A raw cheesecake bursting with Fall flavor!
Free of dairy and refined sugars, this version is lighter than traditional cheesecake, but every bit as satisfying.
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Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake
Fills one 4″ springform pan, plus a little extra for taste-testing
Adapted from my Classic Raw Cheesecake
Ingredients:
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashew butter
1/2 cup carrot puree
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 soft medjool dates
2 1/2 Tablespoons raw honey
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Directions:
If you’re making your own cashew butter, begin by blending 2 cups of cashews into a high-powered blender, like a Vita-Mix, on the “low” setting until smooth and creamy.
Measure out a half cup of cashew butter, and save the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also skip this step, and use a store-bought raw cashew butter, such as Artisana.
Next, prepare your carrot puree. I tossed about 1 1/2 cups of organic baby carrots into my Vita-Mix, and blended them on low for about one minute, tamping them down along the way:
Note: Those of you without a high-powered blender might want to lightly steam your carrots first to soften them, then puree in a food processor.
You may have a little extra carrot puree leftover, which you could save for another dish or smoothie.
With your carrot puree and cashew butter ready, combine all the ingredients into a mini-food processor.
Process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides occasionally.
Looks like Pumpkin Pie filling, right?
Be sure to adjust the flavors to taste. The best thing about making raw food is that you can always taste and adjust as you go!
Once the flavor is to your liking, pour the batter into a greased, or lined, 4″ spring-form pan.
(I usually use plastic wrap as a pan liner, instead of greasing the pan, to save on clean-up!)
Then place your “cheesecake” in the freezer to set overnight.
You may have a bit of leftover batter, which I like to freeze in a separate dish for future snacking.
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The next day, your Pumpkin Cheesecake should be ready to serve!!
(See those creases in the sides of my cheesecake? That’s from the plastic wrap. Not-so-pretty for serving company, so keep that in mind… not that they’ll notice once they taste it!)
Slice and serve IMMEDIATELY from the freezer–> the texture is perfect when it’s been frozen!!
- ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashew butter
- ½ cup carrot puree
- 1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 soft medjool dates
- 2½ Tablespoons raw honey
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Directions:
- If you’re making your own cashew butter, throw 2 cups of cashews into a high-powered blender, like a Vita-Mix, and blend on low until smooth and creamy.
- Measure out a half cup of cashew butter, and save the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also skip this step, and use a store-bought raw cashew butter, such as Artisana.
- Prepare your carrot puree. I threw about 1½ cups of organic baby carrots into my Vita-Mix, and blended them on low for about one minute, tamping them down along the way. (You may have a little extra puree from this amount of carrots, be sure to measure after blending.)
- Throw all of your ingredients into a mini-food processor and process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides occasionally. Adjust the flavor to taste.
- Pour batter into a greased 4″ springform pan, or a pan lined with plastic wrap. Place your “cheesecake” in the freezer to set overnight.
- Slice and serve IMMEDIATELY from the freezer! The texture is perfect when frozen.
Hope you all enjoy!!
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You all may be wondering why I chose to use CARROTS instead of pumpkin… well, I had a couple of reasons.
1. I find the taste of raw squash unpalatable. It may just be me, but I just don’t care for it.
2. I like my raw desserts to be properly combined, so that they are easy to digest, and will leave my body cleanly. Squash + Cashews aren’t a good combo, but carrots are perfect since they’re “neutral!” Yes, you can taste the slightest “hint” of carrot, but it’s not overpowering, and blends well with the Pumpkin Pie spice! (*Even cooked, carrots are neutral, so if you need to steam them to get a smooth puree, go for it!)
*Edited to add: My husband tried the Pumpkin Cheesecake last night, and he LOVED it!! He didn’t even believe me when I told him I used carrots instead of pumpkin. So, I guess the carrot puree will even fool some “picky” eaters!
Also, I didn’t feel like preparing a crust for my cheesecake this time–> my family actually always served crust-less Pumpkin Pie, so that’s what I’m used to. But feel free to use the crust recipe from my traditional Raw Cheesecake recipe if you like! It would be a very tasty addition.
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Reader Feedback: Do you have any favorite dishes that you’ve made healthier versions of? Do you have any entree or dessert “requests” that you’d like to see me make healthier and/or raw versions of?
I think I’m in love with Yasha.
And for what it’s worth I LIKE those creases in the cheesecake! Looks like it melted into that form
Anything that I healthify? Or make lower in calories? Um, yeah. EVERYTHING. GO back if you dare and check my ancient blog posts. I actually can NOT make a recipe without tweaking it unless it’s for someone else or a party. Sad but true, I never let myself have the ‘real deal’. I have issues, what can I say
Stay cool…gonna be another scorcher!!
