Gaz Oakley’s New York style cheesecake
We certainly found that puddings were the most fun part of our vegan fortnight and this was one of our favourites. (It’s a Gaz Oakley recipe we found in The Guardian’s Feast magazine.) The only real change we’ve made is to the quantity of vegan ‘butter’ and coconut oil in the base mix as there was too much liquid when we tried it.
INGREDIENTS
For the base:
- 300g Lotus Biscoff Biscuits
- 100g melted vegan ‘butter’
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
For the filling:
- 65g almond flour
- 360g vegan ‘cream cheese’
- 400ml coconut milk
- 200g caster sugar
- 5 tbsp plain flour
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
For the topping:
- 4 sticks pink rhubarb, chopped
- Juice and zest of 1 orange
- 120ml water
- 4 tbsp agave nectar
- Fresh mint to decorate
DETAILS
- Cuisine: Vegan
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hr
- Cool Time: 4 hrs
- Total Time: 5 hrs 15 mins
- Serves: 10-12
METHOD
Heat oven to 170°C (150°C fan/gas 3½). Grease and line the base of a loose-bottomed, 8cm-10cm deep, 23cm diameter cake tin.
Blitz the biscuits to a fine crumb and then stir in the melted butter and coconut oil. Tip into the lined tin and use a spoon to press the mix down to cover the base and approximately 3cm up the sides of the tin. Make sure there are no gaps, then chill.
Clean the blender and blitz the almond flour, cream cheese and coconut milk until very smooth. Add the sugar, cornflour and vanilla, and blend again.
Remove the tin from the fridge, pour in the filling and level out the top. Don’t panic if the filling rises above the level of the biscuits, this won’t matter.
Fill a deep oven tray with 4cm warm water. Wrap the bottom of the cake tin in foil to stop water getting in, then put in the tray and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for an hour.
Take the tray out of the oven (don’t worry if the cheesecake still seems very wobbly) and leave to cool for an hour before lifting the tin from the tray. Dry the bottom and put in the fridge to set for at least three hours.
For the topping, simmer all the ingredients in a small pan on a low heat for 8-10 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft. Drain the fruit and reduce down the juices to half before adding them back to the fruit.
Once the cake has chilled, release it from the tin and cut into slices with a hot knife. Serve with the rhubarb (either warm or cold) and decorate with mint.
DRINKS
How about something pink, sweet and fizzy but with a bit of Aussie swagger? Innocent Bystander Moscato 2018 – which is sustainable, vegetarian and vegan, and only 5.5% alcohol. Happy days…
(£5.24 thedrinkshop.com for 375ml or, for a full bottle, £8.99 rannochscott.co.uk, £9.35 vinvm.co.uk, £9.49 thewinereserve.co.uk)