Unbelievably Vegan: vegan cheese

I wanted to make a recipe for a traditional cheesecake. I've based this recipe of a cheesecake that my mother used to make when I was younger, which was made primarily out of cream cheese & double cream, so I thought this would be easy to make a vegan version of.

For the double cream part of the recipe, I used the cream from a can of coconut milk. The best way that I've found to separate the coconut cream from the coconut water, is to place the can in your fridge for a day or two. I now, mostly, store all of my coconut milk in the fridge as it'll be separated by the time that I need it next.

Once you've opened your chilled, separated coconut milk, you'll want to get just the cream from the can, and make sure that you don't accidentally get any of the coconut liquid in with the cream, otherwise it won't whip. I am using Violife vegan cream cheese. This cream cheese has been the best for a cheesecake. I have used different vegan cheeses & I haven't got as good a result from them, as they didn't set at all, yet Violife is perfect! It set amazingly & tastes great!

You can serve this cheesecake with many different toppings, such as fruit or even your favourite chocolate or caramel sauce! (my caramel sauce recipe will be coming soon!).

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Creamy Vanilla Vegan Cheesecake!

by November-14-2017

Ingredients

2 Packs (400g) Vegan Cream Cheese
1 Can Coconut Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
15 (225g) Digestives Biscuits
1/2 Cup Powered/Icing Sugar

Instructions

1. Blend your digestive biscuits or the biscuits of your choice in your blender, and pulse until you have a nice crumble2. Add your blended biscuits into a bowl, and then add 1/2 cup of melted vegan butter & mix. 3. Add your butter & biscuit mix into your cake tin. I am using a 24x6.5 cm tin but you can use anything smaller than that, and your cheesecake will be thinker than mine. Get a spoon or a bottom of a glass, and press your biscuit mix, until it's nice & flat. Then place your base into the fridge to set as you make the topping. 4. Add your coconut cream into a bowl, and whip with an electric mixer, until be becomes whipped. Then add your sugar & vanilla extract (don't worry if your coconut cream doesn't start to whip thought straight away. As soon as you add you vanilla extract, it will become much more creamier)5. Once all that is mixed thought, add your vegan cream cheese & start to whip on high until its fully combined.6. Get your biscuit base from the fridge, and now add your cream cheese mixture to the top & smooth out to cover the base. Place back into the fridge until it sets. I let mine set over night to get the best results.

Here is a recipe for vegan mac & cheese, made out of vegetables. I know “cheese” made out of vegetables; it might sound very weird but trust me, it's good. Even the UK is stepping up their vegan game with many pre-made vegan mac & cheese products now, but if you want a really quick, homemade alternative without having to buy vegan cheeses, I’ve got you covered.

Essential

1 large potato
2 carrots
½ cup nutritional yeast
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

A few people have asked me to convert the recipes into grams & millilitres, but I feel like having it in cups is a lot simpler, and here in the UK, there are so many places you can buy these little useful utensils from such as Home Bargain, as this is where I got mine from, and it makes cooking a lot easier than having to measure out each ingredient, so I suggest picking yourself up a set, because trust me, you'll realise how much easier it is to cook with them.

First peel & chop your potato & carrots, then place them into a pan of water. Boil until softened. Also get your pasta on to cook in a separate pan. Once the potatoes & carrots are soft, drain & add into your blender, along with your soy milk, nutritional yeast, paprika, turmeric & salt. Then, blend & that's it! Yes, really. That’s it. It’s a really fast & simple recipe, and tastes great!

Before I when vegan, I didn’t have a clue what nutritional yeast was, and when I first saw it, I thought it just looked like fish food. I had no clue that it would become such an essential part of my cooking. When I was first looking at recipes & meal ideas before I went vegan, so many of them said it can give your food a “cheesy” flavor, I just thought “How? How can this weird power do that?”... But it does! As you can see, the one that I am using it has added B12, so it's a great way to get that into your diet if you're worried about that! I got mine from Holland & Barrett here in the UK, while you can also get it in many health food stores.