Very simple & tasty chocolate “cheesecake” made with just a few ingredients, just a few tools and within just a few minutes. You can eat it right away, but if you leave it to sit for a couple of hours or overnight in your fridge, it’s much better – same as with regular cheesecake.

I am calling this chocolate dessert a cheesecake simply because it tastes very rich, creamy and similar to chocolate cheesecake even though there is no trace of dairy. Cheesecake is purely vegan if you decide to use maple or agave syrup instead of honey.

Now, I am not vegan, neither vegetarian and I like to use dairy products like milk or eggs and honey as a sweetener in my desserts. Still, I prepared this dessert to show that it can accommodate any diet preferences and still, tastes delicious.

Just a few words to measuring ingredients in this and most of my recipes. Very often I create my own recipes – I get inspired by my favorite food blogs, lifestyle & food websites, my friends, family, people I follow … and many times I simply combine what I have in the fridge. And I almost NEVER scale it. I mix ingredients based on my taste and creativity without measuring it. And next time I make the same dessert it simply tastes a bit different.

I know that baking is a kind of science and that certain recipes must be followed religiously (like when preparing macarons for example). But, I mostly prepare recipes easy to make, not necessarily to scale and I often substitute my ingredients with whatever I have at home. Please do the same. If you don’t have enough of something, use something else or just skip it and see how it turns out. Play around and create. It’s the best part of the baking – it’s fun and it’s creative. So feel free to ignore numbers bellow and combine ingredients how you like it. Let’s go ahead 🙂

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INGREDIENTS

(prepares 4 bigger or 8 smaller cups)

⊃ CRUST ⊂

90g Almonds (preferably toasted)

140g Dates (soft, Medjool type)

20g Cacao Powder

10g Coconut Oil (melted)

Pinch of Salt, Cardamom & Cinnamon

♥

⊃ FILLING ⊂

360g Coconut Cream (not milk)

110g Dates (soft, Medjool type)

70g Cacao Powder

30g Coconut Oil

10g Honey/ Maple Syrup

50g Chocolate (good quality, I used vegan chocolate)

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Salt

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METHOD

1. Combine all ingredients for the crust in your blender until you’ll get a thick paste. Don’t worry if it’s not super smooth – crust can be crunchy, right? Cardamom and cinnamon make this crust very aromatic and give it a nice flavor. Try to crush your spices before adding them to the crust to release all flavors and taste. I do it simply with a flat side of the knife.
2. Fill up cups that you’re going to serve your cheesecake in with the paste and set aside.
3. For the filling, first, melt the chocolate with coconut oil in the bowl over the boiling water and let it cool for a bit. Pour coconut cream (at the room temperature) into the chocolate and mix to incorporate.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the blender and add the rest of the ingredients (chopped dates; cacao powder; sweetener of your choice, if any; vanilla extract & salt). Blend until fully incorporated. The smoother mixture you’ll get, the better, so take your time and blend it properly.
5. Pour filling over the crust and let it sit in your fridge for a couple of hours, preferably overnight. Enjoy topped with fresh strawberries.