Coconut Blissful Cheesecake

 When I found out about a vegan blogging conference in Portland, I was bouncing off the walls.  When I discovered that it was sold out, I stopped bouncing.  But alas! There's still hope!  The generous people at Coconut Bliss are holding a contest for a golden ticket to Vida Vegan Con!  There is also a song contest, which sounds like a lot of fun, but ya'll don't wanna hear me sing!  After weeks of racking my brain, I had a brilliant idea.  Why not just combine my two favorite desserts in the whole wide world? Ice cream and cashew cheesecake!!!  Holy coconuts did this one turn out to be a winner.  Hopefully the attractive, talented, successful, wonderful, generous, kind, fantastic and amazing staff at coconut bliss will think so too ;)  Whatever happens, I came out a winner in three ways: I found my new favorite brand of ice cream (seriously, this stuff almost didn't make it from the grocery bag to the freezer), I now know what Michael's birthday cake will be, and I had a blast with this recipe.  On a very serious note, Luna and Larry know how to make some kick-ass creamy ice cream.

Ingredients
2 pints your choice Coconut Bliss ice cream (I used Pineapple Coconut and Lunaberry Swirl - the perfect complement to the hint of lime in the cheesecake)
3⁄4 cup cashews (soaked for 4 hours or overnight)
juice of 1 lime
5 dates (soaked for 20 minutes)
1⁄4 cup agave
3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 Tbsp water
1 cup pecans

Directions
You will need 2 small spring-form pans.  Melt both pints of ice cream until soft but not liquid.  Place one flavor in one spring-form pan, filling it to the top.  Place the other flavor in the other spring-form pan, filling only half way.  Place in freezer for 2 hours or until solid again.

Meanwhile, place 4 dates and 1 cup pecans in food processor.  Pulse until finely ground.  Set aside.

Drain and rinse cashews.  Place cashews, lime juice, the remaining date, agave, coconut oil and water in a blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy.

When half filled pan is frozen solid, remove from freezer.

 Place a layer of pecan crumbs on top and press on top of ice cream.

Fill the rest of this pan with the cheesecake.  You'll probably have some left over cheesecake (use it to dip strawberries in or make a mini cheesecake!).  Place pan back in freezer and freeze 1-2 hours or until cheesecake is frozen solid.

When cheesecake is frozen solid, remove both pans from freezer.  Press a final layer of pecan crumbs on top of the cheesecake.  Release the sides of the pans and stack the two cakes, placing the half ice cream/half cheesecake pan on top of the full ice cream pan so that the crumbs are in the middle of the cake.

Top with coconut flakes or your choice of toppings.  Let stand out for 5 minutes.  Run a knife under hot water for a few seconds and slice cake with the hot knife.

Enjoy!