Step 1

Line the bottom of your spring form tin (mine was 16 cm / 6 ” across and 6.5 cm / 2.5 ” tall) with a circle of baking paper and cut out a long rectangle to line the sides with.

Step 2

Grind your almonds in a food processor until you get a coarse crumb. Take them out of the food processor and set aside.

Step 3

Drain your dates, squeeze excess water out and chop them roughly. Place them into the food processor (no need to wash it after you process the almonds) and process into a smooth paste.

Step 4

In a bowl, mix date paste with enough ground almonds and desiccated coconut to obtain a dough that isn't too sticky yet still holds together well. I prefer doing it by hand but you could also just dump your ground almonds and desiccated coconut back into the food processor and incorporate all of them together. Season with a bit of salt to taste.

Step 5

Line the sides of the spring form tin and then mould the base mixture to the bottom of your tin. Press the mixture down well with your fingers so that there are no gaps / air-bubbles. Put a bit of baking paper on top of the base and weigh it down with something heavy (I used a round container of similar size, filled with sugar). Put into the fridge while you make your cheesecake mixture.CHEESECAKE LAYER Just before you are ready to start blending the cheesecake layer, put agar flakes and ½ cup of aquafaba (or water if you don’t want to use aquafaba) into a small pot. Let the mixture come to the boil and simmer on low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until flakes almost dissolve and the mixture thickens (about 10 mins). From that point onward, you’ll need to work fast as agar sets as soon as it cools down.

Step 6

Chuck rinsed cashews, coconut cream, maple syrup, grated ginger, lime juice, warm agar mixture and an extra ¼ cup / 60 ml of water into a blender. Blend, scraping the sides of the blender from time to time as the set agar likes to stay on those. You'll need to work fast as agar sets as soon as it cools down.

Step 7

As soon as the cheesecake mixture is super smooth, take the spring form tin out of the fridge and pour the cheesecake mixture on top of the set base. Make sure you do it very quickly to get a smooth finish as, like I mentioned before, agar sets very quickly. Gently hit the filled spring form tin against your work surface a few times to get rid of air pockets / bubbles. Allow this layer to set completely (about 10 mins) before pouring on the next layer.

Step 8

Put cubed mango pieces into a clean blender and blend until smooth.

Step 9

Put ¼ cup / 60 ml of water into a small pot and add agar agar flakes. Let the mixture come to the boil and simmer on low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until flakes almost dissolve and the mixture thickens (about 10 mins).

Step 10

Add agar mixture to the mango puree and blend until smooth. Pour over the cheesecake layer and allow it to set before decorating.