Vegan Redcurrant Chocolate Cheesecake
As summer draws closer, my culinary heart always gets a little wistful. Will it be my last strawberry this year or the last cherry? Every year, saying goodbye to the fruit and vegetables we buy locally in summer is difficult. As well as raspberries, gooseberries and apricots, we also have to say goodbye to redcurrants at some point. And because the end of summer is coming ever faster, we are already making sure that you will eat enough redcurrants so that you don't have to be wistful in a few months.
A chocolate cheesecake, aka. a plucked cake, is often a good choice if you want to satisfy different tastes. Some love chocolate, others cheesecake and others prefer a fruit cake - nothing could be easier! This cake combines all of these in one and is quite easy to prepare. However, I recommend you allow some time and prepare the cake a day in advance to cool well and spend a night in the fridge. Please never cut a cheesecake while it is still warm, as the cake will only be firm to cut once it has cooled.
Currants are in season from June to August, but you can, of course, also replace the small sweet and sour orbs with rhubarb (April-June), strawberries (May-June), cherries (June-August), mirabelle plums (July-September), damsons (July-October) or apples. The latter are available almost all year round, either fresh from local cultivation or in stock, also from regional cultivation. But for now, it's time to make the most of the next few months and bring regional fruit and vegetables into the kitchen as often as possible!
Vegan Redcurrant Chocolate Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the chocolate dough:
- 400 g (3.25 cup) flour (type 405)
- 125 g (0.66 cup) brown sugar
- 16 g (4 tsp) baking powder
- 65 g (0.5 cup) baking cocoa
- 250 g (8.75 oz) vegetable margarine
For the cheesecake filling:
- 150 g (5.33 oz) plant-based margarine
- 74 g (2.66 oz) vegan vanilla custard powder
- 4 tbsp plant-based milk
- 800 g (3.33 cup) vegan yogurt or skyr (quark)
- 50 g (0.25 cup) brown sugar
Also:
- 200 g (7 oz) currants
- vegan butter for greasing
Instructions
For the chocolate dough, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and cocoa in a bowl. Add the plant-based margarine and knead in with your hands.
Grease a springform pan (Ø 24 centimeters / 9.5 inches) with vegan butter. Pour half of the dough into the tin and press firmly to the bottom with your fingers to create an even base. Shape three quarters of the remaining dough into several long rolls and place these over the dough base along the edge of the tin. Then, press firmly against the edge of the cake to create an evenly high edge. Fold the edge of the pastry well into the pastry base. Set the remaining dough aside. It will end up as a crumble on top of the filling.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C / 355 °F (convection heat). For the filling, melt the margarine in a small pan and leave to cool slightly.
Mix the vanilla pudding powder with the plant-based milk in a bowl until there are no more lumps. Pour the vegan yogurt into a large bowl and stir in the pudding mix and brown sugar. When the margarine is only lukewarm, stir in with a whisk.
Wash the currants, remove them from the stalk and mix into the cheesecake filling.
Pour the filling into the cake tin and sprinkle the remaining chocolate batter over the cake. Bake the cake at 180 °C / 355 °F (convection heat) for about 60 minutes. Before cutting the cake, it should be allowed to cool completely, as the filling only sets when it cools.
