Goodbye will power...hello cheesecake!

I've been trying to be good. Having made a pie, and thus broken-in the new pie dish and resurrected the idea of Baking Day (because as some of you might have noticed I did an awful lot of baking over the summer, playing fast and loose with the idea of only baking very indulgent things once a month) I decided that it would be best if I laid off the baking for a while and concentrated on trying not to stuff my face too much before the decadence of Christmas rolls around.

Then the fruit lady had blueberries for the very last time and I couldn't resist. I could have just added them righteously to the top of my muesli in the morning, but N doesn't tend to eat breakfast, and since he's the bigger fan of blueberries it would be mean to save all the pleasure for myself.

So I baked him a cheesecake.


The excuse I used for this was that we'd invited friends round for dinner and needed a dessert idea, one that would use up the berries that had been sitting in the fridge while I pondered their fate. Truth is, two of N's most favourite things are cheesecake and blueberries, and when it comes to the last berries of the season, a season that hasn't once included a single non-tofu cheesecake, not using the berries to make one would be a crime.

And you know what? It was worth the wait. I made a blueberry streusel cheesecake from a recipe I'd cut out of the Sainsbury's magazine months ago. It seemed to combine all the perfect elements: the fresh berries of summer, the crumbly goodness of autumn and of course the all-round favourite of cheesecake. The other good thing about it was it didn't require a bain-marie, just to be put in the oven for an hour and then cooled.

The recipe called for full-fat cream cheese, and in a desperate attempt to make it a little less calorific I used half-fat. I was worried this might affect how it set (as I've had problems using low-fat cheese in cream cheese frosting before), so I added a little more cornflour than the recipe called for. However I needn't have been concerned as it set perfectly.

The crumble topping is also what is packed for the base, and during the long cooking time this becomes almost caramalised. I slightly missed the more traditional (or traditional to me at least) base of crushed biscuits, especially as that tends to be less sweet. However, since the thing that ranks alongside cheesecake and blueberries in its sweet gastronomic greatness for N is caramel, the base went down a treat!

I think when I make this again (which I will be doing as N loved it) I shall lessen the sugar in the streusel (and make less of it as despite being generous on the base and topping I had leftover) and probably double the volume of berries as I felt they didn't come through as strongly as I would have liked. I think this might be because they were late season berries, but even so, more wouldn't do any harm. I might even omit the topping altogeter and put more berries there instead of the crumble. Who knows. I think the recipe is quite forgiving, so hopefully I'll be able to play around and alter it, using different fruits and flavours. I can see this becoming my go-to recipe for cheesecake. For now at least.

Blueberry Streusel Cheesecake - Serves 8-10 (or two gluttons and a cat!*)

Adapted from Sainsbury's Magazine

Base and topping:

200g plain flour
150g light soft brown sugar
100g cold unsalted butter
1 or 2 tsp ground cinnamon depending on taste

Filling:

225g blueberries
2 tbsp caster sugar
grated zest of two lemons, plus some juice
500g low-fat cream cheese
4 tbsp sour cream
125g icing sugar
15g cornflour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 medium eggs, lightly beaten

Grease and line a 20cm springform tin and preheat the oven to 180C. Place the flour, sugar and cinnamon into a bowl and mix. Then cut in the cold butter, or rub together, until you get a breadcrumb consistancy. Pour half of the mixture into the tin and press down into an even layer. Bake for 10-15mins, until lightly coloured, then remove and cool. Set the remaining streusel aside.

Put the blueberries in a small saucepan with the caster sugar and 1 tbsp of water and some lemon juice. Simmer over a low heat until the berries just soften and the juices turn syrupy. Cool.

Place the cream cheese in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Then beat in the sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Sift in the icing sugar and cornflour and combine. Then gently fold in the eggs slowly, using a wooden spoon so as to prevent air bubbles.

