Saturday, June 23, 2012

Chilled vegan strawberry cheesecake slice

I have mentioned before that I rarely eat bananas plain. I like them frozen and whizzed into banana soft serve, or dried and turned into banana chips, or combined with peanut butter...but in their original form, I am not so keen.

(Except, of course, when they were only available at $14 / kg after Australia's banana plantations had been ruined by cyclones. Then I developed a sudden craving for them.)

With strawberries, it is the opposite. I love them plain and fresh,  but am not a big fan of strawberry flavoured products. Strawberry ice cream has always been my least favourite flavour. Strawberry jam seems boring. Strawberry yoghurt tends to taste artificial.

However.

Here we have a strawberry cheesecake slice and technically I don't like cheesecake either. Strawberry cheesecake should, by rights, have me running away at great speed.


But I'm not running. I loved this slice more than I can say. It has the flavours of fresh strawberries with the silky smoothness of a chilled cheesecake and a base that seems to pull it all together.

It is a million miles away from the strawberry cheesecake you might find in the frozen section of the supermarket. No artificial strawberry flavours here; indeed, no artificial flavours at all. The ingredients are predominantly raw and yet again (I may be getting obsessed...) there is that magical dessert ingredient - avocado.



For some added fun, this recipe was also largely born of imagination. I started off with a vague notion of making Gena's raw strawberry vanilla pudding from Choosing Raw, which was the first time I had seen avocado featured in a strawberry dessert. Between reading her post and making this slice, I started thinking about a strawberry version of Hannah's raw chocolate brownies from Wayfaring ChocolateThen I thought back over my raw vegan cheesecake experimentation.

My mind whirred happily for a week or so, and this is what it gave me.

Chilled strawberry cheesecake slice
Vegan
Makes 16 small slices


Ingredients
For the base
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/8 cup agave (or maple syrup)
Up to 1 tbsp water, as needed (I used about 2/3 tbsp)

For the topping
2 small avocados (mine weighed 110g each with peel and stone)
12 medium strawberries, washed and de-stemmed
1/4 cup agave (or maple syrup)
1/8 cup desiccated coconut
1 tsp vanilla


Method
Line a loaf tin or square baking tin with baking paper (if you use a square baking tin you will probably only cover ~2/3 of the tin, but that doesn't matter).

To prepare the base, combine all of the base ingredients except the water in a food processor. Process until fine. Add up to 1 tbsp water, as needed, to form a slightly sticky mixture that is starting to clump together to form a ball.

Press the base mixture into your prepared tin, using a spatula or your fingers to spread it out evenly. Set aside while you make the topping.

To prepare the topping, combine all of the topping ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth. Spread over the base.

Set in the freezer for at least 4 hours before slicing. Store in the freezer but bring slices to room temperature 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

*I had enough topping to cover the base and still have some spare (a small bowlful). I ate the spare topping plain but you could make a thicker topping on the slices if you preferred.


I was initially worried about the colour of these, as they were a bit murkier before being chilled. However, the time in the freezer turned them to the pink shown here (how? I don't know) and in the end there was no hint of avocado in colour or in taste.



With that said, these aren't as sweet or creamy (in a dairy sense) as regular cheesecake and I can imagine that they might not appeal to those who do like traditional, sweeter cheesecake products. Mr Bite was less enamored with them than I was, although this was partially due to the base. He doesn't like nuts, coconut or oats (I know...) so that dislike was not particularly surprising.

As for me? I am smitten.

What do you think of strawberry products and desserts? Yes or no?

26 comments:

  1. This looks wonderful but can I say that if you ever have need of someone to eat your strawberries, just let me know. I'm happy to eat ice cream, jam, shortcake, pies, puddings - whatever you've got. :)

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    1. I will keep that in mind! Although if the strawberries are plain, I'm certainly able to eat them in large quantities myself :)

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  2. YUM yum and YUM. I love how you took inspiration from 2 such lovely ladies as Hannah + Gena and what a result! This sounds divine, right up my alley. Strawberry-speaking I always find them rather hit + miss... sometimes you get one of those super sweet and glorious punnets, and other times they are slightly sour and not so nice. In the peak of the season they are amazing though.

