Vegan caramel cheesecake
Just in time for the start of the cozy season, we've pulled our caramel cheesecake recipe out of the drawer again. It's simply the perfect comfort snack with coffee in the afternoon, especially when it's cold, gray, and drizzly outside. There's nothing better than a creamy cheesecake with a crunchy cookie-nut base, topped with caramel that oozes thickly over the cake! It disappeared quickly here in the office, and the beginning of autumn became a lot cozier thanks to the thick layer of caramel!
We only slightly changed the caramel sauce recipe—it now uses regular sugar instead of coconut sugar, so you can quickly whip up this cake anytime in your kitchen! All the other ingredients are also easy to find at your local supermarket, so you won't need to spend much time trudging through the autumn rain.
If you're not a fan of walnuts, feel free to swap them for any other nuts you prefer: pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, macadamias... They all work perfectly and give the cake a fantastic crunch!
Vegan Caramel Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 150 g cookies (5.25 oz)
- 75 g walnuts (2.5 oz)
- 50 g vegan dark chocolate chips (1.75 oz)
- 100 g vegan butter (about 1 stick)
- 1 pinch of salt
For the filling:
- 100 g cane sugar (3.5 oz)
- 1200 g soy curd (5 cups)
- 150 g vegan butter (about 1.5 sticks)
- 200 ml unsweetened plant milk (0.75 cup)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 80 g vanilla pudding powder (2.75 oz)
- 1 pinch of salt
For the springform:
- vegan butter for greasing
- flour for dusting
For the topping:
- 200 g sugar (7.0 oz)
- 80 g vegan butter (about 0.75 stick)
- 100 g vegan cream (3.5 oz)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 150 g mixed nuts (5.25 oz)
- coarse sea salt
Instructions
For the crust, crumble the cookies and walnuts. The best way to do this is to place the cookies in a sealable bag and roll over them a few times with a rolling pin. The cookies don't need to be turned into fine powder; small crumbs will do. Melt the vegan butter in a small pot, let it cool slightly, and mix it with the cookie crumbs, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Grease and flour a springform pan with vegan butter. Press the cookie mixture into the pan (Ø 24 cm) and place it in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
For the filling, prepare a baking sheet and mix the cane sugar with a bit of water in a pot to create a paste, then bring it to a boil. Continue cooking the resulting syrup until the water has completely evaporated (the syrup will bubble thickly) and caramelizes to a golden brown. Pour the caramel onto the baking sheet, let it cool completely, break it into pieces and blend it into a fine caramel sugar powder in a blender.
Add the vegan butter to a pot and melt it. Pour the soy quark into a large bowl and stir in the caramel sugar powder, melted vegan butter, plant milk, pudding powder, maple syrup, and salt. Remove the springform pan from the refrigerator and pour in the quark mixture.
Preheat the oven to 175 °C / 347 °F (top and bottom heat) and bake the cake for about 60 minutes. Don't worry; cheesecake is always wobbly, even when it's "baked." After 60 minutes, let the cake cool in the oven with the door ajar; this will help it firm up.
For the caramel, mix the sugar with a bit of water in a pot to create a paste, then bring it to a boil so that the sugar dissolves and syrup forms. Continue simmering until the water completely evaporates and the syrup turns golden brown. Only then should you add the vegan butter and stir in the vegan cream (be careful: it will bubble vigorously!) until the mixture is smooth. Add the salt and pour the caramel into a bowl to cool until it thickens.
Lightly toast the nuts in a pan without oil, then chop them roughly. Once the cake has cooled, pour the vegan caramel over it, sprinkle chopped nuts on top, and finish with coarse sea salt.
