Oh. My. This dessert. Raw Vegan Chocolate Almond Cheesecake.
I have 2 exciting things to share with you today! First, I was absolutely honored and thrilled when I was contacted by Rawguru and Raw Food Recipes to create some recipes featuring their Rawmio and Dastony products. Raw Food Recipes is a large site with the best source of vegan, vegetarian and raw recipes and is truly a beautiful site, that I’m thrilled to be a part of.
Most of you who follow my blog and know me in real life, know I’m huge on all natural products. I don’t like to use products with weird additives or artificial ingredients. So, getting the opportunity to create some delicious vegan cheesecake using their products with all unprocessed ingredients was like a dream come true. I was like a little kid when the products arrived. A vegan cheesecake was the only thing I could think about. Dairy-free and oil-free, of course.
Their products are raw, organic, vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and stone ground!!
Today’s dessert is highlighting their original chocolate almond butter. It only has 3 ingredients: raw almonds, cocoa nibs and coconut sugar. I immediately opened it and tasted it….so delicious and so pure. I was immediately inspired to create a recipe that highlighted it.
So, to make it a raw healthy dessert, I decided to make a vegan chocolate almond cheesecake with a gluten-free crust. I added some almonds to my cheesecake base to further bring out some almond flavor. To keep the ingredient list low, I repeat the sliced almonds and agave in the crust, so no need for any additional ingredients. By topping it with cocoa nibs and more almonds, it makes the perfect dessert for you guys that love chocolate and almond.
FYI: Cocoa nibs aren’t very sweet at all, so use chocolate chips on the topping if you prefer. My hubby didn’t like the cocoa nibs as much as I did.
It’s super easy to make. Prepare the chocolate crust. Then just add all the filling ingredients to your blender. Decorate and freeze, that’s it! No need to fool with eggs or heating up the oven like a typical cheesecake.
I added almonds and cocoa nibs to decorate the top, but feel free to use shaved chocolate, chocolate chips or leave it plain! Yum. If you are however in the mood for full-on chocolate, then you must try my Raw Vegan Luscious Chocolate Cheesecake. It is to-die-for.
Be sure to leave me feedback below after you make this Raw Vegan Chocolate Almond Cheesecake! I love hearing it!
Disclaimer: I was not paid or under any obligation for this product review. I was humbled to be contacted by them and all opinions expressed are 100% my own.
Raw Vegan Chocolate Almond Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 heaping cups raw whole cashews 10 oz, 280g
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds or 2 heaping tablespoons almond butter
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup raw agave nectar or maple syrup, 120 mL
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup water 236 mL
- For the swirl: 6 oz jar Rawmio Chocolate Almond Butter a 1/2 cup mixed with 3 tablespoons water (or you can eliminate or use another chocolate spread
Chocolate crust
- 3 heaping cups sliced almonds not whole (11 oz, 310 g)
- 3 tablespoons raw cacao 18 g
- 4 1/2 tablespoons raw agave nectar
- pinch fine sea salt
Please note that weight measurements are also listed for accuracy in the result. Also, if you do not have the Dastony chocolate almond butter, you can just melt some chocolate chips mixed with some almond butter. Just make sure it is a thick consistency and then swirl that into the cheesecake.
Instructions
Chocolate crust
- Add almonds and cacao to a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. Add the agave and pulse again until mixture clumps together and holds it's shape when pressed together between your fingers. Take an 8x8 square pan, spray with nonstick spray and line with plastic wrap hanging over the sides for easy removal later. The spray helps the plastic wrap from moving. Press the mixture evenly around with your fingers, not forgetting about the corners. You can add a little cacao powder to your fingers to help it not stick.
Filling
- If you do not have a high powered blender such as a Vitamix or Blendtec, simply soak the cashews for 5 hours in a bowl covered with room temperature water. Drain, rinse and then proceed with the recipe.
- Add all filling ingredients (except the chocolate almond butter) to a high powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy, a couple of minutes.
- Pour over the prepared crust.
- Mix the chocolate almond butter with 3 tablespoons water until smooth. Drop spoonfuls all over the cheesecake and pull with a knife to make swirls. Do not overdo it or you will lose the swirl effect.