    I DO like strawberry jam though.... St Dalfours is a favourite.

    And I don't mind a strawberry mojito ;)

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    1. Thanks Lou :) and I agree on the hit and miss nature of strawberries. The good ones are blissful, the not so good ones terribly disappointing!

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  3. Twins again! I've been thinking along these lines too, though with raspberries, because I don't really care for strawberries fresh or any other way. These look awesome Kari!

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    1. Yay for twindom :) After that difference of opinion on the strawberry chocolate I was starting to get concerned! Although, that now makes even more sense, because if you don't like strawberries or fruit in chocolate, what hope did the poor block have?

      Also, thank you, and please do make a raspberry one because that would be splendiferous too :)

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  4. What a great slice. I wonder how it was able to change colour! Looks wonderful and I would really like to try this. xx

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    1. The colour changing is a Great Mystery. A relief, but an inexplicable one! I hope you enjoy them if you do make them :)

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  5. Oh my word! These look so good! I am not a huge fan of avocado, and I am so glad that there are recipes that you can "sneak" them in! Thank you! I had some avocado dark chocolate pudding last night...yum!
    Have a great Saturday Kari!

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    1. Thanks Brandi - and yes, avocado is not for eating plain in my world! Dessert form all the way :)

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  6. okay, i do not like bananas, they are prolly the only fruit i dislike...but i blame it on a case of the flu a few years back. :P that said i LUV strawberries, and those little bites look yummmyyy!!! i also really like strawberry shortcake cakes...well, also cuz the little toon girl is adorable and i think of her every time i see them. :)

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    1. I loved that show as a child :) I had a strawberry shortcake doll at one point too but sadly it has gone by the wayside somehow.

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  7. Oh wow! Avocado and strawberries? I'm very intrigued! I'm looking for new ways to spice up my avocado a day challenge, and this sounds perfect! And my brother's the same way also. He hates nuts and oats!! I, on the other hand, can't imagine my life wo them!

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    1. It's odd isn't it?! Must be a male thing :P And I'm glad you like the look of the recipe!

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  8. I bookmark quite a few strawberry desserts but don't make many - the idea just looses its appeal when it comes to making the stuff - but I like strawberries fresh in summer. The slice sounds rather good to me - though I don't know that it sounds like a cheesecake to me - the ingredients seem to lack a certain tang I associate with cheesecake - or do the strawberries give it a bit of a tang?

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    1. Well, you may be right - I did ponder on what to name it and am always a little wary of calling things 'cheesecake', because I so rarely eat cheesecake and don't really know what it should taste like! I would say there was a slight tang (from the strawberries) and there was definitely a certain amount of creaminess, but beyond that I couldn't guarantee it to be cheesecake-like in the traditional sense. If you ever try it, please tell me?!

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  9. Kari you need to check out the first photo on my blog today - there is a giant pile of strawberries! This sounds very yummy indeed.

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    1. That pile of strawberries is impressive beyond words :)

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  10. YUM! This looks great! I actually refrigerate our bananas and much prefer them slightly chilled than at room temperature (plus, they last longer)!

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    1. Ah, I've never done that! Something to try when we want to extend their life expectancy :)

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  11. Hoh wow, these sound incredible. And they look so dainty with that gorgeous pink hue. Strawberries are something we eat rarely, because they are so expensive and there are so many other gorgeous and local tropical fruits, but they really are good, aren't they?

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    1. They are :) Although I can understand them appearing less often for you, given the range of other fruits on your doorstep. They're actually not that expensive here in season, sometimes as little as $2 a punnet!

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  12. This looks amazing!
    I love the ingredient list too!

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