Vegan Poppy Seed Cheesecake

12g protein

Recipe by Nikoleta, vegan cook and author of every recipe in the Tofu app · @surovadcerka

Ingredients

crust

• 215 g oat biscuits
• 30 g all-purpose flour
• 20 g Dutch-process cocoa powder (Dutch-processed or black)
• 80 g vegan butter

filling

• 150 g vegan white chocolate
• 400 g firm tofu
• 150 g vegan sour cream
• 70 g lemon juice
• 60 g powdered sugar
• 20 g cornstarch
• salt
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 30 g ground poppy seeds

lemon curd

• 100 g lemon juice
• 1 lemon zest (zest only; organic)
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 10 g cornstarch
• 80 g vegan butter

Contains: gluten, soy

How to make it

1. Begin by preparing the base. Take the butter out of the refrigerator in advance so it softens a bit.
2. Finely crush the vegan oat cookies and weigh out 215g after crushing.
3. Add the all-purpose flour and cocoa to the crushed cookies. Mix everything together and add the plant-based butter cut into cubes.
4. Work the butter in with your fingertips to create a dough. It shouldn't be too dry or too wet.
5. Choose a cheesecake pan with a diameter of about 20 cm. Cut a circle from parchment paper with the same diameter to line the bottom.
6. Press the dough into the pan and shape the crust. I shape the crust using a lid or glass and a spatula.
7. For this size pan, the crust walls should be about 4 cm high. I make the walls thicker, a bit more than 1 cm, and the bottom thinner, about 6-7 mm.
8. Place the shaped crust in the refrigerator until you need it.
9. Preheat the oven to 175°C – top and bottom heat without fan.
10. Over steam or in the microwave, heat and melt the vegan white chocolate.
11. Place the tofu in a blender, then pour in the chocolate, cream, lemon juice, powdered sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.
12. Blend everything together until smooth to create a beautiful cream without tofu lumps. Mix for about 2 minutes.
13. Taste and adjust the cream's flavor as desired – more sugar, more vanilla, or more lemon.
14. At the very end, fold in the ground poppy seeds without blending.
15. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and pour the tofu cream into it.
16. Bake the vegan poppy seed cheesecake in a water bath – wrap the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil, place it in a deep baking tray and pour hot water heated in a kettle around it.
17. Bake the cheesecake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Be careful not to over-dry the top, even if it still seems wet, as it will crack later.
18. After baking, let the cheesecake cool for about 1 hour in the turned-off, slightly open oven to prevent cracking, whether you used a water bath or not.
19. Let the vegan cheesecake cool in the pan, then store it in the refrigerator to set properly. I usually let it set overnight, but give it at least 2 hours.
20. While the cake is baking, prepare the lemon cream-curd.
21. Juice the lemons and grate the lemon zest. Pour the juice into a small saucepan and add the zest, sugar, and cornstarch.
22. Mix the starch well and bring everything to a boil over medium heat until the cream starts to thicken.
23. After thickening, stir in the plant-based butter.
24. You can pour the cream on the cheesecake before putting it in the refrigerator so the cream sets on top, and keep what remains for drizzling when serving.
25. After setting, remove the cheesecake from the pan and cut into 8 pieces. Store it in the refrigerator.

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