- If desired, add almonds, cocoa nibs, shaved chocolate or chocolate chips on top. Note: cocoa nibs aren't very sweet, so taste them before placing them as a topping, to make sure you want to use them. Place in the freezer for several hours or overnight until firm. Let sit at room temperature about 10-15 minutes before trying to remove the cheesecake with the plastic wrap. You should be able to pull it out with the plastic wrap after it has sat out a bit. Then slice and serve. Cover with foil and return to the freezer to keep it firm.
I loved this so much. I could not find RawMio almond butter, so I bought raw almond butter and blended it with raw cacao and a bit of stevia. Obsessed with this recipe!! Thank you
Hi Brandi! I am very excited to make this, but I was wondering: what is the reason for using sliced almonds vs. whole in the crust.
Thanks!
Help!!!
Can’t find the Rawmio chocolate almond butter on THIER site or on Amazon!!
Hi Louann, such a bummer they don’t sell it anymore! You can use another chocolate spread if you like or just make your own. I would mix almond butter with cocoa powder and maple syrup and mix until smooth and thick but smooth enough to swirl around in the cheesecake. There are other chocolate nut butter spreads on the market or recipes or just mix it up on your own to taste.
I would use this chocolate syrup on this recipe linked here on the waffles, but double the almond butter so it’s thicker.
https://thevegan8.com/2017/08/30/vegan-gluten-free-chocolate-waffles/
Thank you SOOOO much for this! I’ve been looking for a vegan cheesecake without dates (I’m allergic) for ages !
Is it okay if I use my local brand of chocolate-almond butter?
Oh perfect!! Yes, definitely! Come back and rate the recipe after you make it! Hope you love it!
One of my top 5 favorite recipes of all time right here! This recipe is such a delicious, healthy sweet treat and is always a crowd-pleaser. Vegans and non-vegans alike will want seconds…trust me!
Why is this called cheese cake? It has no cream cheese in it. What is the white part made of in this recipe. Have I missed something?
Yes, you missed the recipe posted above. It’s right above the comment section above here. That lists the recipe and how to make it. The “white part” comes from the cashews. It is called cheesecake to symbolize that it’s flavor is reminiscent of a traditional cheesecake. But since this is a vegan blog, dairy cream cheese is not used. But it tastes like one and all my non-dairy friends and readers eat it up! Lots of vegan blogs use titles like “cheesecake”, “meatballs”, and vegan cheese sauces are all over the internet so that readers know the flavor profile the recipe is recreating, but without the traditional ingredients since so many people avoid meat or dairy. Hope that helps!
As someone who has never liked cream cheese these desserts are perfect for me. I do have a question I’ve not been able to get an answer to. Maybe you know. All the vegan cheesecake recipes I have seen have lemon juice in them. I do like lemon but not in everything. Is the reason for it to give the tartness that cream cheese has? I’m wondering if it’s essential to the recipe or something I could leave out. This one looks delicious!
Hi Anna! Yes, the lemon is strictly to give it that tang that traditional cheesecake has. I promise, this does not taste “lemony”…I don’t add too much to where it tastes like lemon, it just gives it a tang. It’s been one of my biggest recipes to blow away dairy people, so I think you would really enjoy it. I definitely wouldn’t leave it out, as then it will be a little flat tasting and the cashews will taste too strong. The lemon hides the cashew flavor. Let me know if you try it!
This cheesecake looks wonderful! Is there any other nuts besides cashews that I could use as I’m allergic to them? Thank you so much😀
Hi Melissa! I have never tried macadamias in this, so I can’t say for sure, but that would be the best sub, as no other nut will be as creamy. Macadamias themselves are not as creamy as cashews. I’m not a big fan of their flavor either. Do you have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix? Macadamias are much harder to get smooth too, so you would need to soak them overnight, drain and then rinse. I’m assuming you are just allergic to cashews? I also have this cheesecake that is actually divine and sets up in the fridge really quickly and no nuts, just coconut. The texture is absolutely amazing and creamy. https://thevegan8.com/2014/05/14/cinnamon-vanilla-new-york-style-cheesecake/
Pardon me if this has already been asked: do you think this would turn out if I soaked the nuts? We absolutely do not eat raw nuts due to the phylic acid.
