Vegan cheesecake? Now there’s a strange idea – how can something so very dairy possibly translate into a non-dairy version? The key is re-imagining your idea of a ‘cheesecake’ as something perhaps slightly less unctuously thick and creamy and instead going for a lighter dessert that is actually a whole lot easier to eat (and a fairly nutritious hit at that)… Anyone remember Angel Delight? No, only kidding…
This moon pie is inspired by the June full moon (falling on June 17th this year) which is also known as the Strawberry moon. We’ve taken a whole lotta strawberries and blended them directly into the creamy (yet df!) topping to make this mega stack pud that’s bound to impress.
A tip on the base – we used a homemade spiced biscuit base cooked a little beyond usual cooking time to dry it out then bashed up once cool. You could swap this bit out to make it a quicker cook and use either:
- Crushed ginger biscuits
- Crushed digestive biscuits
- Blended nuts (approx 140g almonds) & 20ish dates for a really luxurious base!
We should also add that this is not a super cheap dish, so perhaps one for a party celebration or change portions and make mini ones… You may decide to keep some of the base crumbs frozen for another day, and you could pour the topping into a glass for an instant strawberry mousse too! So many options…
Ingredients
Base:
- 75g Vegan butter/coconut oil or butter if not df
- 200g Wholemeal spelt flour or regular wholemeal flour or GF flour
- 1.5 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp Ground ginger
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 0.5 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 Egg or flax egg
- 75g Molasses sugar
- 1 TBSP Molasses/black treacle
- 1 TBSP Maple syrup or honey
- 40g Vegan butter or butter
Topping:
- 600g Fresh strawberries
- 150g Cashews (soak for 1-12 hours before using in a bowl of water)
- 6 TBSP Maple syrup or honey
- 2.5 tsp Agar Agar powder (or 7 tsp of flakes)
- 120ml Coconut cream
- 120ml Water
Method
- Make the biscuit base: Melt fat with molasses sugar, maple syrup and molasses. When melted take off the heat, cool for 5mins then add the egg or flax egg. Mix in the dry ingredients and stir until it forms a ball. Roll out really thinly on a sheet of baking paper (roll half at a time) and bake in 180C oven for approx 20-25mins. Watch for burnt edges!
- Cool the sheets of base, then when cool bash it up in a bag with a rolling pin, or use a food processor if you’d rather! Ideally keep some chunks.
- Melt the 40g butter in a pan, mix into the bashed crumbs and push into the base of a springform 20-22cm cake tin. Push down until it’s compacted and chill for minimum 1hr.
- Make the topping: stem and wash the strawberries, then throw in a food processor with the cashews and maple syrup and blend! This will take a few minutes to blend until smooth – open the lid occasionally and push down any escaping cashew bits. Leave the lid on while you do the next bit…
- Slowly heat the coconut cream, water and agar agar in a small pan. Stir all the time and cook for approx 15mins, until you feel the mixture start to thicken. Once it does, take off the heat and pour into the strawberry mixture then blend everything together.
- Once thoroughly mixed, pour into the cake tin over the chilled base and chill once more – it should naturally set within 30mins to a semi-solid form.
- Decorate as you like, cut and eat!
This could also work with raspberries and blackberries..and if you try frozen fruit beware of the water content (it may not set properly – perhaps try lowering the water amount in the coconut cream). Let us know how you get on!
Enjoy the berry nice pie 🍓