SILKY CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO 'CHEESECAKE'

Silky chocolate espresso vegan cheesecake! Can it be? 

YES my friends, yes it can.

Free of cholesterol and animal fats, this beauty is miles healthier than conventional dairy and egg-laden cheesecake, and furthermore, it has far fewer calories than other nut-based vegan cheesecake recipes - although, disclaimer - nut based vegan 'cheesecakes' are the BOMB and I am quite a fan of healthy calories ... I will definitely be making one soon ;)

So if not nuts, WHAT could possibly give that creamy cheesecakey texture?

Enter TOFU!

Silken Tofu's cloud-like texture is perfect for 'veganizing' cheesecake! I'm not gonna lie - it has a mild but distinctly 'soy milky' flavour when used in baking.

This pie won't taste like grandma's artery buster cheesecake, but it's still delicious, in it's own unique, nutty, decadent and guilt-free way, which leaves you feeling light and healthy both during and after demolition.

Silky Chocolate Espresso Pie

What you'll need for the filling:

• 1/2 cup strong-brewed coffee
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 50 grams or half a block of Green & Black's 85% organic vegan dark chocolate, melted (a few Tbsp of cacao powder would probably also work)
  
• 1/3 cup coconut butter, melted. Or find out how to make your own here.
  
• 2 x 350gm packets of Mori Nu silken-firm tofu  (this brand works better than others)
  
• 1/8 tsp stevia liquid or 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp fine ground sea salt
  
• 20cm pie dish - the ones that pop out the bottom
  

For the crust: This pie is versatile! There are many different variations of crust you could make - keeping in the healthy theme I'd steer clear of refined sugar or dairy crusts. I used my Easy As Pie 4 ingredient Pie Crust:

Make your own coconut butter for the fraction of the price of store bought.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Make your crust and press into a lightly greased 20cm pie dish. Refridgerate while you make the filling.

Use a food processor or blender (must be a powerful one) to combine all the filling ingredients and blend until just smooth (be careful not to over blend as this introduces air into the cheesecake, which, as you can see, causes cracking later on!)

The tofu looks like Eskimo Pie!

This worked a treat but it was thick and a bit tough on my blender, next time I'll use a food processor

Pour into the prepared crust.

Bake at 180 for 1 hour, then remove from oven and let it cool completely. Refrigerate for another 6 hours. The waiting is torture! But for the texture of this cheesecake it is really important to let it do it's thing.

For a real treat, frost with coconut chocolate ganache.