Sunday 21 September 2014

Pretty Pink Cheesecake (Strawberry and Beetroot)


I've been asked to make a pink cake for a local charity event next week, so had a little experiment in the kitchen yesterday with some natural foods to give me the desired colour. Beetroot, cherries, raspberries and strawberries are the obvious choices for lots of colour... Ended up with a mix of strawberries and beetroot. Beetroot offers such a very strong colour, but used on it's own I figured it would completely overpower the taste of the whole cake, as it gives a powerful hit of 'earthiness'! 

I bought some gorgeous little heart cake pans the other days, so decided on a cheescake mix rather than a baked cake. Ideally going for lots of raw desserts, treats and snacks now his month particularly as I'm doing 30 days (90%) raw.

Really happy with the way it turned out, and it's pretty easy to make, that's the way I like recipes! 

Ingredients :

Base :
1 cup dessicated coconut
4-5 dates
1 tbsp raw, organic, fair trade coconut oil
1 tbsp raw cacao powder

Topping: 
9tbsp almond flour/ground almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract (or one scraped vanilla bean pod)
1tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 beetroot chopped and peeled
A handful of fresh strawberries 
Raw honey - to taste (depends on the amount of beetroot) 
1 tbsp coconut oil (as above)
Sprinkle of Xanthan gum (you can add more and whizz up again if it's too runny)
Coconut cream - add gradually to achieve the desired consistency 

Decorate:
Dessicated coconut
Freeze dried strawberries 

Method :

Whizz up all the base ingredients in a Nutribullet or food processor
Press mixture into a greased cake pan or muffin cases or similar- I used heart shaped mini pans and it made three.
Put in the fridge to set


Topping : add all the ingredients to a food processor and whizz up until smooth. If very very thick add some more coconut cream, if too thin and runny add another sprinkle of Xanthan gum.

Spread over the base and smooth down.


Decoration : whizz up the coconut and freeze dried strawberries , so the strawberries 'stain' the coconut.
Sprinkle over the top.


Cool in the fridge, and eat and enjoy! 
Stay healthy! 
Rx



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