A festive, fun crowd pleaser! Passionfruit is such a delicious flavour – tart, tangy and sweet – the perfect complement to a rich, creamy filling. This is 100% gluten free and vegan, so with no gelatine or dairy products, it’s an allergy-friendly treat for all.
I usually make things from scratch and avoid refined sugar, but sometimes you gotta break your own rules, right? So for this treat, I used store-bought biscuits as the base. My local supermarket stocks cheap gluten free scotch finger biscuits, which are plain & sweet, perfect for this base. Feel free to use gluten free arrowroot or shortbread cookies (New Zealand readers: try the Countdown ‘Free From’ Scotch Fingers, or the Leda Arrowroot biscuits)
For the passionfruit topping, I also used a store-bought ingredient. I’ve had equal success with different products: tinned passionfruit pulp, and passionfruit topping/syrup in a bottle (the kind you squirt on ice cream sundaes). You need roughly a cup, which is just under 2 x 170g tins, or one 360g bottle of syrup.
The deliciously jelly-like topping gets its soft texture from agar agar powder, a vegan gelatin substitute made from seaweed. Most supermarkets should stock it, but I find it’s cheapest at Asian stores. A small bag will only cost a few dollars and last for a while.
The filling is the healthy component! As a side note, I find it’s cheaper to buy raw cashew pieces, rather than whole cashews, if you can find them.
My preference is to make this in a loaf tin, and serve it as a slice. I’ve also made a round version – my cake tin is 23cm with a removable base – though this tends to make a shallower version.
Crust
1 pack, or 10 x plain gluten free biscuits (see notes above)
3 Tbsp coconut oil
Filling
1 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked in hot water for 10 mins then drained well
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup milk of choice
2 Tbsp maple syrup
dash of vanilla
Topping
1 cup passionfruit sauce/topping (see notes above)
1 tsp agar agar powder
¼ cup water
Start by soaking the cashews, if you haven’t already. While they bathe, prep your loaf or cake tin. Either grease well with (coconut) oil, or line with baking paper.
To make the crust: add the biscuits and coconut oil to a food processor and blitz until a crushed crumble emerges. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look very cohesive, it’ll come together when you press it evenly and very firmly into the prepared tin. (I’ve even used the tamper from the coffee machine to help firmly ‘tamp’ or press it down) Set aside in the fridge while you make the filling.
Give the food processor a quick rinse, then load it up with all the filling ingredients. Blend well until you get a thick, smooth, dense creamy filling, with no chunks of cashew. Scrape down the sides as needed. Spread the filling evenly onto the base and pop in the fridge to cool.
For the topping, put all ingredients in a smallish saucepan and heat over a low to medium flame. Stirring is key here – the agar agar powder needs to be well incorporated or it won’t deliver the jelly-ish texture we’re after. Be sure to break up any clumps, and keep stirring as it all heats up. Stirring and heating for a couple of minutes is great, even bringing to a slow simmer, to ensure the agar ‘blooms’.
Pour the mixture over the base/filling and return to the fridge to set. This might take 4 hours, or simply leave it overnight. I did pop one into the freezer once, to hurry it along…! Slice and enjoy!
Leave a Reply