Macadamia, Raspberry and Lime Cheesecake

The first time I made this lime cheesecake I kept lifting the tin out of the fridge just to look at it. Ruby swirls of crushed raspberry sitting on a filling so pale it’s almost ivory, the whole thing cut through with lime zest. It photographs beautifully, but that isn’t why I keep coming back to it.

It’s the texture. Macadamias, soaked overnight until they lose their chalkiness, blend into something silky and rich without a scrap of dairy. No cream cheese, no oven, no gelatine. Just fruit, nuts and a slow set in the fridge doing the work while you sleep.

I make this a lot in the warmer months, when raspberries are cheap and good and nobody wants to turn the oven on. If you’ve made our macadamia and strawberry cheesecake you’ll recognise the method straight away. This one leans tart and green rather than sweet and pink, and I think it’s the better one for a dinner party.

It started life on the Golden Door menu as a Christmas dessert, which tells you something about how well it holds up in the heat. There’s no custard to split, no water bath to fuss over. You blitz, you swirl, you wait. That’s genuinely the whole thing.

Why this one works

A raw cheesecake lives and dies on its filling, and this one gets its structure from three quiet workhorses. The soaked macadamias give body. The coconut oil, liquid when you add it, firms up as the cake chills and locks everything in place. And the lecithin, which sounds fancier than it is, keeps the oil and the fruit from separating so the set is smooth rather than weepy.

The grated pear or apple is the part people skip and then wonder why their filling is claggy. It loosens the blend and brings a soft sweetness that lets the lime do the talking. I reach for pear when I can get a ripe one, because it’s gentler, but a good crisp apple is honestly just as fine.

Then there’s the base. Dried apricots and rice flakes bound with a little coconut oil press into something chewy and slightly caramel, and the pinch of cinnamon carries through every bite once the cake is cold. If you can find lucama powder it adds a mellow, almost butterscotch note, but I won’t pretend the cake falls apart without it.

Ingredients

Base

• 1/2 cup organic dried apricots
• 1 cup rice flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lucama powder
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Macadamia filling

• 2 cups grated pear or apple
• 2 cups macadamia or cashew nuts (soaked in water overnight or for at least four hours)
• 3 tablespoons liquid coconut oil (see glossary)
• 3 tablespoons organic maple syrup (see glossary)
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds scrapped
• Finley grated zest and juice of 2 limes
• 2 tablespoons lecithin (see glossary)

Raspberry topping

• 250 g raspberries (reserve around 10 raspberries to garnish)
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup

Method

1. To make the base, soften apricots in warm water for 5 minutes, then drain.
2. Place apricots and remaining base ingredients in a food processor and process until mix starts to stick together. Press into the base of the lined tin.
3. Blend all macadamia filling ingredients together in a blender until silky smooth. If the mixture is too thick add 2 tablespoons coconut water or water.
4. To make the raspberry topping, roughly crush raspberries and maple syrup together, leaving a few lumps.
5. Place macadamia filling on top of base and smooth out. Add half of the raspberry topping in blobs then, with a skewer, make swirls to decorate. Place in the fridge to set overnight. Chill reserved raspberry topping as well.
6. When ready to serve, decorate with reserved crushed raspberries and fresh raspberries.

Serves 10–12.

Serving, make-ahead and a few swaps

The overnight set isn’t optional, and honestly it’s the best thing about this cake for entertaining. You do all the work the day before, then the fridge finishes it while you get on with everything else. By morning the filling is firm enough to slice cleanly with a warm knife.

Don’t skip soaking the macadamias. Cold nuts straight from the pantry blend into something grainy, and no amount of extra oil fixes it. If macadamias are dear where you are, cashews work just as well and give a slightly softer set. The grated pear or apple keeps the filling from being too heavy, so use whichever is sweeter on the day.

I like this with a pot of honey and lemon tea rather than coffee, the citrus talks to the lime nicely. For a plated dessert, a spoon of extra crushed raspberry on the side and a little more zest over the top does the trick. If you’re after more chilled, no-bake sweets to round out a table, our date and lime balls use the same bright lime note in bite size, and there are plenty more in the dessert recipes. Raspberries are one of the higher-fibre berries going around, which is a nice bonus in a dessert like this; Better Health Victoria has a good rundown on fruit if you’re curious.

— Mei Lin, Golden Door Living kitchen