Royal Walnut Cheesecake

Note: The cheesecake, beet lace, and orange flower candy require preparation 1 day ahead of assembly due to dehydration time and refrigeration time for the cheesecake to set up.

Crust Ingredients:
1 cup soaked and dehydrated walnuts
¼ tsp. pink Himalayan salt
4 tbsp. organic maple syrup
¼ tsp. organic vanilla powder
¼ tsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp. melted raw coconut butter
¼ cup melted coconut oil

Directions:
Take a Breville food processor and place the walnuts into it (any food processor will do). Pulse the walnuts into small pieces. Make sure you don’t over pulse them into powder. Add salt, maple syrup, vanilla powder, lemon juice, coconut butter, and coconut oil to the walnuts. Pulse until mixed, being careful not to over mix and break the nuts down too far. Take a 7” X 3” cake pan with a removable bottom. Coat the inside with coconut oil. Remove the crust mixture from the Breville and place it into the pan. Use a flat food press to press it down evenly into the pan. Make sure there is no remaining crust along the side of the pan. If you need to wipe down the sides, coat your finger in coconut oil after doing so. Cover the pan with saran wrap or foil and place it in the refrigerator.

Walnut Filling Ingredients:
1 cup organic soaked and dehydrated walnut butter
2 cups soaked and dehydrated walnuts (re soak for 1 hour)
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 can 13.66oz. Thai coconut milk
¼ tsp. pink Himalayan salt
½ cup organic maple syrup
¼ tsp. organic vanilla powder
½ tbsp. grated ginger (microplane grater)
½ tbsp. orange zest (microplane grater)
15 drops organic orange medicine flower extract
1 cup organic melted coconut oil
2 tbsp. organic sunflower lecithin

Directions:
Drain and rinse the walnut pieces. Place the walnut butter, walnuts, orange juice, coconut milk, salt, maple syrup, vanilla powder, ginger, orange zest, and orange extract into a Vitamix. Blend until creamy smooth. Test with your fingers to make sure there is no grittiness. Slowly add the coconut oil with the Vitamix on low. Use the tamper while you are mixing to make sure it is evenly mixed in. Then add the lecithin and evenly distribute that. Make sure not to over blend the lecithin. Remove the cake pan from the refrigerator. Place the mixture into the cake pan. Tap the pan on the counter to remove any air bubbles that might be in the filling. Wait a minute to see if any more air bubbles appear. If so repeat the procedure until they are all gone. Place the remaining filling into an airtight container. Cover the cake pan back up and place it into the refrigerator along with the airtight container. Leave both to set overnight in the refrigerator.

Beet Lace Ingredients:
4 large beets (Trader Joe’s Baby Beets, steamed and peeled)
¼ cup organic maple syrup
¼ tsp. pink Himalayan salt
½ tbsp. grated ginger (microplane grater)
2 tbsp. fresh orange juice
½ tbsp. grated orange zest (microplane grater)
¼ tsp. organic cinnamon powder

Directions:
Take a hand held Spiralife spiral slicer. Slice 3 of the beets with the straight fan blade and place them into a large mixing bowl. Slice the remaining beet with the spaghetti blade and place that one into the same bowl. Take a regular flatware knife and chop the beet slices into small pieces inside the bowl. Drain the bowl of excess juice. Place the remaining ingredients into the bowl and gently hand mix them in with a spoon. Take a dehydrator tray with a teflex sheet. Place the beets onto the tray evenly and joined together. This will create your lace. Refer to the photo. Place the dehydrator tray into the dehydrator at 115 degrees for 13 hours. Remove the beets from the dehydrator and flip the lace over onto another tray with a teflex sheet. Make sure to gently peel the lace off of the first teflex sheet from one end. Do not break it apart. Cover the lace with foil and set aside.

Orange Flower Candy Ingredients:
5 medium sized navel oranges
¼ tsp. pink Himalayan salt
¼ cup organic maple syrup
½ tbsp. grated ginger (microplane grater)
½ tbsp. orange zest (microplane grater)

Directions:
Juice one of the oranges and place the juice into a mixing bowl. Take the remaining 4 oranges, peel them and cut them into to small cubes. Remove all of the white rind away so that none is visible. Add the chopped cubes into the bowl with the juice. Add the salt, maple syrup, ginger, and the orange zest into the bowl. Gently mix together with a spatula. Take 2 dehydrator trays with teflex sheets and set them on the counter.

