Preparation Time: 1.5 hours

Total Time: 4-4.5 hours (preparation required the day before serving)

INGREDIENTS

Base, adapted from Special Delivery

• 250 g raw almonds/walnuts/hazelnuts
• 100 g soft dried figs
• 100 g fresh dates (about 7 whole dates)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger

Cheesecake Filling

• 750 g raw cashew nuts
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 4 x 270 mL tins coconut cream, totalling 800 g solid cream scraped from tins
• 170 g tinned or fresh passionfruit pulp

Mango and Passionfruit Topping

• 2 whole mangos (Kensington Pride are my favourite)
• 170 g tinned or fresh passionfruit pulp

METHOD

Base

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F fan-forced. Toast the nuts on a lined baking tray for 5 minutes, until lightly golden and aromatic.
2. Grease and line a 26 cm/10 inch spring form cake tin. Remove the stalks from the figs, and the pits from the dates. Combine all ingredients in a food processor until everything comes together into a sticky ball or two. I like some crunch in my base, but blitz your ingredients as roughly or finely as you like.
3. Press the ingredients evenly into the base of the tin, and use a spoon to firmly smooth the surface.
4. Freeze for half an hour while you make the cheesecake filling.

Cheesecake Filling

1. Place the cashew nuts in a large pot, and cover completely with lots of cold water. Leave to soak overnight. Place the cans of coconut cream right-side-up in the fridge, and leave overnight without shifting or bumping them at all.
2. Drain the cashew nuts and discard the water. Place the nuts and the coconut oil in a medium mixing bowl, and use a stick blender to blitz the ingredients to a very smooth paste. This may take a while, so be patient; a smooth texture is well worth the effort! If you don’t have a stick blender, you can blitz the nuts and oil in batches using your food processor.
3. Once the nuts are smooth, add the maple syrup and vanilla. Blitz again to combine.
4. Gently open the cans of coconut cream, and use a spoon to scoop the solidified cream from the surface. In the bowl of an electric mixture, whip the cream for 5 minutes until soft peaks form.
5. Pour half the whipped cream and 170mL of remaining liquid from the cans into the nut mixture, and blitz once more to combine. Add the rest of the whipped cream and the passionfruit pulp all at once, and use a rubber spatula to gently but evenly fold it through the nut mixture.
6. Pour the cheesecake filling into the tin, smooth the surface, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Freeze for at least 2 hours while you prepare the fruit topping.

Mango and Passionfruit Topping

1. Peel the mangos, and blitz the flesh in a food processor until smooth. Pour the mango puree over the cheesecake, smooth the surface, cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze again. Store the cheesecake in the freezer.

To Serve

1. The cheesecake is best served when the filling has a thick, slightly frozen, mousse-like texture; similar to softened ice cream. Use a sharp knife run under hot water to help you slice it.
   • If you have made the cheesecake in advance, remove it from the freezer 1.5-2 hours prior to serving. Gently remove the cheesecake from the springform tin, and drizzle with passionfruit pulp.
   • If you are going to serve the cheesecake soon after preparing it, just freeze the cheesecake filling for 2 hours, add the mango puree, freeze for another 20 minutes, drizzle with passionfruit and serve!
   • If there are leftovers, slice the remaining cheesecake before covering it in plastic wrap and re-freezing it. That way, you will be able to remove individual slices from the freezer without having to thaw out the whole thing just to cut off that little piece you’re craving…

Store the cheesecake in the freezer, covered tightly with plastic wrap, for up to 2 weeks . Just leave it out of the freezer for 1.5-2 hours before serving.