Guest guest Posted January 10, 2010 Report Share Posted January 10, 2010 http://jan.freedomblogging.com/2010/01/09/cheesecake-without-dairy-or-sugar-yum/\ 28935/ One of my editors told me his neighbor owns a company that makes vegan (that's no animal product OR dairy) cheesecake. It gets worse: agave nectar instead of refined sugar. And raw (not heated over 106 degrees). They soak the nuts for 8 hours before making cheesecakes. Did you know that mushed cashews taste like milk? Earth Cafe makes these cheesecakes in 10 flavors in Laguna Niguel. Carob mousse, raspberry, cherry, coconut, lemon, peach, banana and some combinations. Sweet potato pie is coming in a couple of weeks. Most amazing: The company sells its cheesecakes through natural foods stores such as Mother's Markets and Whole Foods Markets, in 14 states from Hawaii to North Carolina. About 10% to 15% of sales are online. That's no hobby; that's business, and I write about small businesses and entrepreneurs. So I trotted off to Mothers Market in Irvine to buy a couple of samples — Who's Your Daddy (carob mousse) and Cherry Dream — for my colleagues to try. Some of them are good cooks. Some have discerning palates. Some are vegetarians. I'm none of the above. They were VERY impressed. Basically they agreed with VegNews magazine, which in the February issue called Earth Cafe's cheesecakes " totally to-die-for delicious…these are by far the best raw cheesecakes we've ever sampled " Even I thought both samples were good, and I don't even like cheesecake. The partner with the recipes and creativity is Candy Tolentino, who also works in real estate in Los Angeles County. Her husband Josh Black, who is finishing his PhD in chemical engineering of all things, and Craig Ahrens, a refugee of the mortgage meltdown and my editor's neighbor, run the day-to-day operations. They've gone from selling about 500 slices a week to 14,000 a week and growing rapidly. You might think selling it by the slice can't be lucrative but the stores sell it for $5.49 to $5.99 a slice, I kid you not. The online store sells whole cheesecakes for $34.99 and an eight-slice sampler for $36.99. " Even in a recession if you produce something of quality, people will buy it, " Ahrens says. " But at that price, it had better be good. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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