Omg that looks soooo good! Cheesecake is my favorite, but I have never tried it raw! I must make this recipe! Although I have a feeling I will use pumpkin, because well, I am crazy obsessed with it lol Please no more heat today!! I hear it is supposed to get cooler?
How crazy that it still tastes like pumpkin. It looks so decadent too. Yum!
I’ve heard of people making “pumpkin pie” with carrots (instead of pumpkin) but I’d much rather try your spin on it! I really enjoy reading about how you change recipes and why (the food combining part especially).
yummy! please “bake” for me.
Hi There, I am putting together an LA HLB bloggies meet-up for a 1:00 p.m. lunch on Saturday, October 23.
If you are interested in joining us please email me at yellowbrickbeauty@gmail.com and let me know.
Thanks!
I’m so excited to try this cheesecake recipe! It looks delicious!
This past weekend, I veganized my mother’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe….aaaawesome! Tasted just like the original! No one knew the difference (bwahaha).
On another note, I recently started doing P90x as well, and I just had a question for you. It looks as though a lot of people do additional cardio on top of the P90x schedule. Are you doing additional cardio? I barely have enough time in the day to fit in the P90x workouts without burning myself out, but I’m thinking that it might be worth setting a little more time aside for cardio.
Megan that looks so good! And I like that it doesn’t seem as complicated as I thought it would be! My favorite dessert is banana cream pie and I’d love to see a healthy/raw version of that!
I made some of your raw cheesecake for my girls’ night on Friday (since I have a vegan and a vegetarian friend who almost never get to have desserts) and everyone LOVED it. Though it’s spring here and getting warmer, I adore pumpkin pie, so will definitely be trying this recipe. Plus carrots are far cheaper than zucchini here, so that’s a bonus, too.
As for healthy/raw alternatives to traditional foods… Apple pie/apple crumble and lemon tarts are two of the things I miss most and I think they should be relatively easy to convert into raw/gluten-free/healthier versions (by someone who knows far more about raw foods than I do, of course!)
Hey I just found your blog and omgee that cheesecake looks AMAZING!! I can’t wait to make this!
Oh and I LOVE your cheerleader! SO SWEET
xx
[...] Raw Pumpkin Cheesecake [...]
That looks absolutely delicious. I would have never thought to use the carrot pure but I cannot wait to make this. Your dog is adorable as well.
Holy cow this looks good! Just found your site thru OSG and looking forward to trying out your recipes!
I’m obsessed! What books to you recommend for a raw – detox diet, and why cashews?
I use cashews because they are very soft (making a smooth cheesecake-texture when you blend them) and have a very neutral-flavor. I tried using almonds before, and it just wasn’t the same! If you are avoiding cashews, you might try brazil or macadamia nuts instead? (and then let me know how it works!!)
I highly recommend reading The Raw Food Detox Diet, by Natalia Rose. It’s a life-changing book!!
[...] search for Raw Pumpkin Pie recipe and one of the first recipes to pop up was Healthy Hoggin’s Raw Pumpkin Cheeze Cake. Her recipe uses carrot instead of pumpkin and she explained that she did it that way to keep the [...]
Wow!!! This is the best “cheesecake” ever. Plus I found it right on time too, my family brought home real cheesecake and I really felt deprived by not having any. Luckily there was some raw pumpkin cheesecake in my freezer! Thanks for the delicious recipe(:
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Hi Megan! I was wondering if I could substitute the cashew butter with any other nut butter for example hazelnut butter? Thanks!
Cashews do help with the cheesecake flavor, but I’ve heard that macadamia nuts may work okay, too. Hazelnuts would probably make for a hazelnut-flavored cheesecake, so maybe you could add some chocolate to make it a nutella-style cheesecake.
That’s sounds like a really cool idea Megan!! I can’t wait to try it! I’ll tell you how it goes once I made it! Thank you soo much! <3
This looks really good!
I wanted to try it out real soon, so I wondered if I could use peanut butter instead of the cashew butter? I love the taste of peanut butter, but I was wondering if you think it wouldn’t be a good replacer in this recipe? Thanks!
I doubt it will taste much like cheesecake with the peanut butter, but a creamy peanut butter pie would probably be tasty! (I’d omit the lemon juice, too)
I guess I’ll have to get some cashews then!
Thanks for your help.
Amazing, tanks so much. I had to try this right away and didn’t have all he ingredients so I used butternut squash for the carrots and used a mix of cashew butter almond butter and coconut oil about 1/3 of each I also doubled the recipe but did not double the honey and it was very sweet for me. Can’t thank you enough