There is a certain time that is by far my absolute favorite moment in the day -- the golden hour at dusk when the last rays of the sun color the treetops in shades of copper and gold... I was standing outside admiring it one evening (as I often do) when a light breeze ushered the most intoxicating aroma of lilac towards me and I couldn't tear myself away.
Then I wondered why I've never thought to make anything from that beautiful giant lilac bush in our yard... And so, as you probably know me a bit my now, I settled on making *something* and finally ended up with this delicious, raw, lilac dream cheesecake.
I've been admiring that tree for many years now in so many ways. It's twice as tall as me, and quite wild, wide, and bushy, and completely overrun with butterflies in May / June -- really spectacular. Not to mention it's right in view of my window -- so essentially inescapable to the eye all day long. And apart from admiring its scent and beauty, it never occurred to me to use it in my baking -- how? I don't know. I think a large part of that was a certain mental association I had with lilac in food equaling lilac sugar -- a pretty gifting item to be sure, but extremely impractical for someone who's been sworn off sugar for years. Not to mention, I'd feel a bit silly making myself lilac sugar -- seems a bit too posh for a lady who lives in the woods... ;)
But that one evening a certain curiosity was sparked. I asked some friends and blog readers on Instagram if they've ever used lilac in baking. Only one person had and they said they were experimenting with making a lilac syrup infusion. Apart from that no-one had given it any thought -- I realized I was on my own. And when in doubt... you guys probably know my motto already... :) -- I cheesecake *everything* -- so I settled on doing just that.
I thought it would be trickier than it was to make a lilac dessert, to be honest. I feel lucky it worked out so well in this recipe because there are some things one needs to know about working with fresh plants in baking. So while I have you here reading about dreamy lilac blossoms and cakes, I figured I may as well pass on some notes on using lilac from my culinary experiments:
Using Lilac in Desserts
First of all, never use store-bought lilac (or other flowers) for culinary purposes (unless you know the source is organic or otherwise safe for human consumption). I'm talking flower shop flowers of course, not edible flowers sold in specialty shops. Flower shop flowers are grown with chemical fertilizers of all kinds and may therefore not be safe for human consumption. So only attempt something like this if you have a bush of your own, or if you find one in nature (P.S. for those in Ontario, I recall coming across tons of them while wandering around at the Mono Cliffs park a few years back).
Another interesting thing is that while the flowers smell incredible, the flavor is quite uneventful -- bitter-ish at best. After tasting it in a concentrated way I could see why there aren't many people baking up a storm with lilac. You need a fair bit of it to notice the fragrance, but a fair dose of bitter substance and dessert don't always get along, you see. The sugar-coated lilac, the only thing people do tend to make lots of, makes sense since the bitterness is well-masked then.
Luckily I was able to balance the flavors enough in the cheesecake -- no bitterness, and beautiful floral accent notes. Bingo. Raw cheesecakes for the win.
An interesting thing I discovered is that a whole cup of purple flowers, a purple cheesecake does not make! In fact, I suspected as much, and in my mind planned to combine it with something like a bit of maqui berry powder or blueberries to add a purple tinge. But still, I was a bit disappointed the purple didn't come through at all, even at that quantity and in such a tiny cake -- would have been nice. Perhaps if your lilac is a darker shade it would do something though (let me know if you try!).
On the upside I just love maqui in anything and it paired beautifully with the lilac and happens to mimic its shades well, so no biggie in the end. Just an interesting observation about the coloring.
*Update on this note:* In the video for this recipe below by Janel, you can see that she used a slightly darker shade of lilac and it did seem to give the cake a light pink tinge, so that's the result with using darker lilac in case anyone is curious.
On a not so pleasant note... bugs! Beware. All those butterflies and bees buzzing around the lilac are pretty to watch, but the tiny creepy crawlies in the plant are less than appetizing. So to avoid any trouble, I snapped off 2 blossom branches and dunked them in a bowl of water (submerged) for some time to allow any resident squatters to vacate. Easy enough and did the trick. Alternatively you can just rinse the flowers really well.
