Vegan Cheesecake

Hi, I got this recipe from a friend of mine and she is a keen Vegan Baker and this Christmas when her and her family came round they brought a few things with them and one of them was this amazing Biscoff Cheesecake. All the things in () those brackets are things that she's found and all the things in {} ,like usual, are mine. Enjoy!

IMPORTANT: All my photographs of food are now being taken by my younger sister as she is a aspiring photographer.



Dietary Info:
-Vegan
-Vegetarian
-No Dairy
-Contains Nuts
-Contains Gluten




It hops between grams and ounces as I’ve taken the base from a different recipe. (It’s much nicer than the rather worthy dates and nuts original)

Base:

200 g crushed Biscoff biscuits (accidentally vegan!) { I blitzed mine in my blender as they still had a few lumps in after I'd whacked them with the rolling pin.}

80 g vegan marge/butter {I used Vitalite spread}

Topping:

I cup cashews (soaked in boiling water, uncovered, for 2-3 hours) {About 175g}

I cup coconut cream (nb not creamed coconut and not coconut milk – Sainsbury’s sell this in small cartons near the coconut milk) {About 240ish ml} {In Tescos, they're in the Chinese/Indian Food section}

8 oz vegan cream cheese (Sainsbury’s own in the Free-from section perfect) {I used Arla Lacto-Free Soft Cheese}{200g}

1 tablespoon cornflour

I teaspoon vanilla essence

two thirds of a cup of maple syrup {80ml}

*1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

2 teaspoon lemon zest

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

A pinch of salt

*(don’t know whether you’ve bought this before. It’s expensive but you only use a bit and the rest can sit in your fridge for ages. To make it liquid, put the whole jar in a bowl of hot water till enough has melted. It can then solidify, back in the fridge and no harm done!)

Base

Mix the biscuits and the marge/butter above and press into 7 inch-ish cake tin. Bake at 200 degrees for ten minutes and remove. { I found that in my oven it only really needed from 5-7 mins}

Topping

The recipe says blend all of the ingredients. The key thing is to make sure the cashews are super-smooth, so I tend to blend them with the coconut cream and maple syrup (ie the more liquid elements) for a few minutes first, just to make sure they’re creamy, then all add the other ingredients. I use my Magimix.  Keep blending till all is creamy and then pour onto base and bake @ 175 degrees for 50 minutes.

I once used soft brown sugar when I discovered I’d run out of maple syrup and it was still nice. {This was the one that I tried!!} Try to use maple syrup as it’s extra caramel-y!