Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Orange cheesecake with chocolate base

I got the idea for this from one of Tessa Kiros's books (again!)..
I think it was Twelve.. She had a recipe for a blood orange ricotta tart, with a chocolate base.

The combination of chocolate & orange, while not new, appeals to my senses-
The contrast of colours, smells & of course tastes..

I didn't want to use any vegan cream cheese, hydrogenation and all that..
I've never made a tofu baked cheesecake before.. so I looked to"The New Farm" vegetarian cookbook for the basic structure of one.
So far as the base, I basically winged it.

This is tasty- the orange flavour intensified with cooking, while the chocolate softened, overall a lovely combination..
Out of the oven, the tofu went pancake thin though!- next time I'll probably 1/2 the base recipe, and double the cheesecake one. Anyone else had similar problems with tofu cheesecake?

Recipe for one small cheesecake
Ingredients:
2Tbs earth balance margarine or similar
4Tbs maple syrup
1/2 cup plain organic flour
3Tbs unsweetened cocoa
Teeny pinch of salt
Dash of vanilla essence
2Tbs orange juice

1 cup silken tofu
2Tbs granulated raw sugar
2Tbs orange juice
Zest of one orange (zest the orange before juicing it!)
1Tbs canola oil

Method:
1.In a medium mixing bowl, cream together margarine and maple syrup.
2.Add remaining ingredients, and beat well to combine.
3.Spoon in to a greased pie dish, and put in a pre-heated 180C(350F) oven for about 10 minutes. Remove and place in the freezer until cool to the touch.
4.Meanwhile place all cheesecake ingredients in a food processor, and process until smooth and creamy.
5.Pour cheesecake mixture over cooled base, and return to oven for about 30 minutes.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

beautiful!

Anonymous said...

ps: I cannot say the "pancake" thing ever happened to me. I wonder what happened?

Sally Veganini said...

Thanks for the comments Celine :D

Oh! :-S about the pancake thing- and did I mention, crepe would be more apt? haha
Perhaps I baked it too long?
Have you ever made a cheesecake with only tofu- no cream cheese?

urban vegan said...

Vegan cheesecakes are better than the original on which they're modeled. Your version looks sinfully yummy.

Deirdre Cross said...

Hey Sally,

I haven't had this problem with vegan cheescakes before- but I've never tried that recipe from the New Farm Cookbook. I swear by the Gazebo Cheescake in the UnCheese Cookbook. Even omnivores say it tastes and feels like good cheesecake. It has almost 2 lbs of firm tofu in it and raw cashews, agar, and cornstarch for body. Good stuff.

xo, Dee

Sally Veganini said...

Thanks for commenting Urban Vegan (love your blog) & Deirdre(I always thought you would have the greatest blog)..

That sounds like a great recipe Dee! I think my library has that book, so I'll check it out.
Maybe it would have been better to use firm tofu?

I haven't had any desire to eat cheesecake in 5 years..
But now I've started this thing, I can't wait to chomp into some creamy & fluffy cheesecake! :)