Sabs' Awesome Vegan Cheesecake Recipe
Jul. 3rd, 2016 01:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyOKAY KIDS GATHER 'ROUND I'm gonna tell you all how to make a vegan cheesecake.
So, now it's out that I've gone all strident irritating vegan, etc., but cheesecake is my favourite thing in the world and I'm quite good at it. I've eaten vegan cheesecake before and it was very good, and I've searched high and low for a recipe that would work for me. There are a lot, but I'm picky as fuck and none were perfect, so I've invented my own based on a composite of multiple recipes that contained bits that I liked.
Sabs' requirements for a cheesecake:
1) Crust is not optional and should be made of some sort of cookie or biscuit crumbs. No pre-made crusts ever.
2) Innards must be light and fluffy.
3) It has to involve actual baking. I'm sure all the no-bake recipes I see around are tasty, but for fuck's sake, human civilization did not evolve for 200,000 years to have us eat our food raw.
4) Ingredients must be readily available at a normal grocery store, not some hippie health food bollocks. That means no "vegan cream cheese"; that is cheating, and also expensive. Most importantly, vegan cheese is an Abomination Unto the Lord.
5) I should be able to afford to make this thing. This rules out cashew as a filling, much as it sounds very tasty and I know I'd like it.
6) Must be easy to modify. I made chocolate mint because that's my favourite, but you should be able to make it whatever flavour you want without much in the way of extra work. For example, I found an excellent-sounding pumpkin one, but pumpkin is for fall, not July, and it seemed to heavily rely on pumpkin as a filling/binding agent.
With this said, I believe I now have the answer, which I will share with you.
LOOK AT THIS THING IT IS A MASTERPIECE
Ingredients:
Crust
• Cooking spray (optional; if you never remember to buy it, you can use the margarine
• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons vegan margarine
Filling
• 2 (12 ounce) packages extra firm tofu, drained and cubed (I used firm silken tofu, but given what you do with it, I don't think it really matters what kind of tofu you use)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon mint extract (if you don't like mint, you can use almond, or various spices, or leave this out altogether)
Garnish (completely optional):
• vegan chocolate
• a few teaspoons more of the margarine
• sprig of mint
For the crust: Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add the margarine and 2 tablespoons water to a measuring cup and melt in the microwave; add to the crumbs and blend until the mixture looks like wet sand. Pour the crumb mixture into the prepared pan; press it evenly into the bottom and use a measuring cup to smooth it evenly about 2 inches up the side. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.
(Note: Since the filling takes substantially longer to bake than I'd expected, I would probably only pre-bake the crust for 8-10 minutes, though it came out fine.)
Make the filling as it's cooling, with the oven still at 350. Combine tofu, sugar, vanilla, salt, vegetable oil, and lemon juice. The recipe called for a food processor but I have my 1970s mixer and it's great for this kind of thing. Blend until smooth. Pour into the pie crust.
Bake in the preheated oven until slightly brown, 20 to 30 minutes—lol, this is a lie. It's closer to 50 minutes to an hour, but just keep checking. It will still be a bit jiggly and you will be suspicious but it'll set in the fridge. Remove from the oven to cool. Refrigerate until chilled.
If you want the Jackson Pollock thing I did on top, just melt some chocolate, take a whisk to it, and splatter away. The mint is mint from my garden.
Result: It held together! I mean, don't do as we did and leave it sitting in a hot room because it will eventually melt, but not more so than regular cheesecake.
And it's tasty. People at the party who did not know I was vegan were unaware that this did not contain any cheese until I told them. Note that cheesecake really shouldn't taste like cheese either; it tastes like whatever you flavour it with. This tastes like chocolate mint.
I didn't try but I suspect it can be easily dyed to make Gay Cheesecake.
Bonus: Unless your grocery store is hosing you for tofu, it's cheaper than making it with cream cheese or ricotta, and marginally healthier.
I am so proud of myself.
So, now it's out that I've gone all strident irritating vegan, etc., but cheesecake is my favourite thing in the world and I'm quite good at it. I've eaten vegan cheesecake before and it was very good, and I've searched high and low for a recipe that would work for me. There are a lot, but I'm picky as fuck and none were perfect, so I've invented my own based on a composite of multiple recipes that contained bits that I liked.
Sabs' requirements for a cheesecake:
1) Crust is not optional and should be made of some sort of cookie or biscuit crumbs. No pre-made crusts ever.
2) Innards must be light and fluffy.
3) It has to involve actual baking. I'm sure all the no-bake recipes I see around are tasty, but for fuck's sake, human civilization did not evolve for 200,000 years to have us eat our food raw.
4) Ingredients must be readily available at a normal grocery store, not some hippie health food bollocks. That means no "vegan cream cheese"; that is cheating, and also expensive. Most importantly, vegan cheese is an Abomination Unto the Lord.
5) I should be able to afford to make this thing. This rules out cashew as a filling, much as it sounds very tasty and I know I'd like it.
6) Must be easy to modify. I made chocolate mint because that's my favourite, but you should be able to make it whatever flavour you want without much in the way of extra work. For example, I found an excellent-sounding pumpkin one, but pumpkin is for fall, not July, and it seemed to heavily rely on pumpkin as a filling/binding agent.
With this said, I believe I now have the answer, which I will share with you.
LOOK AT THIS THING IT IS A MASTERPIECE
Ingredients:
Crust
• Cooking spray (optional; if you never remember to buy it, you can use the margarine
• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons vegan margarine
Filling
• 2 (12 ounce) packages extra firm tofu, drained and cubed (I used firm silken tofu, but given what you do with it, I don't think it really matters what kind of tofu you use)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon mint extract (if you don't like mint, you can use almond, or various spices, or leave this out altogether)
Garnish (completely optional):
• vegan chocolate
• a few teaspoons more of the margarine
• sprig of mint
For the crust: Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add the margarine and 2 tablespoons water to a measuring cup and melt in the microwave; add to the crumbs and blend until the mixture looks like wet sand. Pour the crumb mixture into the prepared pan; press it evenly into the bottom and use a measuring cup to smooth it evenly about 2 inches up the side. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.
(Note: Since the filling takes substantially longer to bake than I'd expected, I would probably only pre-bake the crust for 8-10 minutes, though it came out fine.)
Make the filling as it's cooling, with the oven still at 350. Combine tofu, sugar, vanilla, salt, vegetable oil, and lemon juice. The recipe called for a food processor but I have my 1970s mixer and it's great for this kind of thing. Blend until smooth. Pour into the pie crust.
Bake in the preheated oven until slightly brown, 20 to 30 minutes—lol, this is a lie. It's closer to 50 minutes to an hour, but just keep checking. It will still be a bit jiggly and you will be suspicious but it'll set in the fridge. Remove from the oven to cool. Refrigerate until chilled.
If you want the Jackson Pollock thing I did on top, just melt some chocolate, take a whisk to it, and splatter away. The mint is mint from my garden.
Result: It held together! I mean, don't do as we did and leave it sitting in a hot room because it will eventually melt, but not more so than regular cheesecake.
And it's tasty. People at the party who did not know I was vegan were unaware that this did not contain any cheese until I told them. Note that cheesecake really shouldn't taste like cheese either; it tastes like whatever you flavour it with. This tastes like chocolate mint.
I didn't try but I suspect it can be easily dyed to make Gay Cheesecake.
Bonus: Unless your grocery store is hosing you for tofu, it's cheaper than making it with cream cheese or ricotta, and marginally healthier.
I am so proud of myself.
