Vegan Chocolate Salted Caramel ‘Cheesecake’

Sweet buttery biscuit base, chocolate ‘cheesecake’ with grated chocolate, caramel & berry topping. Irrelevant that it’s vegan, it’s simply delicious.

Mmm cheesecake. My love of cheesecake goes way back, and it’s been one of those things I really accepted I would never eat again. Let alone a chocolate cheesecake – the king of all the cheesecakes. However, this has revolutionised my dessert repertoire.

I would just say – if you’re screamish about vegan ingredients – don’t read the ingredients (or any more of this blurb!) and do a blind taste test. That’s what my brother and his girlfriend did to me, and I have to say… I’m not sure I would have tasted with an open mind if they told me it was made with tofu!! It really is silly though to be put off by an ingredient that really is very healthy and the perfect vehicle to a dairy free cheesecake. It doesn’t taste funky, I promise!

I have done a vegan cheesecake before, which relied on being frozen. There are also a lot of other vegan cheesecake recipes out there that ask you to soak nuts and then blend them, or cook them. This recipe is far, far, far more simple! And that was a big part of its appeal. Just tip the tofu out of the packet, add melted chocolate, orange zest and syrup and away you go. With just an hour or so in the fridge, it sets and slices well. Just like a cheesecake should.

Vegan Coconut and Blueberry ‘Cheesecake’

A vegan dessert that has convinced even me it is possible to replace cheesecake. Although not cheese-y in the slightest, this is a soft, creamy and fruity dessert sure to fill that cheesecake gap in your life!

OK… Let’s be honest…It can’t really be a cheesecake without cheese. So I’ve named it ‘cheesecake’ as I just couldn’t think of a more apt name for this creamy, fruity, delightful dessert. The filling is soft and light, which surprisingly comes from cashew nuts, coconut milk and coconut oil. Sometimes I think coconut can be an over-used flavour in dairy-free baking, however I loved it paired with blueberries. It is certainly a favour combination I would like to try with other things – pancakes or french toast perhaps?!

One thing that really attracted me to this recipe was that it used what I would call proper ingredients – sometimes I find that dairy-free and vegan recipes can have all sorts of weird ingredients in them and you have no idea what they are or where to buy them from. The creaminess in this ‘cheesecake’ comes from cashew nuts and coconut milk; together, when blended, they produce the most delightful, soft and creamy textured thick paste (sounds delightful, I know, but bear with me), which when chilled has almost the same texture as cream cheese. And because cashew nuts have such a gentle flavour, it leaves room for the coconut and blueberries to stand out.

The other thing I have to admit is that I cheated slightly for the aesthetics of the dessert. This is very unlike me, but I have to admit I added a few drops of purple food colouring into the mix. Perhaps we have different varieties of blueberries here; whereas the blueberries from the original recipe turned the ‘cheesecake’ a brilliant hue of violet, mine turned it a distinct shade of grey… So I cheated and added a tiny bit of food colouring. Let’s be honest – it’s hardly the worst crime in the world and aesthetics of a dessert are important!

As someone who has not eaten a real cheesecake for a very long time, this ‘cheesecake’ was delicious. It really hit the spot for a sweet creamy dessert, and the buttery biscuit base reminded me of the childhood cheesecakes my mum used to make. The dessert was also surprisingly easy and didn’t require baking. Really, apart from melting butter, this was more of an assembly job! The base is frozen, and, once chilled, the blended mixture is poured on top, and then the ‘cheesecake’ is frozen. Thawed thoroughly before eating, it looses any frozen texture and tastes deliciously like a chilled dessert. It may not be a real cheesecake, but it certainly came close!