Yes this recipe is from Christmas don't judge

This cheesecake is not only healthy but historic! It is based off an ancient Roman cake called Savillum! I based the recipe from this one so check out that link for more history of the cake!  It is made with ingredients that you would have found way back in ancient Rome. This includes cottage cheese, honey, and poppy seeds.

You may use ricotta instead of cottage cheese. I think this would be more smooth with ricotta but also ricotta is way more expensive! I thought it was still amazing and smooth with cottage cheese.

I made this for a Saturnalia party and the only photos of the whole cake I took were on my phone but I think they turned out ok!

Even though this cake is made with pretty natural ingredients, it is rich! You only need a small slice to feel happy and satisfied.


It is made with ay healthier ingredients than your typical cheesecake.

Honey- a natural sweetener which is gentler on your body than sugar. It does not spike insulin levels which may lead to eating more later. It is also sweeter than sugar so you need to use less therefore less calories!
I felt like my cake was almost a little too sweet so you may want to add less or be careful on how much you add

Cottage cheese- less fat and calories than cream cheese

Poppy seeds (optional)- rich source of calcium, iron, and magnesium. Can relieve exhaustion and anxiety

Whole wheat flour- more fibre an nutrients which keeps you fuller for longer

Obviously I added some non-traditional ingredients like the vanilla and cinnamon but I thought these made it taste even better!


Healthy Ancient Roman Cheesecake
12-24 servings

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups cottage cheese
3/8 cup honey plus 3/4 cup
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 egg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
poppy seeds

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prep an 8" springform cake pan
2. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except the 3/4 cup honey and poppy seeds
3. Pour into your cake pan and bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes until cake is firm
4. Poke some holes with a fork on top of your cake and pour the rest of your honey on top
5. Sprinkle with poppy seeds
6. Return to oven and bake for 10 additional minutes

Today I am going to share with you one of my favorite places in Calgary! And that place is Fiasco Gelato! 
If you live in Canada, you may have heard of them since they sell their gelato in many grocery stores.
I love Fiasco Gelato. They have the best employees working there and such a cute shop. 
I go to Fiasco Gelato almost every week and their gelato is some of the best I've ever had! They have new flavors that they've created right there in the shop every time we go.
A few weeks ago I picked up their Blueberry Basil Sorbetto and I was blown away! 
Whoever says that sorbetto is boring has never tried Fiasco Gelato's! It was sweet, refreshing, and beautifully accompanied by the basil.
In their store, they offer some recipe cards featuring their gelato, these inspired me. I knew I had to develop some recipes with their products so I came up with this super simple cheesecake. All you have to do is blend together gelato with cream cheese, let it freeze and viola you have a lovely dessert that you can customize however you like!
I made a coconut crust for this so that it is gluten free as well. The coconut crust is incredible and went so well with the sorbetto I used. You can toast the crust like I did or leave it no-bake and just press it onto the bottom. You can also use a traditional graham crust or other crust if you do not like coconut.
If you do not eat dairy, do make sure to use a dairy free frozen dessert (like sorbetto!) and vegan cream cheese! I used honey to sweeten this and depending on the ice cream you use, you may have to add more or even none at all to get your desired sweetness.
Please let me know if you make this cheesecake!With the beginning of spring and summer just around the corner, it will be the perfect no-bake, refreshing, and cool treat.
Gelato Cheesecake
Make one cake, serves about 8

Ingredients

For Crust

• 1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 3-5 tbsp coconut oil, softened

For Cheesecake

• 1 cup (about 1/2 pint) sorbetto, gelato, or ice cream. This should be a little soft so that it's not too frozen to blend
• 2 packages cream cheese or vegan cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 1/3-1/2 cup honey (or more or less)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F if you are toasting your crust. Prepare an 8" spring form pan by placing some parchment paper on the bottom.
2. In a food processor, process crust ingredients into it is starting to stick together and the shredded coconut is small. Don't blend too much! We're looking for the coconut to be smaller but still visible like a dough, blending too much will create coconut butter.
3. Press dough firmly into bottom of pan. Bake for 10 minutes until coconut is fragrant and lightly brown. Set aside and allow to cool.
4. Place all ingredients for cheesecake in a large bowl and blend with a hand or stand mixer until combined, smooth, and creamy.
5. Pour cheesecake filling on top of your crust and place in freezer for at least 3 hours. You can get away with less but it might be hard to cut since the cake will be soft
6. I recommend taking the cake out of the freezer a couple minutes before serving so that it is a little creamier than frozen! Enjoy!

This recipe changed my life! And I don't say that often. I love trying new recipes but I tend to stick to baked goods because I love mixing batters and seeing the changes in the oven!


However, after making these I am on a mission to make more similar recipes! If you have any good please let me know!

