Celebration Baked Chocolate Orange & Pistachio Cheesecake

Celebration Baked Chocolate Orange & Pistachio Cheesecake

With Chocolate Frosting & Raw Chocolate Truffles

Photography By Ctrlaltdelete Design Solutions (copyright 2016)

Rich, indulgent, creamy, decadent. This is probably one of my most favourite cold desserts EVER and will certainly WOW your dinner guests! If you love chocolate then you’ll love this!

What will I need?

Food processor

1 x Small cooking pan

1 x Large bowl

Spatula

Juicer (the glass kind unless you have one of those fancy electric ones).

Whisk

Large metal spoon

Grater

1 x 8 inch grease proof spring form cake tin

Pallet Knife

Sift

1 x Small bowl

4 x Tea plates (for rolling the truffles)

Ingredients

To make the Base

160g Gluten free oat crackers (I like to use Nairns Organic).

15g Crushed Pistachios

4 tbsp. Maple Syrup OR Agave Nectar

1 tbsp. Dairy free butter

½ tsp. Himalayan rock Salt OR Sea Salt

To make the Cheesecake

225g Silken Tofu

225g Soya Cream cheese

1 tbsp. Corn Flour

2 tbsp. Almond OR Soya milk plus 1 tbsp. for the chocolate mixture

Zest of 1 large Orange

Juice of ½ large Orange

120g Icing sugar OR Soft Unrefined Brown sugar

4 tbsp. Raw Cacao powder

1 tsp. Himalayan rock Salt OR Sea Salt
1/4 100g Bar 80% Good Quality Dark Chocolate (to drizzle)

For the Easiest Ever Chocolate Frosting

50g Pitted Dates Fresh OR Dried

125ml Almond OR Soya Milk

2 tbsp Raw Cacao powder

Generous pinch of Himalayan Rock OR Sea salt

To make the Raw Truffles

10 x Pitted Medjoole Dates (soaked in tepid water for 10 minutes)

3 tbsp. Raw Cacao Powder

Pinch of Salt

Nuts of your choice roughly chopped (optional)

Truffle Coatings:

1 tbsp. Raw cocoa Powder

1 tbsp. Desiccated Coconut

1 tbsp. Ground Almonds

1 Tbsp. Ground Pistachios

Method

For the base

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fan assisted).

1. In a food processor, blitz your oatcakes with the salt until they form a rough course texture; then in a small pan, melt the butter and add this along with the syrup, mix well with a wooden spoon.
2. With a spatula, scrape out the base mixture into the cake tin and press down firmly. Let bake for about 5-8 minutes OR until the edges a lovely golden brown. Leave your base to cool completely in the tin.

 For the Topping 

1. Rinse out the bowl you used to make the base; then once cleaned, blitz all of the topping ingredients EXCLUDING the Raw Cacao powder until smooth.
2. Using a large spoon, place approx. just over half the mixture onto your cooled base, spread evenly with a pallet knife. Then add the raw Cacao Powder to the remainder of the mixture along with 1 tbsp. of milk. Mix in with a whisk until well combined; then with a spatula, carefully scrape this mixture over the top of the mixture in the tin and spread this as evenly as you can with a pallet knife.
3. Let bake for about 35 minutes until the edges are browned and there is a slight wobble in the centre. If the mixture appears too wobbly, bake for a further few minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely, then pop in the fridge to set; I recommend overnight as you get the most lovely firm creamy texture.

For the Frosting

1. In a food processor, blitz the dates and almond milk until smooth, then on a medium heat, cook until thickened (it should coat the back of a wooden spoon). 
2. Remove the pan from the heat and then sift in your Raw Cacao powder and whist until well combined.
3. Sift the mixture into another small bowl then leave to cool completely.

 Now-you can either spread the entire top of the set cheesecake with this OR Make it look pretty, here’s what I like to do:-

1. Take a piece of baking parchment (NOT greaseproof) and draw around the base of your cheesecake tin, then cut out half the circle and place directly onto the top of your set cheesecake. 
2. Spread the frosting evenly over the uncovered half making sure it’s well coated; then return back to the fridge for another hour to set. 
3. Carefully remove the greaseproof away to reveal a crisp straight edge. Now you’re ready to decorate if you so wish.

 For the Truffles

These truffles are AMAZING, packed full of flavour and believe it or not, are nutritious and far healthier than your average chocolate truffle-no joke!

