Recently we had our traditional, school holidays Girls Lunch. And for the first time my lovely almost sister in-law was able to come. Man can she cook … with the beautiful cheesecake she brought along, she seriously raised the standard for dessert!

Since it was school holidays my bigger boys were there and my biggest boy, Will, was particularly enamoured with this cake. When we saw fresh raspberries on sale in the shops the following day he begged me to make him one ‘like Aunty Michelle made’. How could I resist?

Trouble was, that there was almost no safe ingredients in it for us – so we set about experimenting. For the first time I tried something really cool …. replacing pouring cream with whipped aquafaba. Yep, allergy friendly and it just about halved the calories for the dessert – win!! Hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!

• 350g soy cream cheese (we use Tofutti)
• 6 tbsp aquafaba (the liquid drained from a can of chick peas), slightly warmer than room temp
• pinch  of cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup icing sugar (increase to half a cup if you like sweeter, less tart desserts)
• zest 1 lemon, finely grated
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp powdered gelatine
• 60 mls warm water
• 350g GF/DF/EF gingernut biscuits (we use the Leda brand)
• 110g Nuttelex or other vegan butter
• 200g fresh raspberries
• fresh mint to garnish

In your food processor place the gingernuts and process until they are a fine crumb (Speed 6, 8 seconds).

Add in the Nuttelex and pulse multiple time until you have a crumb that resembles wet sand.

Grease your dish and tip the crumb into it. Press down firmly into the tin, making sure that you press the mixture a little way up the side of the dish too. Place in fridge.

Mix together the gelatine and warm water and whisk with a fork until dissolved. Set aside. Then work quickly so the gelatine isn’t sitting for too long.

In the small bowl of your stand mixer, place the aquafaba and the cream of tartar and beat on very high speed until soft peaks form (about 5 minutes). Set aside.

 

In the large bowl of your mixer place the soy cheese, lemon juice and zest, sugar and beat until smooth, soft and creamy. Add in the gelatine mix and beat again until well incorporated. (Use the blunt blade for 20 seconds on speed 4, the add gelatine and use speed 4 for for a further 8 seconds).

Pour in the beaten aquafaba and fold through until evenly distribute. (Attach butterfly/mixing tool and use speed 3 for about 20 seconds).

Pour the cream cheese mixture into the biscuit base, top with fruit and place in the fridge to set for 2 hours.

Garnish with mint and serve.

Makes about 12 slices.

To make this a vegan dish you just need to replace the gelatine with agar agar, probably 2 tsp … but I haven’t experimented with the liquid quantity required yet (as you need to bring the powder and liquid to the boil and then simmer for a few minutes before using the gel it forms). Please let me know if you do!

Enjoy 🙂