Raw Chai, Chocolate and Strawberry Marbled Vegan Cheeze Cake

Raw Chai and Chocolate and Strawberry Marbled Vegan Cheeze Cake

Oh, boy oh boy is this a great treat! If you like chai and dark chocolate, then baby! This dessert will rock your socks! There are alot of steps to this recipe, so make sure you give yourself a couple hours to play in the kitchen with some nice music and a peaceful space to be.

This is from my favorite raw dessert book in the whole wide universe, "Sweet Gratitude". I was desiring strawberries at the time so I expanded this recipe to include the strawberries so it is not exactly the same but my own interpretation. You could also use raspberries instead of strawberries. Remember to soak the cashews overnight the night before and start early in the day so the dessert will be firm and set by early evening. This dessert is a really rich and intense blend of flavors. and goes a long way. Make the slices small.
Serves 18

Chocolate-Pecan crust
1 3/4 cups pecans
3 oz. cacao powder
4 1/2 oz date paste (gently mashed up pitted majool dates, add a drop or two of water if dates are too dry, but not too much!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon powdered red pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Process all ingredients in a food processor. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Place in freezer and chill.

Filling Base:
3 cups soaked cashews
1 3/4 cup almond milk
3/4 cup agave syrup
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons organic and non-gmo soy lecithin granules
1 cup organic coconut oil, melted to 90 degrees in a double boiler or set the jar into a pan of hot water an hour before you start making the crust (it will liquify)
2 tablespoon vanilla

Place cashews, almond milk, agave, vanilla and salt into the blender and blend on high speed until creamy. Now add the soy lecithin and melted coconut oil. Keep 1 cup of the filling in the blender jar and scrape the rest into a 4 cup liquid measure bowl. This will be divided up to make the strawberry filling, chai filling and chocolate filling. The chocolate filling will be the most dense and may need a bit more almond milk to bring its constancy to the same as the strawberry and chai fillings. In order to marble the the three fillings successfully you will need to check the fillings to see that they are similar in density. That is why you do the dark chocolate filling last and adjust with adding almond milk in increments by the tablespoon.


Strawberry Filling:
Add to the 1 cup of filling in the blender jar: 10 fresh or frozen organic medium sized strawberries (to make 1 1/2 cup) and 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice. Blend until creamy. Scrape into a small bowl or liquid measure cup. Clean and dry the blender jar.

Chai filling:
1/4 cup very strong chai tea (4 chai tea bags soaked in 1/3 cup hot water for 15 minutes, Squeeze liquid out of tea bags and then measure out 1/4 cup liquid)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
Add 1/2 of the reserved base filling to the blender jar with the chai ingredients and blend until creamy. Scrape into a separate bowl or liquid measure cup. Clean and dry the blender jar.

Chocolate Filling:
3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
1 cup melted organic dark chocolate (at least 72 % dark) melted on low heat in a double boiler pan.
1/8 cup almond milk (add by the tablespoonful to adjust the density to match the strawberry and chai fillings)
Add the remaining base filling into the blender jar with the cacao powder and melted dark chocolate. Blend until creamy. You will then add the almond milk by the tablespoonful to adjust the thickness to that of the other fillings.

Take crust out of freezer. Pour all of the main chai filling into the springform pan. Carefully pour 3/4 of the 1 cup of the chocolate chai mix in heavy stripes across the chai filling. Now carefully pour 3/4s of the 1 cup of the strawberry chai mix in heavy stripes across the filling. Then drizzel the remainder of both cups in gently and lightly on top in thin stripes. Take a chop stick and draw carefully cross wise through the stripes to create your own marbled effect. Set into the freezer and let set for at least 2 hours. Remove from freezer and let set for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting with a long sharp knife into wedges. Store in freezer any leftovers.

Garnish with fresh strawberries!

If you have leftovers, just wrap each slice individually in plastic wrap and freeze.
My friend and roommate "lent me" the champagne! It looked so lovely in the photo shoot. Then I used a funnel to pour it back. Hic!