No-Bake Overnight Pineapple Cake

Before you begin: This recipe calls for an overnight soak of the cashews and time for the juice to drain from the fresh pineapple. Before you start preparation, ensure you have at least 8 hours to soak the nuts and drain the pineapple.

1. On the day before, clean and dice a whole medium pineapple. Refrigerate the 1 1/2 cups for the filling until the next day. For the topping, put 2 cups of the fresh pineapple in a food processor and puree until smooth. Take a piece of cheesecloth and line a sieve over a small bowl. Pour the pureed pineapple into the cheesecloth and put it into the refrigerator overnight (or at least several hours but given the next step, overnight usually works best).

2. Also on the day before, for the filling, put the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water. Soak these overnight.

3. The next day … To make the crust, line the bottom of a small springform pan or bundt pan with removable centre with parchment paper.

4. Using a food processor, pulse the almonds, coconut, cinnamon and salt until you have a finely chopped, crumbly mixture. Add the remaining ingredients for the crust and then pulse to combine. Empty the mixture into the pan you will bake it in, and press the mixture firmly into the bottom.

5. For the filling, using the food processor again, add the drained cashews and almond milk. Puree this mixture until completely smooth. Then add the 1 1/2 cups of fresh pineapple that was diced and reserved earlier. Also add the salt, lemon juice and agave nectar and again puree until smooth. Depending on the quality of your food processor, at this point you can either transfer the mixture to a blender and continue pureeing until extremely smooth or attempt to achieve this creamy consistency with the food processor. In either case, while the processor or blender is running, drizzle in the melted coconut oil. Once completely blended and smooth, pour this mixture over the crust and use a spatula to smooth the top. Place the cake in the freezer for at least two hours or until solid.

6. Once firm, remove the cake from the freezer and spoon the pineapple puree from the sieve over the top. Smooth it out, refrigerate for another 1/2 hour and enjoy.

Adapted from Vancouver Sun Newspaper, Aug 28, 2012.