Spoon the cooled berries over the base and then pour the cheese mixture over the top, gently evening and smoothing the top. Bake for 30 mintues, then remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining streusel over the top (I didn't use it all as there was rather a lot there). Return for the over for a further 35mins. Then turn off the oven and leave inside to cool. Once completely cool in the oven, refridgerate overnight.


* Not quite true as our friends did get large portions. But it is amazing how quickly baked goods get eaten in this house and I'm not sure I can blame it entirely on the cat as he's skinnier than both of us!

Healthy cake - I kid you not! or; it's easier and tastier to be vegan than you think

This weekend I was mostly baking...vegan cakes!

I have a very dear friend who is vegan. I don't see her anywhere near as much as I would like, which is silly considering she is only in Brighton. Annnyway, this Sunday we were off to visit friends in Lancing to catch up and continue our game of D&D. Lancing being only eight miles from Brighton it seemed rude not to pop in on Q. I had raved to her a little while back about the vegan cheesecake I had tried out, and promised to make her one for the next time I saw her. Not being one to break such baking promises I knew that even though we'd only be seeing each other for a few hours, and that would be over dinner, it just wouldn't do to turn up empty handed. So a vegan cheesecake had to be made. Oh, what a hardship says the baking obsessive!

I then decided to go one better. The tradition for D&D sessions is that whoever is the visitor brings cake. I'm not sure quite how is started, but last time round we were presented with a beautiful carrot cake, and when the five of us couldn't finish it, it was kindly left behind. I wanted to return not only the favour, but the cake tin! and so set about trawling recipe books for something suitable. Having been so concerned about the fat in my diet after a holiday of such weird food and some twinching sciatic moments, I wanted something as low fat as possible, without any compromise in the taste. A tough ask I know, until I stumbled on this site. I couldn't believe it. A fat-free vegan recipe for chocolate and orange cake. Perfect. I could even make one big cake, and steal out some of the batter to make a mini one for Q. She'd get two tasty vegan treats, and we'd get a healthy cake. Yep, a healthy cake. Sconto!

The outcome would also allow me to use the two mini cake tins I'd bought earlier in the week, totally justifying their purchase! hehe.

I won't post the recipe for the chocolate-orange cake as I used it exactly as the site says, and you can just enjoy browsing there. The only difference was that I used an 8" deep cake pan rather than a bundt tin, as I couldn't find one anywhere in time. It worked well to start with, but whilst cooling it sank. The mixture was clearly too light to hold up all the way through. I probably should have split the mixture and made a layer cake. However I iced the cake anyway and it didn't make any difference to the taste, except that the icing that pooled in the middle looked interesting and made it more moist. Despite the sinking it was alright, more moist than I expected, not gooey, but moist with fruit juice (and icing!). However I did think it was slightly chewy and although there was certainly no way you'd be able to tell it was fat-free I couldn't help thinking a regular chocolate cake might have been a better idea. It might be one to experiment with. Hmmm...


The vegan cheesecake was very well received and is fast becoming one of my new favourite desserts. Since it's made with tofu and yoghurt it's lower in fat and calories than normal cheesecake, but still tastes great. It's also so easy to make. Unlike my last attempt at a tofu cheesecake which only needed to be egg-free, this one had to be fully vegan so I did make some changes to the recipe I had. I couldn't get vegan cream cheese, so used soy yoghurt instead. This actually made a much better texture and was, of course, even lower in fat. I also needed a base that was fully vegan, so opted for store bought vegan digestives, mixed with toasted hazelnuts and blended with apple sauce. I had some left over blackberries so whacked those in with the the tofu mix, topped the whole thing with a blackberry puree and voila! Vegan blackberry cheesecake!


I think that my next vegan cheesecake experiment will be chocolate. I think the combination of really dark chocolate and the creamy tofu will work perfectly. Again I won't post the recipe because it is essentially the same as the previous one except with yoghurt rather than cheese and the addition of blackberries.

Hurrah for vegan low-fat baking!

What! No eggs?!

