Raw Layered Cashew Cheesecake

A few months ago I decided to do the Whole 30. But really, I decided to do a Whole 5. If you don�t know about Whole 30, the gist is that it�s a 30-day elimination diet, wherein you don�t eat things that cause inflammation, including dairy, grains, legumes, processed sugar and maybe a few other things. Then at the end of the 30 days, you�re supposed to slowly add back in those items, which should help you find out if you have particular sensitivities. They can�t stress enough the importance of doing the entire 30 days, and they basically say you shouldn�t even bother doing just one week, because that�s not enough time for the toxins or whatever to leave your body.


So all that being said, I decided to try it for 5 days. I wasn�t actually going for inflammation reduction or anything like that, I just wanted a short week-long reset. Forced focus on eating whole foods and vegetables. I sort of hated it, for a few reasons, including weird indigestion issues.

I did, however, see one major benefit, even after only a few days: the puffiness under my eyes completely went away! I feel vulnerable talking about this, because it�s truly my biggest insecurity. I�m not talking like, minor didn�t sleep well puffiness that I see people complain about. My situation is different. I�ve always had it, that puffiness that looks like I knocked back one too many the night before or like I�m 20 years older than I am. Circles that I edit out of photos of myself. Circles that mean I will never take a �no makeup selfie.� It doesn�t matter how much water I drink or how tired I am or whether or not I�m hung over or took a Claritin. I�ve spent hundreds, probably thousands, of dollars on under-eye creams and gels and masks and concealers, to no avail� since my teens and early 20s. I�ve pretty much chalked it up to genetics (which by the way, I�ve done tons of research on� and it�s very real. PSA: please don�t just assume people are tired or sick if they have under-eye bags or circles or darkness or puffiness, because genetics could be a major reason� definitely don�t ask if they�re tired or sick. Ugh. Can't even tell you how many times...). I still think part of my problem is genetics / it�s not a problem, it�s literally just my face� but since my Whole 5 experiment  I�m hopeful I can reduce a bit of puffiness through diet. (�There�s nuttin� the mattuh with my face, I got character!� Name that movie. It�s one of my all-time favorites).

So since that little Whole 5 win, I�ve been looking into what food sensitivities can cause this, and a big one that came up is dairy. Obviously just going in and getting an allergy test would be the quickest, easiest solution, but instead I decided to try a series of ill-planned elimination diets. Ill-planned because A: I�m not doing it right� you�re supposed to cut everything out and then add it back in? I think? IDK, I�m the girl who did Whole 5. B: the same week I decided to take a dairy break, I ordered 4 pints of Jeni�s ice cream because FLASH SALE, so now that�s tempting me. Fortunately/unfortunately, I don�t think my problem is dairy. I�ve been off for a couple weeks and have noticed zero changes since cutting the cheese (ah! Haha. Ha.), and I noticed in just 3 days before. So, back to the drawing board / maybe I should just go get tested (is it sugar? Legumes? Is it gluten� please don�t say it�s gluten. If you know anything about this particular issue, let me know!!).

But, the actual point of this post is that while off dairy, I made a raw, cashew-based cheesecake-like situation. I don�t even really care about cheesecake that much. I would even venture to guess that I sometimes go multiple years between bites of cheesecake. But suddenly my dairy elimination had me craving creamy treats. So I combined two recipes that I�ve drooled over since I first saw them: the almost raw caramel slice from Oh Lady Cakes, and the cashew dream cake from My New Roots. So, we have a chewy nut-date crust, a tangy vanilla �cheesecake� layer, a light coconutty date-caramel layer, and some chocolate sauce.

Raw Layered Cashew "Cheesecake"

I wasn't planning on blogging this recipe, and I only took one pic, with my phone, but it was so easy to make and delish that I want to share. I won�t repost their full recipes here, because you can and should go to their sites for the clues. But here�s what I did, and I highly recommend you do the same, because this dessert is so, so good, whether or not you eat dairy.

Crust: I followed My New Roots recipe for the nut-date crust, but used a combo of pistachios and walnuts. I would even recommend adding a pinch of cinnamon for a baklava-type flavor. I�m not sure how she filled up a 7-inch springform, because for me, this was the perfect amount for a tiny 4.5x4.5 ish casserole dish (with deep-ish sides). I lined the dish with parchment paper (because I was fresh out of plastic wrap) so that I could pop the whole cake out when it was ready. Worked like a charm.

Filling: I soaked 1.5 cups of cashews (overnight). Then I used half of them in each layer.

For the vanilla cheesecake layer, I just halved the rest of the ingredients (so, you�ll be blending up � cup soaked cashews, juice of 1 lemon, � teaspoon vanilla, and 2 tbsp + 2 tsp of both melted coconut oil and honey). I scooped this filling onto the crust.

For the date caramel layer, I followed the instructions, with these exceptions: I used full-fat coconut milk instead of almond milk, and I used half the amount of dates. Not sure if my dates were bigger or not, but dates, while au-natural, still have a ton of sugar, and that seemed excessive to me (also, I didn�t even have that many dates), and it turned out perfect, so use your own judgement there. More dates might have made the consistency a bit firmer, but after a night in the freezer, it made no difference to me. I poured this layer (which was a bit runnier than the first) on top of the cheesecake layer. Then I covered the whole thing, and froze overnight.

For the chocolate drizzle, I followed the instructions in the Oh Lady Cakes recipe, but used super-dark cocoa powder, and also added a smidge of nut butter for funzies. I poured it on right when I pulled the cake out of the freezer, and because of the coconut oil, it hardened up to a nice little solid shell. I topped it with coconut flakes, let it sit for a few minutes and room temp, and then devoured slice by slice.