One last note in my experiment here. I thought the infusion idea the Instagram person suggested sounded interesting, and somehow initially it gave me the idea that I could just steep some lilac tea and use that to infuse flavor into the cake. So I combined ½ a cup of flowers with ¾ cup water in a small saucepan and boiled it for 5 mins, then strained. I used this water in the cake, but the flavor it gave was not very noticeable which is why I proceeded to add actual fresh lilac flowers as well -- I worried about the bitterness at first but the cake mixture tasted great and could probably tolerate an even larger quantity of flowers. So, in short, I think the *lilac water* I used in the recipe can be replaced with just plant milk if you prefer to keep the cake raw -- I don't know how much of a dent it made. But if you're not too picky with raw and want to experiment, I'd still give the water infusion a go to round off the lilac experiment (plus your kitchen will smell heavenly while it steeps!)
*Update on that last note:* one tip Janel, the videographer who made the lovely video for this recipe (see below), shared is that the the lilac water flavor appears to be stronger if you just let the lilac soak in water at room temperature for a few hours -- she thought the steeping in hot water decreased the flavor. So there you go -- something to try if you want the lilac water without the steeping.
I was so impatient to try the cake out that I could hardly even wait 4-5 hours (as opposed to my usual overnight chilling time). I yanked it out of the freezer the moment it seemed good to go, took photos, and gave it a try. DELICIOUS, and such a beautiful flavor. I don't know if anyone would be able to guess the main flavor -- largely because it's so unexpected -- it's subtle, but very present, floral and fragrant. And the swirls in the cake combined with the beautiful fragrant taste and creamy texture just reminded me of something rather dreamy and swoony, hence dubbing it as a lilac dream cheesecake.
I was so anxious about it in a strange way throughout the process that I wondered if I didn't actually dream the cake up entirely -- I even had to sneak away just now to have another tiny slice, just to make sure it's real, ya know. And it is. Real, delicate, and gorgeous.
Below is a beautiful video Janel made of the making of process. She styled her cake a touch differently by doing a different swirl, and I don't know which version I love better :)
*Just a quick note on the video above: lilac flowers and wild strawberry blossoms (the flowers I used to decorate my cake) are edible flowers. In the video, the little white flowers used are not edible. Can still use them as decoration, but be sure to remove them before eating (as you would with other non-edible decorative flowers) -- they are super pretty on the cake in the video. Alternatively, if you wanted to use edible white flowers but don't have wild strawberry blossoms around, edible jasmine flowers are a great option too.
So if lilac is in season where you are, or if you're looking for a unique celebration cake... or if you're like me and will not relax until you know what a lilac cake tastes like, give it a go -- I'd love to hear how you like it!
Last but not least, a few more quick tips: 1. make sure all ingredients are at room temp before starting. 2. I used my 5″ springform pan for this. Triple for a 6″ cake, or make a few tiny cakes in silicone cupcake pans -- and most importantly triple the cake if you're making it in a large blender like the newer Vitamix Janel is using in the video above for the recipe to work. 3. If you need more tips on how to make raw cheesecakes like a pro, check out my book Unconventional Treats.
PrintLilac Dream Cheesecake
This lilac dessert is a delicate raw vegan cheesecake with beautiful floral accents and gorgeous purple maqui berry swirls. The recipe is also gluten-free and grain-free and refined sugar-free.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 5" cake
- Category: Cake
- Method: Raw
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Crust:
- ½ cup raw cashews
- 1 soft medjool date, pitted
- ½ tbsp maple syrup (or a raw sweetener of your choice)
- ½ tbsp coconut oil (I used an unscented kind, so no coconut taste)
Filling:
- ¾ cup raw cashews, pre-soaked and strained*
- 5 tbsp lilac water** or plant milk
- 4 tbsp maple syrup (or a raw sweetener of your choice)
- 2 tbsp coconut oil (I used an unscented kind, so no coconut taste)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup loosely packed fresh lilac flowers
- ½ tbsp maqui berry powder
Toppings:
- fresh lilac flowers, a few wild strawberry blossoms
Instructions
- Process all crust ingredients in a food processor into a sticky crumble. Transfer into a 5" springform pan and press down into an even crust, lightly raising it around the edges just a bit. Place in the freezer while working on the next step.
