Delicious plant-based strawberry tart with hazelnut sunflower seed thyme crust and creamy coconut strawberry filling.
Happy Summer Solstice!
To celebrate this special day I’ve got another strawberry creation for you – Raw Vegan Strawberry Tart, because strawberries are amazing, sweet and juicy and doesn’t everyone loves them. So when you get your hands on some amazing organic strawberries this week and craving something delicious and sweet you might like to try making this amazing tart :)
This time I’ve used a mix of hazelnuts and sunflower seeds to make the crust. My thyme is looking really lovely at the moment and so I’ve added some into the crust, which makes it beautifully fragrant and just gives it another layer of flavor that I love. I’ve used this combination in many savory recipes before, but first time using it in sweet creation. However the thyme is optional and you can leave it out if you don’t fancy it.
The filling is a mix of cashews, strawberries and coconut cream with little coconut oil and maple syrup. This one has lighter texture, more mousse like. Alternatively you could use the strawberry filling from my Strawberry Basil Vegan Cheesecake recipe that uses coconut butter instead of coconut cream and is more dense.
I’ve decorated my tart with this gorgeous peony, because strawberries & peonies, could it get any better? It has a lovely fresh, summery and romantic feel to it and didn’t I just love taking photos of this beauty!
Enjoy the recipe & let me know how you like it :)
Raw Vegan Strawberry Tart (grain-free)
Delicious plant-based strawberry tart with hazelnut sunflower seed thyme crust and creamy coconut strawberry filling.
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 cup hazelnuts (130 grams)
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (70 grams)
- 6 medjool dates, pitted
- 3-5 thyme sprigs, picked
- 1/4 lemon, zest
- pinch sea salt
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Strawberry filling:
- 2 cups strawberries (250 grams)
- 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight (120 grams)
- 1/2 lemon, zest
- 1/2 lemon, juice
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 can full fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
- 1.3 cup coconut oil (80 ml)
Topping:
- fresh strawberries
- thyme sprigs
Instructions
- Prepare 9" tart tin with removable base.
- Place hazelnuts and sunflower seeds into a food processor and pulse few times until coarsely ground. Add Medjool dates, thyme leaves, lemon zest, salt and coconut oil and blend until the mixture comes together. You should have a sticky mix when pressed together.
- Spoon the crust mix into the tart tin, spread evenly onto the base and around the edges to create the crust. Don't go all the way up, about 3/4 high. The crust edge on mine was about 3/4" tall. Place into fridge.
- Rinse the soaked cashews under running water and place into blender. Add strawberries, lemon zest, juice, maple syrup and vanilla. Scoop the solid part from the can of coconut milk, add to the blender and blend until smooth. Slowly add melted coconut oil and blend until just incorporated.
- Pour the filling into the tart tin and place into freezer, preferably overnight until set.
- Once set carefully remove from the tin and place onto a serving dish. Decorate with few strawberries and thyme sprigs. Peony optional.
- Leave to slightly thaw before serving.
- Store in a fridge or freezer.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Originally I've added 4 tablespoons of maple syrup, but found it too sweet, se have reduced it to 2 tablespoons in the recipe. You can add extra 2 tablespoons if you like more sweetness.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 502Total Fat: 42gSaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 646mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 5gSugar: 19gProtein: 8g
Hana your creations are so stunning beautiful – as well as yummy. Strawberries and thyme grow wonderfully well together so it’s fitting to garnish your creation with a thyme sprig : ) Thank you and I hope that you are getting a summer this year in UK.
I moved to sunnier climes a long time ago but sometimes it’s too sunny…read hot : (
Dear Angela, thank you so much for your beautiful thoughtful comment. This year we’re actually having a really hot Summer, too hot for my likes, I’m not the best with very hot weather either, but not complaining, loving the sunshine! Have a lovely Summer! Love Hxx
Hi Hana, I’m so excited to have found your site since going dairy free recently. I just made this recipe and had a little trouble with blending until smooth. The mixture got jammed up in the blender — too thick.I ended up adding the oil and doing what I could to blend and then spooning it into the crust. Taste was great, texture had little lumps. When you’ve made it, have you ended up with a pourable filling? In retrospect, I could have added some of the separated water from can of coconut milk but not sure if that would make it too liquidy. Would love your thoughts!
Hi Rachel, it sounds like it might be your blender, what sort of blender did you use? Ideally you need high speed blender to blend the cashews really smooth. You shoudn’t need extra water in this recipe, because the 2 cups of strawberries, maple syrup, lemon juice and coconut cream create enough liquid to blend everything together. The coconut cream should melt in the blender creating even more liquid. The mix should be pourable. I have another strawberry cheesecake on the blog without cashews using coconut butter that you could try, that one doesn’t need strong blender. Please let me know if you need any more help. xx
Oh my goddess, this tart is divine. Thanks so much !