There was another reason why my preparations for dinner began on Thursday evening. We had sent out an email earlier in the week asking if anyone had food allergies, expecting the usual dismissals and witty retorts. As it happened one of our guests turned out to be allergic to egg. Now this wouldn't have usually been a problem (one of my closest friends is vegan so I am used to dairy free cooking and baking) except that N adores cheesecake. I had promised him a baked lemon cheesecake with raspberries for dessert and just wasn't sure it would be possible without the eggs. Baked cheesecakes rely on the eggs for their binding and setting, and I am not really a fan of non-baked cheesecakes, they just don't have that dense indulgent texture.

Fortunately I found a recipe for a vegan baked cheesecake using tofu and vegan cream cheese. I bought tofu, but wasn't sure if it would be the right sort and thus whether it would turn out alright. We came up with a contingency plan. I would try the suitable cheesecake recipe and in case it didn't work would also bake an eggless chocolate cake and then I could make a second baked cheesecake to satisfy N and another one of our guests who isn't a fan of chocolate.

So on Thursday night the cheesecake experiment began. I had to do everything in the blender because I don't have a food processor so it took a little more time, but the resulting mix looked great, it was really silky and you couldn't tell it was made with tofu. The final thing to worry about was how it would bake. Fortunately it came out great. I chilled it over night and then topped it with some raspberry puree. It went down a treat and no-one would have guessed that it was made with tofu.


Despite the success of the cheesecake I didn't feel I could let the chocolate lovers down and I knew N wouldn't be disappointed if I made a second cake. So on Friday I had a bash at an eggless chocolate gateau. It too turned out really well, and was so moist. I was really impressed. I had fun with the piping too. I am getting really into this decorating malarkey.



I think what pleased me most was seeing the face of our friend with the egg allergy as it lit up when I assured her both desserts were egg free. She was so pleased, and had a tiny piece of each to make sure she'd tried everything. That's definitely one of the best things about cooking and baking, making other people feel indulged and happy.

So, here are the recipes I used.

(Vegan) Lemon Cheesecake ( adapted from Baking Bites blog)

14 oz package firm silken tofu
8 oz vegan yoghurt
2/3 cup sugar
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cornstarch
9 inch base (I used 250g of crushed digestive biscuits with 25g melted butter mixed together and prebaked for 5 mins)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Place silken tofu and vegan yoghurt in the food processor. Process for 1 minute, then add sugar. Process until smooth and no sugar granules remain, 3-5 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk in cornstarch. Pour mixture into the food processor and process until very smooth. Pour into prepared crust and bake for 45 minutes.
Allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours, then refrigerate overnight.
Serves 10

I didn't really find this cheesecake to be very lemony, even though I also added the lemon zest. However, since I was topping it with a sharp raspberry puree it didn't really matter.


Egg-free Chocolate gateaux (serves 8) Adapted from “Vegan” by Tony Weston and Yvonne Bishop

I didn’t use vegan ingredients in this because it was for someone with just an egg allergy. However, just use vegan equivalents where they are needed. I have put them in brackets.

250g Self-raising flour
250g soft brown sugar
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
125ml flavourless oil (I used groundnut)
150ml Soya milk
1 tablespoon natural yoghurt (vegan yoghurt, bean curd or coconut cream)
1 dessertspoon of cider vinegar
25g dark chocolate (use 70% vegan chocolate, which I did anyway as I prefer it)

Prepare two 8 inch cake tins and pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Place all the ingredients, except the chocolate, in a bowl and beat together until combined. Coarsely grate the chocolate and add to the cake mixture. Divide between the tins evenly and level the tops. Bake for 25 mins.

I sandwiched the cake with a mix of mascarpone cheese and low fat cream cheese (I just did it to taste, I didn’t want just mascarpone as it’s too sweet for me) with a layer of raspberry puree on top. I then iced it with a whipped chocolate ganache icing (same as the Easter cupcakes, which is where you can find the recipe, I think).