Berry & Chocolate Cheesecake

I've been promising a few different people for ages that I'd post a recipe for grain & sugar free cheesecake. A few weeks ago, I made one... and yeah, it was nice....but... I wasn't happy with the base... a crunchy, nutty base was the obvious option but I didn't feel like it tasted like a traditional cheesecake... I forgot about it for a while, until I couldn't sleep on Thursday night. I realised there was no reason not to have a biscuit base, and so I got to work at midnight! Can you say OCD?!!!

For the biscuit base:

• 50g butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp raw Irish honey
• 1 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 200g almond flour
• 50g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 160d (fan).

Add cooled, melted butter to egg, honey and vanilla. Mix well.

Stir in remaining dry ingredients to form a stiff dough.

Press dough into the base of a 7" springform/loose base cake tin.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 140d and bake for a further 10 minutes. This allows the base to continue baking slowly, prevents burning & helps give a crispy base for the cheesecake.

Once baked, set aside to cool.


For the cheesecake filling:

• 250g mascarpone 
• 250g Greek yoghurt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g berries (I used strawberries & raspberries)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (this helps the cheesecake to set)

Start by slicing the berries, and microwaving for 30 seconds at a time until softened.

Mash well into a purée. (If you're not a fan of the raspberry seeds, you can press the purée through a sieve).  

Melt 1 tbsp of coconut oil & add to purée. Set aside to cool. 

Beat the mascarpone until smooth.

Fold in the Greek yoghurt and vanilla until light and smooth.

Next stir in the berry purée and coconut oil mixture until well combined.

Spoon onto the cooled biscuit base.

For the chocolate swirl:

• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 

Melt all the ingredients together in a heatproof bowl. Stir well to break up and lumps and give you a a glossy chocolate sauce.

Set aside to cool. 

Drizzle over the cheesecake and swirl through the filling.

Allow to chill for at least 3 hours or overnight before removing from the tin & serving.

It's not like me not to have lots of photos of the finished product...BUT on this occasion, there's good reason... Lately I've been thinking about the importance of being nice to people... If you were hit by a bus tomorrow, would you want people to remember all the nice things you did and said? Would you want them to remember that you were a kind person? 

So... I couldn't sleep on Thursday night, wanted to make something & settled for cheesecake. I decided to give the cheesecake away, no questions asked, to someone who follows GLBTK on Facebook... Why??? A few reasons really... mainly cos I can't eat everything I bake!! Secondly, it's nice be nice.... and finally, without people interacting on the page and getting into the kitchen and using my recipes, the blog wouldn't be achieving what I'm aiming for... I want people to realise that cooking good food is really simple, and tastes far superior to processed alternatives....

So... get cooking and interacting... You'll find me here, on Facebook & Twitter... Feel free to message me, or make requests for foods that you'd like to see made healthier! I'll do my best :)