mint-chip cheesecake!

so today i made the mint-chip cheesecake out of sweet gratitude, page 100. think mint cacao chip ice cream by cashew creamery as a cheesecake!

 i prepared last night by soaking the cashews and making the almond/cacao/coconut crust so this morning was easy!

ew, the mint and cashews don't look so pretty in the blender.... yet...

there's the crust! YAH!

 ooh and the warm from blending (oops) mint cheesecake! 

 and the chocolate blend for the swirl... my first attempt at a swirl!

 so fun!!!

 probably still could've saved less of the cake mix (and i saved less than the recipe asked to!) for the chocolate swirl but oh well! last time i saved the 2 cups the recipe asked for and it was way too much!

 now here is the best part... after having it in the freezer a few hours, i pat cacao nibs on the sides and top and add some mint leaves and it looks like a real dessert, doesn't it?

just in case you didn't see the first photo... ^_^ 

 oh, you want a view as if you're me, looking down on the cake, ready to cut it?

and here we go! 

 it gets soft so fast! i like it right out of the freezer! ah, and a note for next time with the swirling... i will pour heavier right away so that some of the swirl goes deeper into the cake! 

mmmm... cheesecakes are getting so easy to make! i'm so excited! 

lemon poppyseed cake!

it appears i never posted about this! back in june!!! this (though i'm curious about this as well!) was the first cake i ever made, from sweet gratitude, page 54, after alexia recommended it to me.

it took me FOREVER since i didn't really prepare in advance with ingredients so i spent most of my saturday making almond milk! what a process!

...and mashing medjools into a date paste. gah. i've since started getting hunza dates from organic lives as they are pitted already and i just chop them finely until they become more of a paste.

 ha. look at all this almond milk i ended up with! i needed 8 cups of almond flour for the recipe but only 1.5 cups of milk. i was giving this milk away as i didn't want to waste any! i now know to make almond milk (and flour) in advance so i can freeze the flour and drink the milk as i would normally. sigh.

 now after painstakingly trying to mix the almond flour with the dates with no mixer or large processor (the vitamix was no good at mixing the 'dough')...  the lemon frosting... yum! the vitamix is an icing's dream!

 first layer of the cake... frosting needed to set before i could put on the top layer!

 and it's done! i need to start doing more cakes so i have more practice at icing! yikes! (see the heart i made out of desperation?)

 that looks like 'real' frosting, does it not?

 and now the most important part... testing it!!!

 i couldn't get over the cakey texture...

 and oh, how it quickly disappeared! it had most excellent reviews, just sayin ^_^ well worth the effort!

goji chocolate cheesecake!

on monday night, sarah came over to help me make a goji chocolate cheesecake (from sweet gratitude, page 106 though the recipe appears to be right here!)

sarah processed the nuts and dates for the crust!

 i blended goji berries and cashews and other fun things for the filling!

 isn't it beautiful?

 yes!

 i liked sarah's crust pressing technique!

 first part of the cheesecake... i remember worrying that there wouldn't be enough leftover to mix chocolate in for the swirl...

 and there ended up being like half the cheesecake in the blender... somehow more than the 2 cups i was supposed to need.

so it became a layered cheesecake rather than one with a swirl! so i'll have to try out the swirl next time! 

 i LOVE the texture and crazy taste. i have to limit how much i eat of it though because it's a real caffeine boost or SOMETHING. i'm wired after eating it! and of course it made its debut last night (a bit later than i expected! i was up so late afterwards!!!) after me, sarah, renee and kasha saw a cute (but a lil' long) thai rom/com called hello stranger. it's set in seoul which was fun like watching something filmed in vancouver. i love looking for familiar sights!

speaking of korean things (?), i found organic vegan kimchi at the farmers market at main station this afternoon! so awesome!!! i should get looking at ani phyo's korean-inspired recipes...