- Blend all filling ingredients except for lilac flowers and maqui in a power blender into a smooth cheesecake consistency. Add the lilac flowers and blend them in. Remove and set aside about ⅔ of this mixture. Add the maqui powder to the ⅓ of the mixture remaining in the blender and blend until smooth. Spoon the mixtures into the springform pan over the crust, alternating between the purple and white mixture until you run out. Lightly swirl the two mixtures together with a spoon or a skewer.
- Freeze the cake for 4-5 hours or overnight to set. Decorate with fresh lilac flowers prior to serving and enjoy! Can thaw out for 15 mins or so for a softer texture or enjoy straight out of the freezer.
Notes
*To pre-soak cashews: place in a glass bowl, cover with water, and leave to soak for 4 hours (or overnight in the fridge). Then strain and discard the water. For a quick pre-soak, cover with boiled water and soak for 15 mins, then strain and discard water. (Note: this technique doesn’t preserve the nutrition of the recipe as well as the traditional soaking technique above). Note: the purpose of soaking the nuts is to re-hydrate them and plump them up for blending into a smooth, cheesecake-like consistency. Proper soaking techniques also maximize nutrition and digestibility. If you’re interested in learning more about nut soaking and other dessert prep tips and tricks, I delve into these subjects in detail in my book Unconventional Treats.
**For the lilac water, combine an additional ½ a cup of lilac flowers with ¾ cup water and let sit at room temperature for a few hours to infuse. Then strain off the flowers and use the water in the recipe. This step is optional, so can also use plant milk instead if you prefer. See notes above the recipe in the tips section for more details on the lilac water.
Faith Pate says
Hello, my friend found your website and we'd like to attempt to make this. We have a normal everyday blender, will that work? I also have a KitchainAid food processor. I was hoping to purchase your book but it doesn't appear to have a physical version?
You talk about to "prep" your springform pan properly, but when I googled how to do so, it doesn't look anything like how the lady has her pan in the video?
I'm really excited to give this a try, but I might be in over my head. Our state holds a huge lilac festival in June, so we're going to give it a try around that time.
Thank you!
The Real Person!
Hey Faith. A kitchenAid food processor would work great here for the crust. For the filling a power blender is recommended because it blends things much more smoothly, which creates a rich and smooth tasting filling with all the flavors evenly incorporated and distributed. If a "normal everyday blender" is used, results can vary, especially depending on the blender. I've seen people have pretty good results (maybe not perfect, but definitely good enough) with a regular blender. I've also seen people have a rather chunky-looking filling which they say tastes good, but looks nothing like the pics. So I think it just depends on your blender and what it can handle, but I think it's worth a try personally :) Just do your best to get the filling as smooth as possible (might requrire occasional pausing and scraping down the sides).
You don't need to do anything to prep the springform pan for this type of recipe. Just put the ingredients straight in and go. Usually prepping is for baked cakes, while raw cakes don't really require it. They separate from it quite easily out of the pan (after thawing out for a few minutes on the counter).
If you give it a try, would love to hear how it goes for you! If you have any other questions, let me know.
P.S. I'm currently very close to releasing an extended video series along with Unconventional Treats which has videos that show the differences in textures depending on appliances, how to prep pans, etc. etc. So if it interests you down the road, keep an eye out for that :) I do hope that one day I'll come around to finishing the print version of the book, but it won't be ready for quite a while at this point.
The Real Person!
I just want to add, I don't think you're in over your head at all :) Raw recipes are quite easy once you grasp the basics. Just process the filling into a sticky crumble and shape it into a crust in the pan. Blend the filling into a smooth consistency and pour it into the pan. Freeze. And it's done :) That's the basics of it.