You’re so welcome Margriet! So happy you love it :)
this tart looks beautiful…I made your raspberry tart, for my son, who has been raw vegan for a number of years and super educated about nutrition…I am a registered nurse, so very interested in a healthier lifestyle and change in eating habits….he loved your tart and nothing I have made since has compared….I am hosting Christmas and have many things to do…how early can I make the raspberry filling…I think I froze the whole tart for a day or two….can I go longer if well wrapped??
Thank you Veronica for your lovely comment, I’m so happy you’ve both enjoyed the tart. You could happily make this tart one week in advance, just wrap it well; cover it first with some baking paper and then cling film or freezer friendly bag. It will keep well in the freezer. Happy Christmas!
Hi Hana, this looks absolutely stunning. I want to prepare it for my birthday next week. Do you think it’ll work with frozen strawberries? Thanks a lot in advance. Greetings from Poland :)
Hi Weronika, yes, you can happily make it with frozen strawberries, but please note they are heavier when frozen if you’re weighing them. Happy Birthday! Hope you love this tart :) xx
Hello Hanna I was wondering if I want to make this cake for a party an leave it at room temperature for 30 min it would work? or should I add agar agar powder to the cheeseecake mix? Please help me!! Thank you for your beautifull recipes, grettings from Chile :)
Hi Bianca, It should be fine for 30 min. Why don’t you just put it out frozen so you have some time before serving it? This one is better served chilled. If you use 1 cup coconut butter instead of coconut cream and coconut oil it will keep more solid longer. Alternatively, yes the agar would definitely help just to make sure, then it should keep well for a few hours. Just boil it with the coconut cream and then mix with the rest of the ingredients. You could also do a strawberry version of my Pineapple Tart. Hope you all love it :)
Thank you so much, you rock!!!
This sounds lovely! What nuts could I use instead of hazelnuts as I’m sad allergic to those?
Hi Katharina, you can replace them with almonds or if you like to keep it nut free you can use only sunflowers seeds or a mix of sunflower and hemp seeds. Hope you love it :)
Hi Hana
Greetings from Boston! I plan to make this for a family party, and can’t wait to try it! Could this be made in a 10” pie plate vs, the removable base type?
I know I’d have to alter the quantity to fit a 10”.
Hi Susan! Yes, I’m sure it can be. Just use a dish that is freezer friendly, because it needs to set in the freezer. Hope you all love it :)
Hi Hana,
Thank you for sharing the wonderful receipt! It looks so beautiful and tasty! I’m planning to make the cake but is seem a a bit challenging. First of all, where I am right now it’s so difficult to find coconut milk in a can :( but I found coconut butter and I was wondering I could use coconut butter in the strawberry fillings? Also I want to make the cake for a person who is allergic to dates and I was wondering if I could replace it with something or just don’t use it?
Thank you in advance for your support!
Hi Sandra, yes, you can easily replace the coconut milk. Use 200g (1 cup) of melted coconut butter instead of the coconut milk and coconut oil. In the crust you can use dried figs or apricots. You could also try making the crust with maple syrup and coconut oil. If you don’t want to make it as tart you can make it as a round cake too with 6″ for a higher cake or 8″ for a lower cake. Hope you love it :)
Thank you! It was lovely indeed :)
So happy to hear that :)
Thanks for this recipe. The taste is delicious, but in my case, the tart filling curdled. I followed the directions to a T and have never had raw tart filling curdle on me before. Any ideas why this might happen?
You’re so welcome Julie! I’m sorry that happened! It’s never happened to me making a cheesecake either, but it happened when making frostings with coconut cream. So I think it’s most likely due to the coconut cream. I find that if you refrigerate the can for longer than one day it can be tricky to work with it and it can curdle when whisking it. It could also be the different temperatures of the ingredients. I think you could have possibly fixed that by blending everything until warmed, but you might have done that. Or it was just an odd batch :( Hopefully it won’t happen again!
This recipe looks delicious! I was wondering what you would recommend for cheese cake fillings for those avoiding coconut oil? If recipe already has coconut cream, can we opt for cacao butter or coconut butter to replace the coconut oil? x
Hi Mary, yes, you can. I actually use coconut butter to set raw cakes most of the times. I’ve made this recipe with 200g (1 cup) of coconut butter instead of coconut cream and coconut oil combo. It worked really well. Alternatively, you can replace the oil with cacao butter or a mix of cacao and coconut butter. Hope you enjoy the recipe :)
Just put this little beauty into the freezer- keeping everything crossed that it sets on time! How long should it take to set? I used frozen raspberries instead of strawberries… hoping this will make up for the fact that the coconut milk wasn’t in the freezer before i made up the mix!
Thanks again for sharing your lovely recipes xxx
Hi Jennifer, it takes few hours (at least 3 to 4) depending on your freezer. I tend to leave them overnight to be honest. The ones with coconut butter tend to freeze faster than the coconut cream and coconut oil mix. It’ll be lovely with raspberries too! Hope you enjoy the tart :)
Do you leave the cashews at room temperature or in the fridge overnight?
Thanks!