Vegan Wild Blueberry Cheesecake

Being a dairy free household isn’t easy but not impossible. I’ve spent a lot of time adapting my recipes to be both dairy free and still absolutely delicious. Cheesecake is a favorite of many, mine included. Making it dairy free and totally vegan has turned an indulgent treat into a healthy and guilt free dessert! This recipe takes about 30 minutes to come together and a few hours in the freezer to set. I love bringing a vegan cheesecake to parties or gatherings and people cannot believe it’s vegan! This recipe is so versatile so feel free to change up the fruit flavors to your liking.

For the crust:
1/3 (heaping) cup raw walnuts
2/3 (heaping) cup raw pecans
1/4 (heaping) cup unsweetened coconut shreds
6 pitted medjool dates (the bigger the better)

Filling
2 (heaping) cups raw cashews (soaked in water for at least 2 hours)
1/2 cup coconut milk in a can (full fat using the solid cream on top and a splash of the liquid coconut water on the bottom)
1/3 cup 100% maple syrup
1/2 lemon (juice)
1/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries (for the surprise raspberry later in the middle!)

Kitchen gadgets:
Food processor
High power blender- I use a Vitamix
6in springform cake pan

Measure out two heaping cups of cashews and put them in a bowl and fill with hot water that completely covers your cashews. Leave to soak for at least 2 hours. This helps to soften the cashews so blending is much easier.

Gather your crust ingredients and measure them out.

Don’t forget to pit your dates!

Add all of your crust ingredients to the food processor and blend for about a minute until everything is chopped finely.

To know that your crust is done simply pick up a pinch and squeeze it together. If the mixture stays stuck together when you pinch you know it’s ready.

Dump your crust into your springform pan and press it down into place with your fingers. Set it aside while you mix up your fillings.

Grab your filling ingredients and begin adding them to your blender. You will start with your cashews, maple syrup, coconut cream and coconut water and lemon juice. Begin blending and work your blender up to the highest speed it goes and let it blend until very smooth. You will have about 3 cups of blended filling once it’s blended.

Once it is blended smooth, pour about 1 cup of the filling on top of your crust in the springform pan. You will want to save 1 cup of your filling and set aside for the 3rd and final layer. You will have one cup of filling left in your blender, you will mix your raspberries into this and blend until smooth like you did before.

To get the hidden layer effect, you will want to pour this raspberry filling into the center of your plain layer. Because they are both liquid the raspberry will not sit on top but begin to sink down the center of the plain flavor of cheesecake. Once you add this layer you will want to pop your cheesecake in the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up so your final blueberry layer will sit nicely on top.

Add the cup of filling you set aside into your blender with your frozen wild blueberries. Blend until smooth and pour over top the set two layer in the pan.

Sprinkle some wild blueberries over the top to make it look extra fancy! You can skip this step if you wish! Then put the cake in the freezer to set for at least 4 hours. I usually leave mine overnight just to make sure it’s ready to go when I need it.

Remove cheesecake from freezer and remove springform pan. Let your cheesecake sit out at room temp for about 45 minutes to soften and dig in!! I love how the hidden layer comes out when you cut it! So creamy and delicious! It’s so healthy, you can eat it for breakfast!