A few key things that would make the cake ideal: access to good (or good enough!) equipment (blender, processor, springform pan), and making sure that all the filling ingredients are at room temperature before beginning to blend (as cold ingredients make stuff harden up in the blender prematurely). If you can handle these two things, and just follow the steps, you should be good!
And one more thing I forgot to add: if your blender has a big / wide pitcher at the bottom, you might want to triple the recipe to make a 6" cake (because if the volume of ingredients is too low things might not catch the blades and just slosh around the edges).
Lastly, just wanted to say I'd be so excited if my cake was shared at a lilac festival!! That would be so awesome :)
Janet says
hi audrey,
thank you for all the beautiful goodies. is there a substitute for maple syrup in most of your recipes? is honey possible?
The Real Person!
Hi Janet, can't give a blanket answer for *all* the recipes off the top of my head, but for the most part the closest substitute would be agave nectar. Other equally runny liquid sweeteners would work fine too. Honey can work, although it will always impart a strong honey flavor to the recipes (which is fine if you like that of course :) just saying it's one of the less neutral tasting sweeteners. Also keep in mind that maple syrup is sweeter than most sweeteners (although I find agave comparable) so you might need to adjust the sweetness levels to your taste if substituting. And lastly, in terms of color, some alternative sweeteners, like coconut nectar, can be quite dark, which can affect the color a bit but usually it's not very consequential. Hope this helps!
Carrie says
Hey there, I’d like to make this to serve at my grandmother’s birthday tea party. Do you think it would be ok if I leave it in the freezer for a few weeks?
Thanks!
Carrie
The Real Person!
Hi Carrie, yeah, absolutely. This type of cake holds up for months in the freezer with no issue (provided it's protected from freezer burn / smells). I hope your grandmother enjoys it :)
Tiffany says
Heya, a lot of the bitterness probably came from not removing the little green bits on each tiny blossom! If you pop those off (tedious as all get out) it will let the flavour of the lilac shine a bit more. ^_^
The Real Person!
That's a really interesting tip -- thanks for sharing! :)
Sheena says
Hi Audrey,
I am thinking using blueberries to colour the filling instead of maqui powder. What do you think?
The Real Person!
Hi Sheena, yeah that would absolutely work. You don't need much. Just add a little bit to the blender at a time until you get a color you like.
trinda says
Hi Audrey, could you substitute frozen berries for the berry powder? thanks! (:
The Real Person!
Hi trinda, yeah, absolutely. Just make sure they're brought to room temperature first (if they're frozen or cold at all, they can make the mixture firm up too much in the blender, which will mess with the recipe). You don't need many berries -- just a hint; see my reply to Sheena above.
Anna says
Hi audrey,
I have two beautiful lilac bushes just outside my window and I have always wanted to bake with fresh flowers and things found in nature, raw right but I'm a newly and I'm really nervous to do it I dont want to kill my family or anyone else. Can u help me out
The Real Person!
Hi Anna. I use edible flowers all the time. In addition to dried varieties I purchase, I also love using wild strawberry flowers, pansies / violas, daylillies, etc. which are naturally found in our forest around our house. If you're foraging for them yourself you need to know about them of course -- know the right type of plants to pick + make sure they haven't been heavily pesticide-treated at any stage of their growth (if you live in a more urban environment or if you suspect they were planted around the property and might have come from a nursery rather than being naturally wild in the area), etc. but it's not complicated. I started off with a book guide on wild edibles back in the day and learned from there :) Lots of online guides too, like this one: https://collectivegen.com/2017/11/guide-edible-flowers/. I always research any new foraged plants (lilac included) to make sure they're edible first.
You can also buy known dried edible versions of many of them to use instead if that'll make you more comfortable to get started. I linked to a bunch I use on my baking resources page here: https://www.unconventionalbaker.com/baking-resources/
Some people can be sensitive to wild flowers though, so good to keep that in mind (especially people with seasonal allergies, etc.).
Bernice says
Lilac infused honey instead of maple syrup for the sweetener would be my pick. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
The Real Person!
