Sunday 16 December 2012

PALEO DARK CHOCOLATE ORANGE CHEESECAKE

I love this time of year ! The holidays bring out the true love for baking in me :) Creating ,and then giving people amazing deserts that make them go wow! That's a great feeling :) although eating paleo may make it hard to enjoy deserts there are some foods that are paleo friendly that you can enjoy ! Some of the ways deserts can be made are far from traditional western deserts , but the alterations are so unique , and the flavours are amazing.

I always used to love those terries chocolate oranges u would get in your stocking "whack and unwrap" says the man with the british accent ~ If you enjoyed those chocolates, or just love the taste of orange with chocolate you have to try this cheese cake !



INGREDIENTS:

CRUST:
1 cup almond flour
4 pitted mejoled dates soaked until soft
1/4 cup raw cacao powder (you can use the dutch coco powder too, but cacao has more nutrients)

FILLING:
2 cups raw cashews soaked for 3+ hours)
1 cup coconut oil
1 cup fresh orange juice from 3 oranges
2 - 3 tablespoons honey (depending on how sweet you like it)
1/2 cup orange zest
1 TBSP grated ginger
1 TSP Vanilla extract

TOPPING:
1 TSP cacao butter
1 TSP Raw cacao powder
You can add a bit of vanilla or stevia for sweetness
-(You should make enough chocolate to fill 1 TBS)
- If you don't want to make your own chocolate just melt a few pieces of 85% dark chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

- Place almond flour in food processor or chopper
- Add soaked dates and raw cacao powder, blend well until mixture is sticky
- Put 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of a 7 inch spring form pan. Put the rest aside (You can line a square cake pan with parchment paper if you don't have a spring form pan)

- Zest orange and ginger and set aside
- In a blender combine soaked cashews, melted coconut oil, orange juice, vanilla and honey, Blend until fully mixed
- Add the grated orange and ginger
- Pour 1/2 of the mixture over crust in the spring form pan
- Place in freezer for aproximately 30 min or until the cake is a bit hard (but not frozen)
- Use the rest of the crust that you set aside to create a layer in the centre of the cheese cake
- Pour the remainder of the mixture on top of the centre crust

- In a sauce pan, fill with water and bring to a boil with a small glass measuring cup inside. Place coco butter inside and let melt, add cacao powder , vanilla and stevia
- Pour liquid chocolate in a swirl starting from the inside of the cake out.
- Use a chop stick or end of a knife and swirl it through the chocolate sauce  to make beautiful patterns on top of the cake

- No baking required! Place in the fridge for a few hours or over night to let set up before serving, Enjoy!