1. Simply pop all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until the mixture forms a ball. Then divide into various size pieces and roll into balls.
2. Place your coatings onto separate tea plates and roll each truffle into your choice of coating; I chose a couple of each but it depends on the size of the truffles you have decided on and the look you want to achieve.
3. Finally, Arrange your truffles on top of the set cheesecake in whatever way you desire.

Finishing touches

For this particular cheesecake, I like to decorate with a good sprinkling of finally chopped pistachio nuts and drizzle of melted plain chocolate; as well as dried orange slices over the top, to do this I simply slice half the orange I had left from the construction of the main cheesecake-about 3mm thick and then bake in the bottom of the oven for 30 minutes OR until dried out. Be sure to check on them regularly, you don't want them to burn.

Dramatic. Beautiful. Simple!

Serving Suggestions

Delicious with soya ice-cream, cashew cream and orange slices OR just on it’s own with a cuppa.

Whatever you decide this certainly is a crowd pleaser and the perfect end to a scrumptious meal.

NOTE: This cheesecake will last for 4 days in the fridge, unless someone decides to pinch it all before hand of course!

Phew! I hope this all makes sense. I would love to hear your results and perhaps some photos of your chocolate orange cheesecake spectacular!! if you have any questions OR need some advice, please do comment on this post, I'm always more than happy to help where I can!

Happy baking!

Spice Apple & Sultana Bundt Cake

Photography By Ctrlaltdelete Design Solutions (copyright 2016)

Spiced Apple & Sultana Bundt Cake

I absolutely love to bake; it’s one of the many pleasures in life that just allows me to zone out of well...the boring stuff; like adulting! I find that there is nothing more fun than exploring and conjuring up exciting flavour combinations to share with friends and family.

What with the holiday season practically around the corner, I thought ‘why not begin with something really moreish, comforting and oozing with festive flavours! This is a beautifully light sponge with a most texture, perfect as a pudding and also makes for the perfect accompany to a cheeky cup of tea-usually late morning for me.

What will I need?

Measuring scales

Measuring jug

Fork

1 x Large mixing bowl

1 x Small mixing bowl

Whisk

Sift

Large Metal Spoon

Peeler

Small Vegetable knife

Spatular (silicone is best)

Medium size non-stick Bundt cake tin (you can use a regular round OR sure cake tin if you don't have one of these to hand).

Ingredients

For the Cake

250 ml almond OR soya milk

1tsp Fresh lemon juice

80ml Vegetable Oil (or any other plain cooking oil)

100g Unrefined sugar (caster, granulated OR Soft)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (NOT Essence)

125g Wholemeal flour

125g plain unrefined white flour (or just regular plain flour)

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp Sea salt

1 large eating apple of your choice

50g sultanas

For the Topping

1 tbsp agave nectar

5 walnuts finely chopped

5 pistachios finely chooped

1.5 tsp ground almonds

½ tsp cinnamon

Method

For the cake

IMPORTANT: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (160 degree fan). It is essential your oven is at the right temperature for optimum rise, we don't want pancakes now do we!?

1. Pour the milk into the mixing jug, add the lemon juice, stir with a fork and let curdle for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile chop your apple into small cubes (roughly 5mm) and squeeze the juice of ¼ lemon over the apple and set aside until needed. Then in a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar until well combined.
3. Sift All your dry ingredients together in another separate bowl.
4. Gradually whisk your lemon milk mixture and flour in alternated additions to your sugar and oil mixture until just combined.
5. With a large metal spoon, fold in your apple and sultanas.
6. Carefully pour the apple cake batter into your bundt tin, using a spatular to scrape out as much mixture out as humanly possible. Let bake for approx. 35 mins OR until a sharp knife OR skewer comes out clean.
7. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack.

For the Topping

Simply finely chop the walnuts and pistachios in a small bowl with the agave nectar and spices, then drizzle over the top of the cooled cake, serve and enjoy!

Serving Suggestions

i'm a bit of a custard lass myself, so lashings of almond, soya OR my orange, almond and vanilla custard (recipe coming soon) are just perfect. Also delicious with soya cream OR Non-dairy ice-cream OR on it's own with a cuppa!

Cool Combos!

Cake

too add even more festive oomph, why not add the zest of one large orange and swap the sultanas for dried cranberries & walnuts and/or pecans!