A picture of vegan cheese cake caught my eye the other day and I adopted this recipe from a Vimergy post on Instagram. Rich and creamy, it only takes a few bites to fully satisfy one’s sweet and dessert cravings!

In both the crust and filling, I omitted coconut oil to reduce the fat slightly. I have replaced the coconut oil, which helps to firm up the filling, with Irish Moss Seaweed gel. There is a recipe below to make the gel. It may be a little tricky finding Irish Moss seaweed. In Australia, it is available from Essential Ingredient which can be ordered on-line. In other countries, do an internet search to see where to find it.

Raw Wild Blueberry Lemon Vegan ‘Cheese’ Cake

Ingredients
Base

3/4 cup almonds, soaked overnight 

5 fresh pitted dates

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

1 tbs maca powder

organic coconut oil for greasing ramekins

Filling

1 1/4 cups raw cashews, soaked for 4-6 hours

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tbs maple syrup

3 tbs Irish moss seaweed*

1 cup+ frozen or fresh wild blueberries

Method

In a food processor, combine soaked and rinsed almonds, dates, maca and vanilla powders and run until you have a paste.

In six small, lightly greased ramekins, press down almond paste to form a base.  Store in the freezer while preparing the filling.

In a blender, add cashews, lemon juice, maple syrup and Irish moss gel and run until smooth.

Take out ramekins from the freezer. Spoon blueberries on top of each base.  Spoon filling on each base.  Top with blueberries.

Put cheese cakes in freezer for 3 hours.  Loosen with a knife and take each mini cheesecake out of its ramekin. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator (for at least one hour) before serving).

*Irish Moss Seaweed Gel

Ingredients

15 grams of Irish moss seaweed

filtered water for soaking

1/4-1/2 cup filtered water

Method

Weigh 15 grams of dried seaweed and place it in a strainer and give it a thorough rinse.  Place in a bowl, generously cover with filtered water and soak overnight.

In the morning, strain the seaweed and rinse thoroughly again.  Place the seaweed in a blender, using a twister jar if possible and start with 1/4 cup of filtered water.  Run on high adding up to 1/2 cup of water if needed.  Only use as much water as you need to form a thick, clear gel.  Blend until you have a paste with no grid or tiny pieces remaining.

Store in a sterilised jar in the refrigerator for several weeks.