Vegan Tofu Mango Cheesecake – Recipe

Tofu mango cheesecake: a fitting end to my week of sugar free baking.


Ages ago, my friend Min Hwee and I had lunch in Mildreds, an awesome vegetarian restaurant. For dessert, we had tofu mango cheesecake- and we never forgot about it. I promised I'd try to come up a recipe for one, but I've been avoiding it for a while, because I knew that making it would involve the use of one of my worst enemies in the culinary world.


Vege-gel.

Or agar- I've never had much luck with either. They set with a different texture, being made with slightly different vegetable extracts (in agar's case seaweed)- Vege-gel with a softer one and agar with a more solid set. However, the both set at the same speed: bloody fast.

Which makes them very unforgiving ingredients if you're not quick enough.

This is why there are no step-by-step photos for this post: because I knew I had to concentrate, and I only have my cheap compact camera with none of the stuff that lets you take photos remotely. In fact, I did indeed have a disaster when I initially made this: I added cold ingredients to hot and the mixture ended up not setting properly, so I had to dump everything back in the saucepan and re-boil it.

However! Here, I am, ready to share a recipe for vegan tofu mango cheesecake with you.

You'll need to refrigerate a can of thick coconut milk (look for the highest coconut milk content) overnight first: the coconut cream floats to the top and solidifies so you can scoop it out to use for this recipe (you can freeze the coconut water left behind for curries and other recipes later).


You'll also need some firm silken tofu: it needs to be firm silken rather than just firm or just silken, so you get the creamy smooth texture and the filling will hold its shape better.


Ingredients for Raw Crust:

-150g almonds
-100g pecans
-10 dates

Ingredients for Filling:

1 block firm silken tofu
350ml fresh mango puree (from about 2 big mangoes)
200ml coconut cream (from 1 can)
3tbsp coconut oil, melted
3tbsp lemon juice
100ml agave nectar
3 packets Vege-gel

Method:

1) Start by making the crust (as before with my raw strawberry cheesecake): lightly grease a 7" springform pan and line the bottom with some foil-covered cardboard to make cake remove easy later

2) Put the nuts and dates in a food processor and process until crumbly, but so the mixture sticks together when you compact it, and pack into the bottom of your cake tin to form the crust base

3) Blend all the filling ingredients together in a blender or food processor, and pour into a saucepan. Whisk in the Vege-gel (with a balloon whisk rather than an electric one- you don't want too much air beaten in) until dissolved

4) Bring your pan to a gentle boil for a minute or so. You'll need to keep stirring gently to stop the thick mixture from splattering everywhere!

5) Turn off the heat and immediately pour the mixture into the cake pan over your crust

6) Let it cool to room temperature for an hour or so, uncovered, then clingfilm it up and chill for at least four hours, or preferably overnight

7) When you're ready, carefully unmould your cheesecake, and if you like serve with some chopped mango and extra coconut cream.


This is so yummy. The mangoy-ness really comes through, and the lemon juice gives the whole thing a similar tang to real cream cheese. You don't really taste the coconut cream within the cheesecake, but it give it a nice creamy taste.

Originally I was going to post my recipe for raw carrot cup cakes that I made just before I started Sugar Free February. I took pretty photos and everything- but alas, I lost the recipe I constructed literally right after I made it. D= So even though this is officially the last recipe for Sugar Free February and I'll be allowed to bake with sugar again from next weekend, I reckon I can stand another week- these desserts have been delicious without refined sugar. In any case, I'll definitely be continuing to try out more recipes from now on, and I don't think I'll go back to my old ways now I'm used to not having sugar every day!

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