No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake - Gluten+Lactose Free, Paleo + Vegan

This No-Bake Layered Blueberry Cheesecake is a beautiful and easy-to-make Paleo-friendly + vegan cheesecake made with soaked cashews! The cheesecake layers are lusciously smooth and creamy and nutritiously powered with blue spirulina which is a strong immune system modulator.

I’m pretty sure no-bake, raw vegan cheesecakes are my new favorite thing. The love affair began when I realized how

I think this blueberry version is my favorite though – so far, at least :) not only is it sooo pretty with those layers, but it tastes ridiculously good.

Like my other raw cheesecakes, this one is made with CASHEWS as the base! If you’re skeptical about cashews’ ability to replace luxuriously creamy cream cheese, you wouldn’t be the first. I was skeptical for a while…until I tried it.

Once soaked for 8 hours, the cashews get incredibly soft and creamy. This helps them blend super easily into the most luxurious, creamy filling you can imagine. Paired with full-fat canned coconut milk, a bit of coconut oil, maple syrup, lemon juice, and vanilla, it makes a pretty damn close replica of the cheesecake you know and love.

The other half of the filling has freeze-dried blueberries blended right into it, which give it that gorgeous blue color and a mellow blueberry flavor. Freeze-dried blueberries are DIFFERENT from dried or frozen blueberries. They’ve had the moisture removed from them, so they add flavor and color, but they don’t add any extra moisture. It’s important you use freeze-dried blueberries, otherwise, the flavor won’t be as strong and the texture will be off.

Ingredients

For the crust

120gr raw pecans

120gr almond flour

2 dates (without pit)

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

For the cheesecake

400gr raw cashews soaked in cold water for at least four hours or preferably overnight (see Notes)

120ml canned coconut milk shaken

4 tablespoons coconut oil melted and cooled

5 tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder

60gr freeze-dried blueberries

1 teaspoon blue spirulina

Topping

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Instructions

1. Grease a 6” springform pan with coconut oil, or line an 6” cake pan with strips of parchment paper for easy removal, and grease well with coconut oil. Set aside.

2. Add the pecans, almond flour, pitted dates, coconut oil, cinnamon and salt to a food processor or high-powered blender and pulverize until it comes together into a sort of sticky dough, with small pecan bits remaining. Don’t over process, or it’ll turn into nut butter! Press the pecan date dough evenly along the bottom of the prepared pan.

3. In the same food processor or high-powered blender, combine all of the filling ingredients and blend for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture is silky smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides as necessary. You may need to add a bit more coconut milk or lemon juice to get it to blend smoothly if your blender isn’t super high-powered.

4. Once it’s smooth, taste the mixture and adjust the sweetness/tartness levels by adding more maple syrup, vanilla, or lemon juice, if desired.

5. Place in the freezer to set for at least 3 hours or until completely firm before slicing and serving. I recommend running your knife under hot water to warm it up before cutting the cheesecake with the still-hot (dried) knife.

6. Serve frozen or let them thaw at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving. Store in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.