Vegan Crème Egg Cheesecake with Gluten Free Base.
A deliciously luxurious looking vegan crème egg cheesecake that is in fact relatively simple to make with the right tools. Grab yourself a mini chocolate silicone mould and you whip one of these up in no time at all and impress you family and friends.
Servings: 10 slices
Calories: 550kcal
Ingredients
For the biscuit base
- 300 g gluten free digestive biscuit(s) effectively two packets
- 100 g butter or butter alternative (I use Flora plant butter) I use Flora vegan and dairy free butter
For the no-bake cheesecake layer
- 350 g vegan cream cheese two tubs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 ml dairy free cream I use Emlea Plant Double Cream but single is fine
- 25 g butter or butter alternative (I use Flora plant butter)
- 300 g dairy free 'milk' chocolate I used dark chocolate
- 100 g icing/confectioners sugar or add gradually to taste
For the vegan crème eggs
- 35 g dairy free 'milk' chocolate
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 2 tsp dairy free milk I used soya milk
- 6 tbsp icing/confectioners sugar
- egg yellow food colouring
Instructions
To make the gluten free biscuit base
- In a blender blitz the gluten free digestive biscuits until you have biscuit crumbs.
- Melt the dairy free butter. I use a microwave for a few seconds.
- Add the butter to the blender and whizz again until all the biscuit crumbs are coated in melted butter.
- Tip into a prepared 20cm loose bottom round cake tin. To prepare mine I simply add a circle of grease proof paper to the base of the tin held in place with a little spray of coconut oil.
- Tip the biscuit crumb mixture into your tin and with a large metal spoon smooth down evenly pressing firmly until you have a flat even biscuit base.
- Pop the biscuit base in the fridge to set while you set to work on the creamy cheesecake layer.
To make the cheesecake layer
- This is very simple, add the two tubs of dairy free cream cheese and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
- Next melt the butter in a little jug (I use the microwave) and then pour the 100ml of cream into the melted butter, this cools it down to add to the cream cheese.
- Pour the cream and melted butter into the cream cheese and beat again, you'll notice the cream cheese thicken a little at this point.
- Now melt your dairy free chocolate [see notes on how to melt] and pour this into the cream cheese mixture beating well to incorporate.
- Finally add the icing sugar, it's better to sift this into the bowl to prevent lumps. I've recommended 100g in the ingredients, you can add as much or as little to taste.
- Now remove your chilled biscuit base and pour the chocolate cheesecake mixture onto the base. Using a spatula smooth the mixture to the edges of the tin and leave a nice even finish (doesn't have to be perfectly flat so don't sweat it).
- Now return the tin to the fridge to chill and set your cheesecake. This only takes 30 mins to set.
To make your vegan crème eggs
- Melt the 35g of dairy free chocolate (I do do this in the microwave as a little amount like this will melt easily before it burns)
- Spoon tiny amounts into 10 mini egg silicone moulds and tease the chocolate up the sides to coat the entire mould. With any excess chocolate make more solid chocolate halves if you can.
- Pop the chocolate mould into the fridge to chill and set.
- Meanwhile, make you fondant filling. To do this simply melt 1tsp of coconut oil in a little pot, add 3tbsp icing sugar and then 1tsp dairy free milk, stir briskly to beat out any lumps.
- Now repeat the last point with 1tsp coconut oil, 3tbsp icing sugar and 1tsp dairy free milk but this time add a tiny drop of egg yellow food colouring.To give you an idea, I dipped a wooden cocktail stick into my yellow food paste and stirred the second fondant mix until it turned a gorgeous yolk yellow.
- You now have two little pots of fondant, one white representing the egg white and one yellow representing the egg yolk.
- By now your egg moulds should have set, remove from fridge and gently pop out halved egg shells. add a dollop of the white to the empty chocolate mini mould, then add a tiny dollop of yell for the yolk.
To decorate
- You'll find you have some yellow 'yolk' coloured fondant left. If needs be, heat for a few seconds in the microwave and drizzle the yellow fondant over your cheesecake in a non-uniformed squiggle. Finally, add your mini vegan crème eggs placing them evenly around the edge of the cheesecake.
- You can serve this immediately or keep it in the fridge until needed.
Notes
How to melt dairy free chocolate
Normally chocolate melts just fine in the microwave as long as you keep a close eye on it. Dairy free chocolate, on the other hand, has a tendency to burn really easily so I would not recommend using this method.
Instead use the Bain Marie method and place a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Make sure no water gets into the melted chocolate you'll end up with instant concrete!
Nutrition
Calories: 550kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 368mg | Potassium: 65mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 483IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 4mg