Avocado Lime Cheesecake
Not only is this no-bake, plant-based avocado lime cheesecake super easy to make, it's also packed full of healthy fats and antioxidants. It is tangy yet sweet, with a slightly crunchy base and a hint of salt and spice - the contrast is so good!
Equipment
- A pan for dry toasting
- A mixie
- 6-8 cupcake moulds (silicone or a metal muffin tray also works)
Ingredients
Base
- 80 g pitted dates
- 60 g cashews
- 25 g desiccated coconut
- 1½ tbsp sesame seeds (black looks great but either colour works!)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional – I like the hint of chilli heat to contrast with the sweetness, but you can simply skip this if you don’t like spice at all, or if you are making for children.
‘Cheesecake’ Filling
- 250 g avocado flesh (remove peel and stone)
- 70 ml jaggery liquid or honey
- 55 ml lemon juice
- 20 ml extra virgin coconut oil, in its liquid form (if your’s is solid, gently warm it)
- 1½ tbsp finely grated ginger
Optional garnishes
- more toasted desiccated coconut or grated fresh coconut
- toasted pumpkin seeds
- black sesame seeds
- grated lemon zest
- sprinkle of chill flakes
Instructions
- If you have silicon cupcake moulds these are brilliant. If you have a metal case, you just need to grease them with coconut oil before you start.
Start by making the base.
- Dry toast the cashews in a pan until golden brown. Remove from the pan.
- Now toast the desiccated coconut and sesame seeds until also golden. Remove from the pan and allow to cool slightly
- Pulse the cashews, sesame seeds and desiccated coconut in a mixie until broken up into little pieces, then add in the dates, salt and chilli flakes.
- Put a heaped tablespoonful of this mixture into each cupcake mould and press down to form an even layer about ½ inch thick. Put the cupcake moulds in the freezer while you make the creamy filling!
Make the filling
- Scoop out the flesh of the avocados and add it to your mixie jar. Now add the lime juice, jaggery syrup, coconut oil and grated ginger until it becomes smooth and creamy.
- Take your hardened base out of the freezer and pour the filling in gradually to the top of each mould. Once you have tipped in the filling, you could add a little garnish on each one – grate the zest of a lemon, throw over some seeds or scatter some grated fresh coconut on top.
- Now put the cupcake moulds back into the freezer for another 2 hours at least (though you can leave them there overnight – and in fact they will keep for weeks in the freezer). When you want to serve, either move to the fridge an hour before, or just take them out and leave at room temperature for around 10 minutes (depending on where you are in the country, you may want to leave them for more or less time).
Notes
You can also make this as one large cake – in which case use a loose-bottomed, spring release cake tin. The reason I prefer mini-cupcakes is because you set these ‘cheesecakes’ by freezing them, and you need to allow the filling to thaw for about 10 minutes before eating. If it is one cake, and unlikely to be eaten in one sitting- you will need to keep thawing and refreezing. Instead with cupcake moulds, you can just take out the number of cupcakes needed, allowing to thaw for 10-15 minutes before serving (until you can easily take a piece with a fork)