This No Bake Vegan Cheesecake has a richly flavoured Black Doris Plum filling, which is smooth and full-bodied. With a chocolate-peanut butter biscuit base, and a thick layer of chocolate mousse on top, this cake is sure to wow on any occasion. This show-stopper is vegan, egg-free, gluten-free and sugar-free!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe:
- It’s cheap – made from inexpensive, easy-to-find ingredients, this vegan dessert is surprisingly budget friendly. This is because the components that hold it together are coconut based, and this is a cheaper option than nut-based or tofu-based vegan ingredients.
- It’s dairy and egg free – which makes it suitable for vegans and those with dairy intolerances. It also makes it more shelf stable, lasting longer in the fridge.
- It’s an impressive dessert – three layers, with an impressive plum-coloured filling, you’ll get wows as you bring this out to the table. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser!
- It’s a delicious dessert – the dark chocolate and tangy plum are a classic dessert combination, and are heavenly in this dessert form. The smooth, rich chocolate mousse with the creamy plum cheesecake filling and the crunch of the chocolate base create a taste sensation on your tongue.
Making the ‘Biscuit’ Base
You’d be surprised by how cheap and easy it is to make a vegan, gluten-free and sugar-free biscuit base. This recipe is an adaptation of my nut-free no bake cookies, and has the addition of oats (so that is more crunchy, and not rock-hard) and peanut butter (for flavour). Instead of rolling into cookies, just press the mixture into the lined tin, and pop in the fridge to set!
This base uses no expensive or wacky ingredients. In fact, you may already have them in your cupboard!
And it’s so easy to make – no baking is required to make this crunchy biscuit base!
By carefully blending coconut, cocoa, Truvia, oats and peanut butter, you get a mixture that sticks together like bliss balls, and sets firm like a traditional biscuit base.
All these ingredients are very ordinary – you wouldn’t think they could be combined to create a delicious biscuit crumb…but they can!
And all you need to do is blend, and press into the tin! Easy as pie!
Making the Black Doris Plum Filling
This Black Doris plum filling is sharp and sweet and creamy…everything you want a black doris plum cheesecake to be.
And it uses only 3 main ingredients (plus a bit of Truvia if you want more sweetness). These three ingredients are Tinned Black Doris Plums (if you can get them in juice, then that is amazing), desiccated coconut, and coconut cream.
Coconut is the hero of my vegan cheesecakes. Cheap to buy and easy to get (I don’t have to go to any specialty stores. I just have to wander down the baking aisle of my local supermarket), it is one of my favourite ingredients to work with.
By blitzing the desiccated coconut into butter, you get a setting agent. To make a tall, 23 cm cheesecake, you will need about 500g of desiccated coconut, blended.
some other no bake cheesecake recipes to tickle your fancy
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The other hero of my Vegan Cheesecakes is Coconut Cream. I love using coconut cream because it sets really well when chilled, regardless of the desiccated coconut. This means you can add fruit pulp and not disrupt the texture and firmness too much.
Using desiccated coconut and coconut cream as a cheesecake filling base, means I can get my cake to set and be creamy, with having to use nuts, tofu, or agar agar.
This makes my vegan cheesecakes so cheap to make, too (because nuts and tofu are so expensive to buy)! No need to worry about soaking or whipping. This is just a blend and chill cake!
Making the Chocolate Mousse Topping
Vegan chocolate mousse is a LOT easier to make than the traditional kind! No need to worry about folding 3 different mixtures together. Don’t faff around with separating eggs, beating sugar in by the spoonful. Forget about whipping cream!
The only whipping you need to worry about in Vegan Mousse is turning Aquafaba (tinned Chickpea liquid) into the consistency of beaten egg whites.
This means, you just whip it until you can hold the bowl upside down (over your head if you’re feeling game), and the thickened aquafaba will stay put.
Pro tip: add a dash of white vinegar or lemon juice, which helps to stabilise the aquafaba and it will beat up stiffer.
Before you beat the aquafaba, though, you will need to melt the chocolate in a bain marie. While the chocolate is cooling, you whip the aquafaba to the required stiffness.
Then it is time to fold the stiff aquafaba into the melted, room-temperature chocolate. This is the trickiest part of the whole cake, because you want to keep the airiness of the aquafaba, and you don’t want the mixture to split.
It is so easy to lose over-mix the mousse, and if you do, it will end up a soupy mess (talking from experience!).
The best way I have found to do it is, fold the whipped aquafaba through the melted chocolate in batches, say 4. The first portion of whipped aquafaba will loosen the melted chocolate, and make it easier to incorporate subsequent aquafaba.
You also do not want to under-mix the mousse. I have made this so many times, and often have chunks of solid chocolate throughout the “mousse”. Not altogether unpleasant, but not exactly mousse! I think this came from mixing it too tentatively.
