VeganMoFo Day 31: Say cheese!

That’s it, VeganMoFo is done for another year! How was it for all of you? I feel like I kept up with my own blog pretty well this year, but I burned out a bit on my other MoFo duties, like keeping up with the official blog and commenting on all of yours. I can’t wait to take a day off from cooking this weekend and catch up on everything I’ve missed.

But of course, I can’t leave you without one last dress photo. I haven’t worn this one in a little while just because this is what I was wearing when we got stranded in Ballina earlier this year, then I had an accident when we got home and ended up in hospital. This dress saw me through probably the suckiest 48 hours of my life, so as much as I love it, I was pretty sick of the sight of it after all that! But fortunately, I’ve forgiven it- and what better way to show forgiveness than with cake?

Of course, cake is also the perfect way to celebrate another successful VeganMoFo. Cheesecake has always been my favourite kind of cake, since my barista days when the cafes I worked at would always have the most amazing cheesecakes… and of course, we always found the best excuses to eat, rather than sell, them (“this new wholebean coffee seems like it would pair well with this lemon cheesecake, we’d better sample together to find out!” or “oh no, this whole caramel cheesecake doesn’t fit in the pastry case, we’d better leave a couple of slices out the back”). The blue swirl pattern on this dress made a blueberry cheesecake the obvious choice.

Since the blueberries were blended into the cheesecake and baked, they lost their bright colour- a shame, but the intention is still there!

The recipe for this cheesecake is yet another (adapted) recipe from my cookbook of the moment, Artisan Vegan Cheese. I’ve made plenty of vegan cheesecakes in my time, and while Tofutti-based cakes are seriously delicious (and I can’t tell them from dairy cheesecakes), the recipes tend to all blur together a bit. This one, originally written for raspberry swirl cheesecake, is a bit different since it requires you to make your own cream cheese first. I thought that my last VeganMoFo post for the year seemed like an occasion worth the extra effort- and besides, I love the challenge of vegan cheese-making, so I dived right in.

My cream cheese didn’t come out tasting like Tofutti, but it had a definite cream cheese quality that really surprised me- especially given that the ingredients are just cashews, water, a small amount of soy yoghurt, and salt! I let mine culture for a couple of days, and was rewarded with a tasty and tangy homemade spread, without all the unpronounceable ingredients found in commercial vegan cream cheese.

The cream cheese worked really well in the cake. Although it’s not as ‘cheesy’ tasting as a Tofutti-based cheesecake, the texture is closer to the baked cheesecakes of my cafe days. I would liken this more to an Italian baked ricotta cake than the creamy, overly sweet cheesecakes that we’re more used to. It was a nice change, and I always appreciate a recipe that doesn’t just replicate the dozens that I already have! This makes a super tall cake, too (and I still had some filling left over!), so we’ve got cake to last us a good long time. Not a bad way to end VeganMoFo, if you ask me!

So that’s it for another year. Thanks everyone who stopped by and commented, read or laughed at the photos of my idiot dogs. I hope you all take a well-deserved break after this… but not for too long! Stay in touch, everyone!

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Comments: 5

  1. Jojo November 2, 2012 at 4:56 am Reply

    I have to admit to being no fan of cheesecake but I like your dress! Your MoFo-ing has been a joy to read every day and I am in awe of your ability to stick to your theme!

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  2. Katrin November 1, 2012 at 10:36 pm Reply

    Thank you so much for all your great MoFo posts this year! So entertaining! I loved to stop by every day and marvel at your lovely dresses and vegan creations. Don’t make us wait too long before you return to the kitchen, you’re fab! :-)

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  3. Emma November 1, 2012 at 7:29 pm Reply

    Fabulous! Artisan Vegan Cheese is on my Christmas list..although it’s difficult to wait that long…I’ve so enjoyed your MoFo posts. Such fun to see all your dresses and dress-inspired creations. Congrats on making it to the end :)

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  4. Maggie Muggins November 1, 2012 at 9:54 am Reply

    The style of that dress is super cute and looks great on you, I hope the bad associations with the dress are now replaced with cheesecake.
    I really enjoyed this post! Cheesecake has been one of those recipes I haven’t made since being vegan as I used to love it and I’m worried I’ll be disappointed. I know that’s kind of silly, so I’ve really been eyeing up that cheesecake recipe as my first one to try, I really love the idea of making my own cream cheese instead of using Tofutti.

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  5. ameyfm November 1, 2012 at 9:01 am Reply

    Great post! Your MoFo efforts this year were truly excellent! I love this dress so much ~ it looks so dashing on you. Sorry you have a sort of crummy association with it. I also really love cheesecake, but unfortunately I am freaked out by tofutti, so I’m really glad to know about this recipe! I have the Cheese book, but haven’t busted into it yet. The cheesecake is extra motivation! Happy mofo!

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