Free-From But Still Delicious - Nakd Orange Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake

Time has been whizzing past recently - the result of a busy a job and a three year old with boundless energy, enthusiasm and ambition.

As a result I've been a little bit behind on the blog posting, and one of the things I've been meaning to post since mid October is these individual serving double chocolate orange cheesecakes. Or technically "cheese"cakes since they are dairy free, gluten free and vegan, so there's no real cheese in sight.

I developed this recipe for Natural Balance Foods who make the fantastic nakd bars that as a family we are possibly slightly addicted to. They are our default on-the-go snack food, and we are on the go a lot!

They're going to be posting one of my recipes in the Community section of the website every month, and once it is up, it will then appear here too with a few more photos and a little bit more chat - particularly if Mini-M has been helping in the kitchen. In fact, my second recipe is already up - for Fudgy Fruit Cake, so I've got some blog catching up to do.

I have to say that I was initially sceptical about the concept of a dairy free cheesecake, however I jumped in with both feet a while back, figuring I had nothing to lose and concocting the raspberry Anti-Cheesecake which was delicious, so I'm now well and truly a convert. As long as you find a nice mild vegan cream cheese you're onto a winner, and if you don't tell your dinner guests, they'll honestly never guess there's no Philly in sight.

So onto the recipe...

Double Chocolate Orange Cheesecakes (makes 4 individual servings)

For the base:

• 1 nakd Cocoa Orange bar
• 1 large allergen friendly ginger biscuit
• 1 tbsp skin on whole almonds
• 1 tsp rice syrup
• 1 tsp coconut oil

For the filling:

• 4 tbsp vegan cream cheese
• 1 tbsp orange marmalade
• Juice of 1/2 small orange
• 1 tbsp rice syrup

For the topping

• 4 squares dark chocolate
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 170C (160C for fan ovens).

Chop the nakd cocoa orange bar into pieces then blitz with a hand blender along with the biscuit and almonds into coarse crumbs. 

Add the syrup and coconut oil and heat the whole lot for 15 seconds in the microwave to soften the coconut oil, then mix well.

Press into the base of four mini flexible cake moulds.

Beat together all of the filling ingredients then divide between the four cases.

Place on a baking tray and cook for around 20 minutes. The filling will bubble, turn lightly golden and set.

Remove from the oven and cool.

Melt the chocolate and coconut oil together, then divide evenly between the four cases and spread out to evenly coat the top using the back of a spoon.

Chill for several hours in the fridge to allow the filling to finish setting.

Gently ease out of the cases and enjoy!

With a few tweaks here and there this could very easily also become a delicious chocolate raspberry and vanilla cheesecake: use a Cocoa Delight nakd bar instead of a Cocoa Orange bar, replace the marmalade with raspberry jam, and add a few drops of vanilla extract instead of the orange juice. In fact, just thinking about it is making my mouth water!

And if you want to see more of my cooking adventures, head to the nakd website where each month the team will upload one of my scrummy vegan-friendly recipes :-)