Little Raw Vegan Peach Raspberry Dream Cakes

I recently came across a quote...
"Life is like a camera, just focus on what's important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives,  and if things don't work out, just take another shot."
I find this to be so true, and lately I have been trying to focus on the positives.  Life is to short to spend dwelling on the past  failures and mistakes we have made.  Why not celebrate the successes?  I see far too many people who are miserable who could be happy if they only let go of the past, and stopped worrying.  I may day dream a lot, and act my shoe size instead of my age sometimes, but at least I am happy and having fun!  Being around the people I love, making fabulous desserts, going for a long run all by myself...these things bring me joy!

As far as the fabulous desserts go...I recently decided to make peach raspberry raw vegan cheesecake and it made me pretty happy.  I didn't just make one large one however, I decided that I needed to share the happiness and made four mini ones.  After all, who doesn't love cute little mini desserts?  Plus, I had just received the mini pans in the mail after waiting about a week for them to come and wanted to put them  to good use right away!

The filling was to sit atop a crunchy pecan crust.  I made my usual cashew base because it is so creamy and decadent nobody ever misses the dairy.  I blended half with peaches and half with raspberries to create two pastel beautifully colored fillings to swirl together, along with a raspberry puree!  They were adorable!  I was wondering why I didn't order these cute little pans sooner!  More importantly though, they were delicious, and just the type of dessert where I sit and enjoy, basking in the deliciousness and forgetting about all the negatives of the day.  Those I shared with enjoyed as well, and making other people happy makes me happy.

Little Raw Vegan Peach Raspberry Dream Cakes
Makes four 4 inch cakes

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 3/4 cup pecans
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 soft medjool dates, pitted and chopped

Filling:

• 2  3/4 cups raw cashews (preferably soaked overnight)
• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup plus 3 Tbsp raw coconut nectar or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp coconut oil (warmed to liquid)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract and seeds from half a vanilla bean (other half reserved for topping)
• 1 cup fresh organic peaches, diced
• 1 cup fresh organic raspberries

Raspberry Puree:

• 1/4 cup organic raspberries
• 1 Tbsp raw coconut nectar or maple syrup

Cream Topping:

• 1/2 cup raw cashew pieces (preferably soaked overnight)
• 1/2 cup coconut water
• 3/4 cup fresh young coconut meat* (or additional soaked cashews if not available)
• 2 tablespoons raw coconut nectar or maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla and seeds of half a vanilla bean (the other half of the one you used for the filling)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil (warmed to liquid)

Sliced organic peaches for garnish

Directions:

1. Lightly coat four 4 inch spring form removable bottom pans with coconut oil.
2. To prepare the crust, process pecans and sea salt in a food processor until the pecans are fine crumbs, then add the dates and process until the mixture holds together when squeezed between your fingers. Firmly press crust into the bottoms of  the prepared pans. Set aside.
3. To make filling, drain cashews and combine them with coconut water, lemon juice, agave nectar, coconut oil, sea salt and vanilla in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Remove the filling from the food processor, and divide evenly between 2 bowls. Place half back into the food processor and add peaches. Puree until smooth and scrape back in the bowl. Add the other half of the filling to the food processor and add 1 cup raspberries, and puree until smooth.
4. For the raspberry puree, using an immersion blender (or you can rinse out the food processor) combine the 1/4 cup berries and 1 Tbsp agave nectar and puree until smooth.
5. To assemble the cheesecake, drop the filling alternating between the peach and raspberry in about 1 tbspful amounts over crusts in pans, until all is used up, sort of in a checkerboard fashion. Tap on the counter to level (keeping pan level). Drop some of the puree in half teaspoonful amounts over the top of the cakes (reserving some for serving) and swirl with a knife to create marbling. Place in the freezer or fridge until it is set, 4 hours or overnight (overnight in the fridge, but the freezer might get too hard after a few hours).

To make topping, drain cashews and blend all ingredients until smooth in a food processor, and set in the freezer about 30 minutes until a frosting consistency. Place in a pastry bag and pipe decoratively around the bottom of the cheesecake.  Garnish with peach slices.