All you NEED  for this recipe is:

Almonds

Dates

Hazelnuts

Maple Syrup and Lemon Juice

Coconut Oil

Vanilla 

Raspberries


I adapted this from Jess at Choosing Chia who is one of my favorite food bloggers! You can see her recipe here. You should check out her site for some more awesome recipes and lifestyle posts.
These raspberry tarts are vegan, gluten free, free of refined sugars, paleo, and the list goes on! They also happen to taste absolutely amazing, sweet, and creamy! Make them for a healthy treat or dessert!
Raw Raspberry Tarts
Adapted from here

Ingredients

Base
1/2 cup almonds
4 Medjool dates
pinch of Himalayan pink salt

Raspberry Topping
1 cup blanched hazelnuts*
1/4 cup almond milk
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raspberries

Directions

1. Blanche hazelnuts if desired (see note below)
2. In a food processor, blend the almonds, dates, and salt until it sticks together.
3. Press dough into the bottom of a silicon muffin pan (I also made a couple mini tarts in a regular muffin pan and this worked well too!). Let this set in the fridge.
4. Blend hazelnuts, almond milk, maple syrup, lemon juice, coconut oil, and vanilla extract in a food processor or blender until smooth and creamy. Add raspberries and blend until smooth
5. Take base out of fridge and smooth the raspberry topping on top.
6. Place in freezer and freeze for 2-4 hours until set. 
7. Carefully take tarts out of your pan, allow them to de-freeze a little, and serve! Leftovers can be stored in the fridge

*I wanted to use blanched hazelnuts so that they would mix nicely with the raspberries for the topping. Blanching hazelnuts requires boiling them in water for about 5 minutes then straining them and peeling off the skins in a paper towel. If you want these 100% raw then you can forgo blanching the hazelnuts in boiling water. Letting them sit in warm water overnight then taking off the skins could also work.

I thought of several names for this cake: psychedelic cheese cake, magical cheese cake, multi-colored cheese cake ... and I still don't know if I chose the right one! There is something kinda cute and sweet about unicorns though so this is what I stuck with.




I just recently celebrated my 25th birthday and for my b-day I made myself a cheese cake. I used to love cheese cake as a kid so I thought it would be a fitting and fun dessert.

This is the first time ever that I've made cheese cake so I was a little nervous about what would happen. Thankfully I found a no fail recipe and my cake came out perfectly!

(save for a bit that broke off when I was trying to take the cake off the wax paper. Perhaps I pressed the crumbs in too firmly)




Some tips for the perfect cheese cake:

• after you are done baking, turn off the oven and leave the cheese cake to cool in the oven with the door partially opened. This will allow the cheese cake to cool slower which will prevent cracks
• adding in cornstarch is not necessary but will act as insurance to keep from cracking. It should not change the taste or texture of the cake
• make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature for easy mixing
• make a water bath. I did not do it for this recipe as the recipe I adapted from did not require it but if you want your 

Colors before adding to the crust

Cake before going in the oven. Look at all the colors!

And after!

Rainbow Unicorn Cheese Cake

Adapted from here
Serves 8

Ingredients

Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Filling
2 cups (2 packages) of cream cheese at room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lavender extract*
1 tbsp cornstarch 
Food coloring (I used pink, purple, orange, and green)

*If you do not have lavender or do not like floral tasting things you can substitute this for more vanilla or another extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9 inch spring form pan by placing a sheet of wax paper on the bottom and buttering the bottom and the sides
2. Make the crust by stirring together all of the crust ingredients, mixing until thoroughly combined.
3. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan, making a thicker layer on the bottom than on the sides.
4. For the filling: mix together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs, lavender, cornstarch, and vanilla then mix until smooth. To avoid beating too much air into the batter, use a mixer set at low-medium speed. To avoid lumps, make sure the cream cheese is softened, and/or at room temperature.
5. Divide your filling equally into four bowls (or more or less depending on how many colors you want) and then add a few drops of your desired food coloring into each. Mix each bowl well and add more color as needed 
6. To get the marbles effect. Take a big scoop of each colored filling one at a time and place onto your crust as large balls. Alternate each color one at a time until you have covered the crust and then continue the process by layering it over. When you have used all of your filling, take the back of one of your spoons and make a big swirl through all of your filling. You can watch this video for a visual explanation start at 4 minutes
7. If desired, set your pan onto a baking sheet to make it easier to transport in and out of the oven, and also protects the bottom of the crust from any potential scorching.
8. Place the cheesecake in the oven. Bake it for 20 minutes, then make a crust shield with strips of aluminum foil around the outside of the pan. Bake for an additional 10 minutes (for a total of about 30 minutes). 
9. Turn off the oven and open the oven door slightly, let the cheese cake cool in the oven for at least 20 minutes
10. Remove the cheese cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely before covering it in plastic wrap and placing it in the fridge
11. When ready to serve, remove cake from pan and slice. Serve with whipped cream if desired

Do you ever get that craving for a little something extra sweet? You may have had a healthy dinner and a nice little dessert but you feel like you want something more. Well, I get that feeling pretty much everyday so I try to fill my belly and satisfy my sweet tooth with nourishing but delicious foods.

It has been too long since my last post! I had some midterms this past week and I was more worried about where the subclavian artery was located than anything else. Sorry! But now I am back. I also have the week off so you can expect a few posts.

So what's new? Well, you may have noticed that little button at the top that says "Contact". I have been working on making an e-mail for my blog and I now have one! If you would like to contact me please e-mail me at cupcakeskat@gmail.com.

I also just got a Twitter so if you like please follow me. I'm really new to Twitter and not so sure what to do so I would appreciate your friendship.

Though university can be stressful at times, it can also be a lot of fun.

My favourite professor, teaches me the Social Science of Sports. She is absolutely crazy but I love her because she is fun, makes class time go by fast, and makes the content interesting.
She also loves cheesecake!
My favourite quote from her recently, which she said upon a student leaving class, "One day, if any of you become a teacher, you'll understand. If a student leaves your class early, all you'll want to do is: pack up your stuff, buy a cheesecake, go home, and have a party"

I think any excuse is a good excuse for cheesecake! And that is why I am so excited to share this recipe with you.

My favorite way to eat Toaster Cheesecake. With honey and cinnamon