I’ve discovered that when folding, you have to make strong, confident strokes that are precise. Every stroke has to count, because you do not want to do too many!
How Long does Vegan Black Doris Plum Cheesecake take to set?
This Vegan Black Doris Plum cake will take a minimum of 4 hours to set fully and be ready for slicing.
The base will harden pretty much straight away, and you could begin the filling mixture as soon as the base is in the fridge. The filling will take a bit longer to set, about 3 hours. I would recommend waiting until at least this time has lapsed before beginning the chocolate mousse layer.
As a rule, you should not begin the chocolate mousse layer until the Black Doris filling is firm to the touch. Otherwise, you will not get those clean layers.
The mouse will take another hour or so to set and be ready to cut.
If you want this cake for dessert, then I would recommend starting it the day before, for best results. Otherwise, you could begin it at 10am, latest, to have it in the fridge in time for a 5-7pm eating.
It is a bit risky, making it the same day you plan to eat (because the longer it is left, the better it will set), and it won’t cut as well. But, it will stand up!
Vegan Black Doris Plum Cheesecake with Chocolate Mousse Topping
This Vegan Cheesecake has a richly flavoured Black Doris Plum filling, which is smooth and full-bodied. With a chocolate-peanut butter biscuit base, and a thick layer of chocolate mousse on top, this cake is sure to wow on any occasion. This show-stopper is vegan, gluten-free, egg-free, gluten-free and sugar-free!
Ingredients
- For the Base:
- 200g Desiccated Coconut (or 1/2 cup coconut butter).
- 220g Oats, ground
- 3 tablespoons Truvia
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- Slosh of Vanilla essence
- 3 tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- 2 tablespoons Peanut Butter
- For the Filling:
- 1x 850g can Black Doris Plums, syrup and all, reduced to half (see instructions)
- 500 g coconut, ground in a high-speed blender or electric coffee grinder
- 3x tins coconut cream
- 3 tablespoons sweetener
- Slosh of Vanilla Essence
- For the Whipped Chocolate Mousse Topping:
- 230g dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids)
- Aquafaba from one tin of chickpeas
- Splash of white vinegar
Instructions
First, prepare the Black Doris Plums:
- Remove the stones from the plums.
- Empty the tin of plums, syrup and all, into a pot.
- Simmer over a medium heat until the juice has reduced and thickened.
- Allow to cool to room temperature.
Next, prepare the base:
- Grind the Desiccated coconut in a high-speed blender until the coconut is starting to release it's natural oils and looks like the consistency of a paste. This should take 2 minutes or so. It may start to look a bit dry as you transfer it, but as long as it is paste-like initially, then it should be fine.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Mix or blend all the ingredients for the base, until processed evenly. You can use your hands to rub it into a cohesive mix.
- Press firmly into a lined loose-bottomed 22cm cake tin.
- Place into the fridge to set while you make the filling.
Prepare the Filling:
- First, blend the desiccated coconut until it releases it's natural oils. This should take 2 minutes or so in a high-speed blender (I actually use a coffee grinder), 10 minutes total.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the coconut cream. After each tin, whisk until smooth before adding the next tin of coconut cream, just to ensure the ground coconut butter is fully incorporated.
- Finally, add the reduced plums, sweetener and vanilla, and whisk again.
- Pour over the prepared base, and return the cake tin to the fridge to set, minimum 3 hours. Overnight is best.
For the (non vegan) Whipped Chocolate Mousse topping:
- Over a bain marie, melt the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
- Pour the Aquafaba into a clean mixing bowl. Add the slosh of Vinegar (or lemon juice. About 2 tablespoons).
- Using electric beaters (essential. Doing it by hand is a death sentence), whip up the aquafaba until it is stiff. It should remain in the bowl if you turn the bowl upside down).
- Using a spatula or wooden spoon, transfer a quarter of the aquafaba to the melted chocolate. Fold through, using careful strokes. Quarter by quarter fold the aquafaba through, being careful not to over or under mix.
- Pile onto the chilled cake and return to the fridge to set.
Notes
- This cake is gluten free, egg-free, nut free and refined sugar free (if you use sugar-free chocolate).
- If you use chocolate with 50% cocoa solids, the cake will be 100% vegan.
- It is crucial to blend the coconut into a butter, as this is what sets the base into that classic biscuit hardness. If not enough oil is released from the coconut, then the base will be too crumbly and not set.
- The desiccated coconut in the filling is also what allows the cake to set with that Cheesecake Cream Cheese Texture. Do not skimp on the desiccated coconut here, as otherwise your cake will be more like soup!
- The cake does take at least 3 hours to set, or overnight. Have faith - it does look pretty runny at first, but it will harden when completely chilled.