You're welcome. And yes, an infused syrup would be interesting to try. Enjoy the cake :)
The Real Person!
Hi Sharon,
dates wouldn't work in a recipe like this as it would color the cake (I'm guessing you'll get a grey/brown shade), alter the consistency and make it not as sturdy (since dates don't freeze solid), and will alter the flavor as well. Fruit wouldn't be sweet enough on it's own (though there is a "fruit-sweetened" section on the recipes page, if you want to check out some recipes that are fruit-sweetened or date-sweetened only).
I don't know if date syrup works for you, but if it does you could try that. It would add a bit of a "malty" flavor and a slightly darker color but could still work.
Other than that, I have readers who make these cakes with stevia and say it works for them. If you use any kind of sweetener substitute like that it will work fine, just be sure to add liquid to replace the liquid component that the maple syrup ads (i.e. if the recipe uses 3 tbsp maple syrup, then add 3 tbsp non-dairy milk + a pinch of stevia, etc.).
Hope this helps! :)
Emily says
So, I would like to make my own lilac water, but I was a little confused about what measurements you actually used in the end to make the water. You used how many cups of fresh lilac flowers to 3/4 cup of water?
The Real Person!
Hi Emily, for the lilac water part I used 1/2 a cup of flowers + 3/4 cup water (and boiled them together for 5 mins, and then strained the water for use in the recipe).
Krista says
I love the way this cake looks and sounds! But unfortunately I'm not near any fresh lilac. Would this recipe work with dried lilac or lavender?
The Real Person!
Hey Krista,
So sorry for the delayed reply. you can definitely use a much smaller amount of dried lilac or lavender instead (especially a smaller amount on the lavender -- I would use maybe 1/2 a tsp dried lavender for this whole cake as it's very potent, unless you're someone who enjoys the strong flavor). You can also omit the flowers altogether and just have a delicious creamy cake -- I make it without sometimes and it's lovely on its own.
Joanna Jendroska says
I'm planning on making this for a book club meeting, this cheesecake should go very well with this book :) https://www.amazon.com/Lilac-Girls-Martha-Hall-Kelly/dp/1101883073
Hope it comes out nicely... if it does, I will let you know :)
Thank you for this recipe .
The Real Person!
That's a beautiful idea, Joanna :) I love it.
jerri says
Dear Audry,
I don't have lilac. Have you or anyone else made this replacing the lilac flowers with something else? Without the 1 cup of lilac, will it still turn out?
Sincerely,
Jerri
The Real Person!
Hi Jerri, yes absolutely. I made it without lilac and it works great on its own. You can add a little bit more vanilla to taste, but the cake is lovely on its own. It won't affect the consistency much, so you don't need to substitute with anything else. Enjoy it!
Habalda Balda says
It's like reading a book. An extremely boring, self-indulgent "cheesecake thriller". Otherwise, the recipe is good.
The Real Person!
Oh my gosh, you really cracked me up with the "cheesecake thriller bit" -- does read like a novel in retrospect, though not sure about a "thriller". Don't know about the future of that genre though either way... ;) Enjoy the recipe!
Anna says
Ahhhh Audrey, this cake!!! It truly is like a dream!!! You are such a cake genius for incorporating lilac into it!!! And how beautiful it looks!!! Love it all! x
The Real Person!
Thanks so much, Anna! :) I really enjoyed making this one -- glad it worked out well with the lilac.
Heather @Gluten-Free Cat says
Absolutely gorgeous and dreamy! I just felt peaceful looking at the gorgeous lilac color. I can't even imagine how delicious it must taste. I'm so glad to have found your blog!
The Real Person!
Thank you so much, Heather! Yes, it turned out a very *calming* cake to look at :)
Sarah | Well and Full says
What a labor of love, Audrey! And what a result! This cake definitely deserves its moniker, it really does look dreamy :)
The Real Person!
Thanks so much, Sarah! I feel like this cake was somehow a labor of love, you're right :)