An ode to beets in unlikely places. Have you every been in an unlikely place and witnessed something beautiful and amazing? This cheeze cake is kind of like that. Raw beets in a dessert. Crazy, right? Nope, actually quite delicious!

Earlier I had mentioned ways of sneaking beets into Jeremy’s diet and this is one of them. He hated red beets because of some bizarre aversion to pickled red eggs and beets. Okay, so that is completely justified.

I wanted to make this cheeze cake for two reasons 1) How pretty is a pink cake without food coloring? and 2) I wanted a dessert for 1 or 2 people that wouldn’t last more than 2 days. I love desserts but even if they are amazing I’m ready to be onto the next thing. I think its the cook in me always wanting to create the next new yum!

I’m going to show step by step pics because this really is a super easy recipe and a DIY project in one! The DIY comes into play because even though my love of kitchen gadgets is endless, I do not possess a mini spring form pan. So J had the great idea to use the top of our cottage cheese container.

DIY Cheeze Cake Mold

      
  1. Grab a round plastic container that has a 4-5” diameter and cut off the top 1 ½” of the container using a box cutter, scissors, or knife (carefully).
  2. Presto chango, you’re done! Use the rest of the container to store Larabars or recycle. Yum!

 

  

   

   

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Mini Raw Beet Cheeze Cakes for Two

Ingredients

    The Crust
  • ½ cup raw walnuts
  • ½ cup dates, pitted
  • dash of sea salt
  • dash of cinnamon
    • The Beet Cheeze
  • 1 cup raw cashews, soaked 1 hour in water then drained
  • 1/2 cup raw beet, peeled and quartered
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil, warmed so its liquid*
  • 1/4 cup packed pitted dates
  • 2 tablespoons raw agave syrup
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice (juice from 1 lemon)
  • 1/4 cup water as needed

Instructions

    The Crust
  1. Place walnuts in a food processor fitted with the s-blade and process until they resemble fine crumbs.
  2. Add dates, sea salt, and cinnamon and pulse until incorporated.
  3. Because all fresh ingredients vary, to know your crust is perfect, you should be able to pinch it between your fingers and it stays together (see middle picture above).
  4. Divide the mixture over 2 tea saucer sized dishes and press into plate, creating a crust.
  5. Set aside
  6. No need to rinse the processor, we’re moving onto the beet cheeze next!
    7. The Beet Cheeze
  7. Place drained cashews, beets, coconut oil, dates, agave, salt and lemon juice into the food processor, fitted with the s-blade. Process until smooth, adding water as needed – the sides may need to be scraped down from time to time.
    8. Putting it together
  8. Grab your crusts and place your DIY mold on top and divide the beet cheeze mixture between your two crusts. I used a small offset spatula to smooth down the top of the surface. Place in fridge for 1-2 hours to set or freezer for hour or less, to set.
  9. When you remove the set cheeze cake in the mold, just gently pry the plastic from the sides of the cheeze. I started to use a knife but it wasn’t necessary, it slipped off very easily. Yay!

Notes

**update 9/26/2011** In case you don’t have coconut oil, just learned a friend used Earth Balance + 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and it was great!

http://feedyourskull.com/2011/09/22/mini-raw-beet-cheeze-cakes-for-two/

I’ll be honest, the 2nd cheeze cake I just made into a sorta round-ish shape (see last pic above) and it held well. If you have 2 molds use ‘em. If not – do what strikes your fancy!

What’s your favorite DIY project? Mine is my homemade mouse pad.