Absolutely delicious festive raw vegan cheesecake with colorful layers and beautiful cranberry swirl.
This year I’m really getting into a festive mood early and I have another Christmas inspired recipe for you. I’ve been baking so much lately that I’ve decided to create a couple of no-bake desserts for you as well and I’m starting with this incredibly delicious White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake.
After eating the first piece I’ve decided that it tastes like Christmas morning and am so excited to share this recipe with you.
It’s adapted from my Raw Gingerbread Cranberry Christmas Tarts which are one of my favorite recipes from the blog so I thought it would be wonderful to create a different version with these fantastic seasonal flavors.
The crust on its own is incredibly delicious made with a mix of walnuts, almonds, dates, figs, raisins, orange zest and warming spices. You could make bliss balls with this mixture and roll them in some orange zest, crushed nuts or desiccated coconut and they will be amazing too. Then we have the wonderful creamy pink cranberry layer followed by the white chocolate layer and a zesty cranberry swirl on top which makes it look so pretty and festive.
I just love how all of the ingredients complement each other so beautifully and if you’re planning to make a raw cake this Christmas do give this one a go, I promise you will love it!
White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake (vegan & grain-free)
Absolutely delicious festive raw vegan cheesecake with colorful layers and beautiful cranberry swirl.
Ingredients
Crust layer:
- 1 1/2 cups mix of almonds & walnuts (150 grams)
- 1 cup mix of dates, figs & raisins (120 grams)
- 1/4 orange, zest
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch ground cloves
- pinch sea salt
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
Cranberry layer:
- 1 cup cashews, soaked for 4 hours (120 grams)
- 1 cup fresh cranberries (100 grams)
- 1/4 orange, zest
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch sea salt
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (60 ml)
- 1/4 cup orange juice (60 ml)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup melted coconut butter (120 ml)
White chocolate layer:
- 1 cup cashews, soaked for 4 hours (120 grams)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (60ml)
- 1/4 cup almond milk (60 ml)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup melted cacao butter (80 ml)
Cranberry swirl:
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries (50 grams)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
Instructions
- Prepare 7" square cake tin with removable base.
- Place almonds and walnuts into food processor and pulse few times until they are coarsely ground. Add pitted dates, figs, raisins, orange zest, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt and blend until the mixture starts coming together when pressed. Add maple syrup if needed and blend until the mixture sticks together.
- Spoon the mix into the tin. Press tightly and evenly onto the base and place into a fridge.
- In a double boiler gently melt coconut butter and set aside.
- Rinse the soaked cashews for the cranberry layer under running water and place into high speed blender. Add cranberries, orange zest, cinnamon, salt, maple syrup, orange juice and lemon juice and blend until smooth. Slowly add melted coconut butter and blend until incorporated.
- Spoon the mixture onto the crust layer and smooth out the top. Cover the cake with a layer of baking paper and cling film on top and place into a freezer for about an hour until set enough for the white chocolate layer.
- In a double boiler gently melt cacao butter and set aside.
- Rinse the soaked cashews for the white chocolate layer under running water and place into high speed blender. Add maple syrup, almond milk, lemon juice and vanilla and blend until smooth. Slowly add melted cacao butter and blend until incorporated.
- Spoon the mixture onto the cranberry layer and smooth out the top.
- To make the cranberry swirl blend the cranberries with maple syrup and orange juice until completely smooth and dollop on top of your white chocolate layer. Now use a toothpick to gently swirl it around.
- Cover the cake with a layer of baking paper and cling film on top and place into a freezer overnight until completely set.
- Once set carefully remove from the tin and with a sharp knife cut into 8 or 16 bars.
- Leave to thaw before serving.
- Store in a fridge or freezer.
- Enjoy!
Notes
To save yourself cleaning the blender make the cranberry swirl before making the cranberry layer.
You can also use frozen cranberries in this recipe.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 620Total Fat: 44gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 330mgCarbohydrates: 55gFiber: 8gSugar: 34gProtein: 11g
OMW you’re an absolute super star – thank you so much for making it so easy to eat healthily and delicious – I mentally eat every recipe hahaha – really really appreciated – totally love all your recipes and as a vegan for 50 years and an avid recipe ‘collector’ it’s extra exciting – the food choices then were quite literally up to my own imagination – have a wonderful day x
Thank you so much for your beautiful words Janine. Your lovely comment really made my day. I can imagine how hard it must have been 50 years ago, especially in society explaining everyone your choice. We are so lucky now with veganism growing and food companies catching up with that. I’m so happy you love this recipe. Much Love Hxx
Everything you make is so pretty Hana : ) This is no exception it looks gorgeous – reminds me of raspberry ripple ice cream.
Is it very cold in UK? I haven’t lived in my birth country for many years and I get a bit nostalgic at Christmas time. We’re headed for 37 degrees C on Sunday here in S Australia – I think I’ll stay inside.
Hi Angela, thank you so much for your lovely comment, I’m so happy you love this recipe. This one will be perfect for your hot weather!
Yes, it’s cold in the UK, probably the coolest Autumn I’ve experienced here and I believe they’re forecasting very cold winter this year which I’m quite happy about to be honest, as long as we have some snow that lasts I’m good :) xx
Thank you so much for this and all your other recipes Hana. I made this for a Christmas dessert to bring to friends and it was well received (not to mention beautiful!). My daughter says it tastes just like cheesecake. I didn’t have any walnuts so I subbed in some sunflower seeds for the crust. I also didn’t have any figs, so I used just dates and raisins. I am looking forward to making lots more of your recipes. Keep up the great work you are doing on this site!
Hi Nancy, I’m so happy you’ve made this cheesecake and it was so well received! I absolutely loved creating this one! You’re so welcome, it’s my bliss :) xx
Hi Hans,
This looks fabulous! I’m planning on making it for an early Christmas get together. Two questions, firstly I can’t eat Walnuts so could I swap in pecans? Secondly, if I use frozen cranberries is there any need to defrost them?
Thanks!