with water for ~15 minutes
3/4 cup margarine (dairy-free), melted
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vanilla

(Variant tried Nov 12, 2022: 2 cups (250g) raw cashews - soaked, 1 cup margarine (225g), 1/2 cup water (125g), 2tsp vanilla)

add all ingredients to a blender - you probably want a fairly powerful one - we have a vita-mix. Blend until smooth. If you have trouble getting it to blend properly, add in a bit more water, or blend it in two or three batches. You can also add in the chocolate caramel mix into the blender which can help to ‘lubricate’ things.

mix the chocolate-caramel into the cashew, pour into the spring-form pan, and freeze for at least 3 hours. Put in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.