If you love chocolate and cherries together, this cake is for you! A layer of chewy cherry-chocolatey crust, a layer of creamy cherry cheesecake with cherry bits, and a layer of creamy chocolate. Weekend made!
Well actually, birthday made is more like it. This past weekend I was asked last minute to bring a birthday cake to a party. Thankfully I had some cherries and cocoa on hand, and the usual ingredients for a raw cheesecake (because those are always a must to have on hand around here!), and so this cake happened.
It turned out delish, but what else can be expected from cherries + chocolate + raw cheesecake, right?
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Ingredients
Base:
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 4 soft medjool dates, pitted
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- optional: ¼ cup dried cherries
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Cherry Filling:
- 1½ cups raw cashews, pre-soaked and strained*
- 1¼ cups fresh cherries, pitted**
- 7 tbsp maple syrup (or raw sweetener of your choice)
- 7 tbsp coconut oil***
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp raw ground vanilla bean (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
- ½ cup more fresh pitted cherries
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Chocolate Filling:
- a third of the cherry filling
- 5 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, liquefied
- ¼ tsp raw ground vanilla bean
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions
- Process all base ingredients in a food processor to combine into a fine sticky crumble. Transfer to a 6″ springform pan and shape into a flat crust along the base. Freeze while working on next step.
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temp before getting started. Blend all cherry filling layer ingredients, except the ½ cup additional cherries, in a power blender until completely smooth. Remove a few tbsp of this batter for swirls and set aside on the counter (I used this cake icing pen tool and just filled it up with the mixture).
- Add in the remaining cherries and pulse a few times to incorporate them into the filling and chop them up slightly (you don’t want to blend them too much as otherwise they’ll blend into the filling). Transfer ⅔ of this mixture into the prepared pan with the crust (leave the remaining ⅓ in the blender). Smooth out the top and tap the pan on the counter a few times. Then freeze for 15 mins.
- Add chocolate layer ingredients to the remaining cherry mixture in blender and process until smooth. Carefully spoon this mixture evenly over the cherry layer. Tap the pan on the counter to even the layers out a little. Then use the reserved cherry mixture (see step 2) to create swirls on top of the cake (I added some lines across the cake and encircled the edges with the remaining mixture, then used a tooth pick to swirl some patterns).
- Freeze for 5-6 hours or overnight. Enjoy! Keep the cake frozen until serving time and freeze leftovers.****