Thanks!
Oh yes, absolutely! Soaking is completely fine and what I recommend if a high-powered blender isn’t available. Just make sure to drain and rinse them and then proceed. Let me know what you think!
Awesome recipe! Actually not that hard to make, quickly whipped it together. The hardest part is waiting for it it chill in the freezer! I did not use Raw Mio and instead subbed almond butter. Still amazing. I will definitely make this again. And usually I don’t love the taste of a raw crust, but this one did not bother me at all! Thanks so much for the recipe! My non-gluten free husband ate more of it than I did❤️
So happy to hear that Annemarie! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! I really am thrilled to hear it was a hit for everybody!
This was amazing! I tweaked it a bit by adding about 1/2 a tsp of almond extract to the crust and cutting the agave nectar (in both the crust and filling) in half. It was still plenty sweet. I took your suggestion and used my homemade almond butter with melted chocolate chips for the swirl-in portion.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe. Even my husband was delighted!
Hi Graham’s Mom!! I’m so thrilled you loved this cheesecake so much, that makes me really happy to read your feedback! SO glad my sub swirl suggestion worked perfect too, thank you so much for the awesome feedback! 🙂
I made this for my family and they LOVED IT! This recipe was easy to make! My husband said it is his favorite cheesecake! I love love love it myself! Absolutely fabulous recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that Michelle! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. So thrilled this is your husband’s favorite cheesecake!
Hi, your cake looks fantastic and I’m going to try it this weekend. As I live in Germany I hope that the ingredients I bought are equivalent to those you use. I just have one question: When you say cup, which size do you use? We usually take small cups for measuring baking ingredients when there are no further specifications but that doesn’t seem to be enough for that recipe.
Can you substitute another nut for cashew? Have a cashew allergy in family.
Hi Dee! Unfortunately, the recipe is dependent on cashews and I haven’t tested it with another nut and cashews give the most creamy effect. I do have another cheesecake that you could always swirl some chocolate into and it is cashew-free. It is also kept in the fridge and doesn’t require to be frozen. Here it is: https://thevegan8.com/2014/05/14/cinnamon-vanilla-new-york-style-cheesecake/
It is awesome, despite my mistake!
Yay! I am so glad to hear that, thank you so much for the feedback!
Ok I totally messed up this recipe, I put all of the filling ingredients in the Vitamix as it said, the Rawmio is listed under the filling ingredients!! So low and behold when it is time to mix the chocolate almond butter with water, I realized I didn’t have any :/.. It’s in the freezer now, hope it’ll still have a great taste. I’ve never been good at desserts
Oh no! That’s never happened before…yeah the chocolate almond butter is for the swirl, like in the photos. I went ahead and added a little note in the directions just to be absolutely clear. But don’t worry, I don’t think it would mess up the actual cheesecake…it will just make it more sweeter probably, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing! 🙂
I agree that it should still be good. I’m looking forward to tasting it!
Hey Brandi, just saw that this dessert of yours and one of mine got featured side by side on We Heart Living and I HAD to take a peek immediately. This cheesecake looks incredible, as do all your things. And that Rawmio chocolate almond butter looks to die for. I’ll trade you a slice for a raw carrot cake? 😉
Awesome Audrey! Thank you so much! SO exciting to be featured next to you!! xx
Hi Brandi, Im new to making raw vegan recipes and was just wondering, could I soak & drain the cashews ahead of time and then fridge them until the next morning when I’d be making the cheesecake? Can’t wait to try your recipe! Thanks.
Absolutely Erin, that would definitely work! Please let me know how the cake turns out, I’d love to hear!
Wow! I discovered your blog via We Heart Living! This looks uh—–mazing! Great blog!
Aww thank you so much!! So glad you found me!
I love a good raw cheesecake… and this one I’ll be dreaming about until I eat it. I’ve never tried that spread before, but it’s on the list now!! Beautiful, Brandi!
Thank you so much Alison, that is so kind of you to say! You could just mix almond butter with some melted chocolate and that would work too 🙂