Strawberry cheeseless cake

What do you do to impress your biggest critic who is secretly your biggest fan? Make them their favourite cake of course!

You may have a lovely, well intentioned but curious uncle like I do, who struggles to understand how it’s possible to live a cruelty free lifestyle without somehow sacrificing something. The latest query was “So you can’t do vegan cheesecake can you? Because that’s my favourite”. Thank you for throwing in the gauntlet uncle! The challenge was set!

It had to look good, it had to resemble “normal” cheesecake as far as possible and it HAD to look pretty. To fit all the requirements, I took instructions from different recipes. It turned out rather marvelously!

The base 

A classic biscuit base was needed (A buttery biscuit base in fact! Hehe!). Knowing it is relatively simple, it was easier to just find a non vegan recipe and veganize! So I used this recipe, ensuring that the digestives were vegan (Sainsbury’s own) and used vegan margarine. Melt margarine, crush biscuits, mix the two and bake in the tin.

Strawberry cheesecake topping

A tofu based recipe seemed preferable as some vegan cream cheeses, although delicious, might be recognisable in a recipe to those who are used to consuming dairy. So this tofu based topping was perfect and, best of all, simple. So the base ingredients and instructions were ignored and hazelnut milk was used instead of soya, which worked just fine (I wasn’t being fancy, I just didn’t have soya!)

Freestyle on the topping! 

To make the cheesecake look extra impressive, slice strawberries and place on top of the cooked cake. Make up a pack of vegan strawberry jelly crystals and leave to cool until it is just warm. Pour the jelly to form about a centimeter layer on the top and pop in the fridge to set!

It was completely shameless but I was so impressed with myself that I couldn’t help pointing at it and wailing “I made that!” every time a guest arrived! It was admired by all but my uncle nearly left without trying some! He didn’t look too upset when I insisted he take some home. Reports on the family grapevine are that it was thoroughly enjoyed. Another barrier to knowing a vegan diet does not mean missing out smashed down!