A good friend opened a brand new hotel in London Paddington recently, called The Pilgrm, and I wanted to make something extra special to mark the occasion.

THIS cake truly came out special beyond words. The flavours had it all- zesty, punchy, creamy, salty, sweet, vanillary, gooey caramelly, chocolatey, decadent, refreshing, nutty and fruity- and together they just worked.

The recipe below is actually for one large slim cheezecake with four layers or make a smaller taller one and pour the layers on top so they ooze over just like one of my stackable ones.

Cookie Base Layer

-Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse to combine. Turn it on to mix the ingredients until they become crumbly and sticky, but before they can turn to a paste.

-Transfer everything to a tin you plan on using.

-Use your fist to press the cake base into the tin. It needs to be nice and 

compact otherwise it will crumble when sliced. 

Cheezecake Layer

1/2 cup (110g) x Cacao butter, melted

1/4 cup x Lemon juice 

1/4 cup x Hot water 

1 cup x Dry cashews, then soaked overnight

130g x Rice malt syrup*

1 Tbsp (15ml) x vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp x Himalayan pink salt 

*The rice malt syrup which I buy contains fermented barley. Check out the ingredients in yours and avoid if gluten intolerant. You can use agave, coconut nectar or honey instead.

-Grate the cacao butter for easy melting over a double boiler. 

-Transfer all ingredients into a high powered blender. Make sure they are all at room temperature, I once used soaking cashews from my fridge but the melted cacao butter solidified all over them and made it impossible to blend.

-Pulse first, then blend to a cream using a tamper.

Raspberry Layer

2 cups x Raspberries

8 x Pitted dates, soaked overnight*

1 x heaped tbsp x Chia seeds

Optional: 1 tsp x Beetroot powder

Optional: 1/4 cup x Cacao butter, melted

Optional: 1/4 cup x Maple syrup

 

-Blend fresh raspberries with dates in a high powered blender, using an s-blade. 

(*Note if you’re pressed for time you can speed up the soaking process by pouring boiling water over the dates and leaving to soften for one hour).

-Add optional beet powder for that pop of colour and chia seeds, blend on low to combine and leave to set at room temperature for 1 hour.

-If the mixture is spreadable at this point, you may like to leave out the cacao butter and maple. Sometimes however the raspberries release too much liquid so need the cacao butter to help it set. In that case, add the butter and maple syrup, then blend on low to combine.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer

2 cups x Smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup x Cacao butter, melted

1/3 cup x Maple syrup

2 tbsp x Cacao powder

1/2 tsp x Himalayan pink salt 

Hot water

-Add all the ingredients to a food processor with approx 1/4 cup hot water and process for 2-4 minutes.

-If the mixture isn’t gooey smooth at this point, scrape down the sides back onto the blade, add another 1/4 cup hot water and process again.

-Keep scraping down the sides and adding hot water 1 tablespoon at a time till you get a smooth spreadable paste.

-The assembly will depend on what you decided to do. If it's simply layers of flavours in a large cake tin, then pour each layer in any order over the cookie base and spread.

-If you'd like to achieve the oozy frosting look of one of my pictured cakes, then set the cheezecake layer first (approx 6 hours in the fridge or 3 hours in freezer), take it out of the cake tin completely, then spoon one some raspberry jam, followed by peanut butter toffee.