Directions:
Place 1 cup filtered water and 1 ½ tsp. agar powder into a pan. Turn on the heat to high and whisk constantly while heating. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Continue whisking during this procedure. It is done when it resembles heavy thick glue. Pour this agar into the bowl with the orange juice mix. Mix it with a spatula until evenly distributed. Pour half the mixture onto one of the dehydrator trays and the other half onto the other tray. Place the trays into the dehydrator at 115 degrees for 13 hours. Remove the trays from the dehydrator and flip them over onto another two trays with teflex sheets. Make sure to peel them off the first sheet gently by hand so that they don’t break. Place the trays back into the dehydrator for 2 more hours.

Orange Chocolate Ganache
Note: Make this recipe the day of assembly.

Ingredients:
1 cup organic raw cacao powder (Living Tree Community Foods)
¾ cup organic maple syrup
¼ tsp. pink Himalayan salt
½ tsp. organic vanilla powder (Living Tree Community Foods)
½ tsp. organic lemon juice
20 drops organic Orange Medicine Flower extract
½ cup organic melted coconut oil

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a Vitamix. Using a tamper,
Blend until creamy smooth. Set aside.

Assembly Supplies:
1 Russian pastry tip (refer to photo)
1 Wilton 1M tip
1 Wilton 2 tip
2 pastry bags
1 Wilton decorating triangle
1 cake turntable
1 cake lifting spatula
1 Wilton small angled icing spatula
1 short knife
1 decorative plate
1 pair of tweezers
1 rubber spatula

Assembly:
Zest one orange and place the zest into a bowl. Take the beet lace and gently tear it into 3 strips. The strips will measure approximately 3 inches thick. Set aside. The strips will be uneven and that is fine. Take the orange candy and rip a 2 inch piece off. Roll it up from the bottom and as you roll, fold the top over so that it looks like a flower at the top. Squeeze the bottom so it adheres. Tear the strips and pieces into non uniform shapes so that you have flowers of all different sizes. Refer to the photo if needed. Make 6 or 7 flowers from the orange candy. Go back over to the Vitamix and turn it on to remix the chocolate for a half of minute. Remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator. Also take the extra filling from the refrigerator. Open the cake pan half way and take a thin knife and run it all the way around the edge of the cake between the cake and the pan. Remove the side of the pan entirely. Take the cake lifting spatula and place it gently between the bottom of the pan and the crust. Place the cake onto the decorative plate in the center. Place the plate onto the cake turntable. Take the decorative triangle and use the small side. Horizontally score the side of the cheesecake from the bottom up all the way around. Go approximately 1/16th” thick. This will create a nice pattern for the sides of the cake. Refer to the photo. Fill the pastry bag with the 1M tip halfway with the remaining filling. Place the other 2 tips into pastry bags. Place the pastry bags into coffee mugs with the tips down. Fill the pastry bag with the Russian tip ¼ of the way full of chocolate ganache. This will naturally drip out of the tip on its own. Start one inch in from the outer top edge of the cheesecake. Squeeze the chocolate out until you reach the edge of the cake. Let it drip down the side of the cake and bring it back to the top and repeat the procedure until the cake is finished all the way around. Place the tip 2 inches away from the last swirl. Refer to the photo if needed. Take a strip of beet lace and wrap it around the side of the cheesecake about 2 inches down from the top. The chocolate will act like a glue to hold it onto the side of the cake. If the lace overlaps slightly just gently break it off. It should form a nice crown for the cheesecake. Refer to the photo if needed. Take the pastry bag with the filling in it and place one large floret in the center of the top of the cake. Place smaller florets all the way around the outside of that center one in a circle. Take an orange candy flower and place it into the center of the big one. Place orange florets into the center of the smaller ones. Fill the pastry bag with more of the filling. Place smaller florets in between the circle that you just completed to fill the gaps. Take the tweezers and place some orange zest in the center of each flower. Fill the orange candy flowers in the center as well as the flowers you created with the filling. Refer to the photo. Fill the pastry bag with the 2 tip ¼ full of chocolate ganache. Place small dots around the outside of the cheesecake decoratively on the plate. Take the tweezers and place a little orange zest in the center of each dot.

This cheesecake is best consumed right away. It can be refrigerated without the garnish and will last 3 to 5 days. The garnish will not refrigerate well so it is best left off and used right before serving. It does soften in the refrigerator and will not maintain the design well. If you choose not to use the garnish, just use your imagination when decorating with the beet lace and orange candy. I highly recommend not leaving the garnishes off because they add the flavor needed to make this a fabulous recipe.

When serving, it will be necessary to stabilize the garnish with one hand while cutting through it. Make sure to wipe the knife clean after cutting each slice. The candy is too difficult to cut through. Position the knife in between the orange flower candy while serving.

Note: This recipe is not 100% raw because of the agar and the peeled and steamed beet.