Chocolate Mousse or Cheesecake special occasion desserts

Deb November 7, 2016

If you’ve seen my last few posts, you’ll have noticed I’ve been hanging out on Steemit a bit recently. This is a new blogging platform, where you have the potential for being paid for your posts. It’s still in Beta, so still in development, but the advantage of getting in early is that you can start to build your audience.

Mostly when I come across new recipes I like the look of, I pin them to Pinterest for you. But at this stage, Steemit posts can’t be pinned. So when I saw this the other day, I decided (with the author’s permission) to reblog it – or at least some info about it – here. This would be an amazing real food dessert to make for a special occasion. (I then also found a similar recipe elsewhere, more about that a bit further down.)

If you’re not able to have cocoa or cacao, substituting carob instead should work just fine on all recipes.

If you’re on GAPS, you will only be able to have this if you’re late stage and can have cocoa. You’ll need to substitute honey as your sweetener.

It’s a four layer German chocolate cheesecake recipe.

First of all here is a link to the original recipe, by a Steemit user called @gringalicious. This version is not gluten free, sugar free, Paleo or any of the things I recommend healthy food should be. But it does look amazing, so here’s a picture of it.

gringa-german-choc-cheesecake

Now let’s move quickly on to the version that is Paleo and vegan. It still has maple syrup in it, so it’s not an every day recipe, but remember it for Christmas, special birthdays, anniversaries.

This version is by a blogger called @rebeccaryan and she has made it pretty much all whole food.

To see the full recipe, complete with photos each step of the way, visit the post on Steemit.

But first, here are the ingredients, so you can have a preview of “suitability” before clicking through:

Crust:

  • 2 cups almonds
  • 10 Sayer pitted dates or 10 medium-sized dates of your choice
  • ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract.
  • 1/8 tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.

Cheesecake Filling:

  • 2 ½ cups cashews
  • 2 ¼ cups coconut milk.
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • ¾ cup of Cacao powder.
  • ¾ cup of coconut butter or coconut oil.
  • 3 tbsp of sunflower lecithin.
  • 1/8 tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.

Frosting Layer:

  • 2 ripe avocados.
  • ½ cup of maple syrup.
  • ½ cup of Cacao powder.
  • 2 tbsp of coconut oil.
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.
  • 1/4 tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.

Top Layer:

  • ½ cup of pure creamed coconut.
  • ½ cup of maple syrup.
  • 1 cup pecans coarsely ground or roughly chopped.
  • 1 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut.
  • 20 Sayer dates
  • ¼ cup date water, left over from soaking the dates.
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract.
  • ½ tsp of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt.
  • 4 pecans left whole, to decorate the top of the cake.

Here is a picture of the completed cake, plus a slice so you can see the middle.

rebecca-choc-mousse-1

rebecca-choc-mousse-2

Here’s the link to the recipe again.

Now to a completely different website, with a similar looking but easier to make dessert.

This recipe is from a NZ website Food Compass that sells cassava and banana flours. These look like great new alternative GF flours, so check out their other recipes while you’re there.

Here’s the link to their Paleo friendly Cacao & Strawberry Tart.

You can see from the picture below that the inside looks quite similar to Rebecca’s recipe above, but the some of the ingredients are a bit different. For example, coconut nectar instead of maple syrup and not as much of it. Though the main difference is less layers, so a bit easier to make.

Base:

  • 1 cup Dates
  • 1 1⁄2 cups of Nuts (almonds, walnuts, or even a blend)
  • 1⁄2 cup of Desiccated Coconut + additional 1/3 cup for lining base
  • 2 Tbsp Cacao Powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1⁄3 cup Cacao Butter

Next layer:

  • Strawberries (about 2 punnets)

Mousse:

  • 2 1⁄2 cups raw cashews
  • 1 270mL can of Coconut Cream
  • 5 Tbsp Cacao Powder
  • 3 Tbsp Coconut Nectar
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • pinch of salt

foodcompass-choc-tart

Here’s the link again.

Now that you’ve sussed out both ingredient lists and chosen the one that looks more like you, make sure you save the link to come back to next time you need something special.

Of course, you might have decided to compare them side by side and make your own slightly different again variation,. I do that all the time with recipes – doesn’t everybody?

I’m not putting both recipes here in full, for two reasons:

  • I want you to go give some love to the recipe creators
  • This post is getting too long anyway.

Whatever your choice, enjoy!