i try making vegan cheesecake

My sister rang me up and asked if I wanted to come over and help her make a cheesecake for our Ma's birthday dinner. There were two problems with this:
1. Pretty sure our mum doesn't like cheesecake.
2. Your vegan...

But she assured me that neither of these two issues where going to be a problem. She had a plan. And a recipe. She sourced the recipe from one of my favourite blogs: My New Roots. It is definitely worth a visit! My sister also highly recommends the happy crackers.

I must admit, I was sceptical at first. We sampled some of the filling before we scooped it into the pan. It was delicious, smooth and slightly zingy. I had no reason to doubt my sis.

The base is made up of almonds, dates and a wee bit of salt. The filling consists of soaked cashews, lemon juice, vanilla bean, coconut oil and honey. Half of the mixture is also whizzed up with fresh raspberries.

I was worried the mixture wouldn't solidify properly and we would end up with a goopy mess (a delicious goopy mess but still a goopy mess). However, when we took them out of the freezer several hours later they were perfectly formed.

This is a delicious recipe. Even our carnivore brothers went back for more. I love a desert that is delicious but doesn't clog your arteries or give you that I-really-didn't-need-that-chocolate-cake feeling. I highly recommend these cakes for any occasion! We did mini cakes because we were pressed for time but the original recipe is for one big cake. Both ways work equally well!

You can find this recipe at My New Roots.

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i try making mulberry cheesecake

My dad loves a good cheesecake. He's tried a lot of cheesecakes in his time. As thanks for helping me pick mulberries I promised him a mulberry cheesecake. I've made one cheesecake in my short baking career. This recipe is adapted from one I already had. I tweaked it a little. Just a little.

1 and 1/4 cup of shredded wheatmeal/granita biscuit crumbs
75g butter, melted

500g block Philadelphia cream cheese, softened

375g can condensed milk

juice of 1 lemon

1 (generous) tbs gelatine

270g fresh mulberries, stalks cut off

extra mulberries for garnish

Grease and line a 20cm round spring-form pan. Combine butter and biscuit crumbs. Press into base of prepared pan and chill in the fridge.

Beat cream cheese until smooth (see note). Add condensed milk and lemon juice and beat until smooth. Dissolve gelatine in 1/4 cup of freshly boiled water. Fold the mulberries and gelatine mix through the cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared base and chill for 3 hours or until set.

To serve, sprinkle with extra mulberries and drizzle with mulberry coulis (see note).

Note: Beating the cream cheese can be quite tough at first but perservere! It will soften!

To make mulberry coulis just put fresh mulberries, lemon juice and sugar in a pot. Simmer until it it reaches a chunky sauce consistency or to your liking.