Vegan Burnt Basque Cheesecake Questa ricetta è disponibile anche in italiano
Firm, creamy and sweet, this Vegan Burnt Basque Cheesecake is a must do dessert for cheesecake lovers and for those with a sweet tooth in general.
This is a recipe that I’ve only discovered recently, after sampling it in a vegan café. After that I started experimenting and reading about this different cake on the more famous American baked cheesecake New York-style.
In my research I’ve learnt that this cheesecake is a relatively new dish; it was in fact born around the ’90s in the resort town of San Sebastian, Spain.
The original recipe calls for just a small handful of ingredients, such as: cream cheese, double cream, sugar, eggs, and flour.
The cheesecake is referred to as “burnt” due to its iconic rich dark surface, that forms due to its baking at higher temperature, as opposed to the American one. This high temperature caramelizes the sugars faster forming a natural dark coloured (burnt) crust for the cheesecake.
Despite the name, you do not have to worry though: it doesn’t taste burnt at all.
As you might have noticed the original recipe it is indeed not vegan friendly.
But of course in my experiments I have managed to replicate the exact texture, look and (hopefully) flavour using only plant based ingredients. I used the term hopefully because I actually never had the dairy version myself, nor do I know someone that actually knew the dessert to ask for feedback.
How to make a Vegan Version of the Burnt Basque Cheesecake
Shopping list:
We are still going to use the two vegan friendly ingredients: sugar and flour.
If you want to turn this recipe completely gluten free, you can substitute the wheat flour with any starch or gluten free flour mix.
Then we are going to substitute the cream cheese with silken tofu. Silken tofu is so versatile that it actually makes the best substitute for cream cheese in this recipe particularly. Nut cheeses like this one I have recently shared make the cake too heavy and oily for my taste, so I do not personally recommend those (unless you are looking to make this soy free). Other store bought vegan cream cheeses can also be used instead of silken tofu.
The main recipe also calls for cream. Double Cream to be precise (the one that you can easily whip). As well as per many other recipes, I remain loyal to my favourite Elmlea double (the blue one) but of course you can use any other whipping cream of your choice, soy free if you need it to be.
Next up the Achille’s heel for us vegans: substituting the eggs. As per my New York Style Vegan Rhubarb Cheesecake I remained, once again, loyal to Tapioca starch. This awesome ingredient works so well in cheesecakes and to firm up fillings in baked goods, so, of course this is what I’ve used to replace the eggs in this plant based version. It is available both in flour or pearl form (I personally prefer the flour) and you can find it pretty easily in Asian shops or online (here).
Last – but not least – we are going to need some flavourings such as Vanilla Extract and a pinch of humble Sea Salt.
Now for the actual making of this Vegan Burnt Basque Cheesecake you’ll see how easy and smoothly it comes out together.
STEP 1 – Blend the Filling
There’s no simpler instruction than just dumping all the ingredients to a blender bowl and process until super creamy and silky smooth. And yes my friends, this is exactly what we need to do here!
STEP 2 – Bake
Transfer the mixture to a 20 cm (8″) round hinge mold coated in two layers of baking paper. This will make sure no spillage will happen, as the mixture will tend to rise a couple of inches during baking time.
Bake for 1 hour (up to 75 minutes) until the cake is dark on top but still jiggles when shaken.
STEP 3 – Waiting Time
This is probably the most important step of the process. In order for the burnt Basque cheesecake to turn perfect we must first wait for the baked cake to cool down completely to room temperature, then we have to allow at least 2 hours in the refrigerator prior to cut and indeed serving it.
STEP 4 – Serving the Cheesecake
In order to serve this beauty, we have to submerge the blade of our knife into a hot water bowl, make the cut, clean the blade with a cloth and repeat the hot water step & blade clean for all the portions we are going to serve. This will give us the most tidy and neat cheesecake slices.
Enjoy!
Vegan Burnt Basque Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients:
600 g Silken Tofu
400 g Vegan Double Cream
230 g Sugar
40 g Flour
30 g Tapioca
1/2 tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 pinch Salt
Method:
1. Preheat the oven at 210°C (410°F).
2. Add all the ingredients to a power blender bowl and blend until you reach a silky smooth consistency (you might need to scrape the sides of the blender a few times during the process).
3. Coat 1 round 8-inch /20 cm hinged tray with baking paper.
4. Pour the mixture in the tray, making sure to leave at least 1.5 cm / 1 inch from the top of the ring, as it will naturally rise a couple of cm over the top of the tray during baking.
5. Bake for around 1 hour (up to 1:15h depending on the oven). The cake must result dark on the top but still jiggles when shaken.
6. Cool down completely to room temperature in the mould; then transfer in the fridge and wait at least 2 hours before serving it.
7. To serve the cheesecake make sure to have a bowl with hot water and a kitchen paper. Submerge the knife blade (better if not dented) in the hot water and make the cut. Wipe the blade clean with the cloth and repeat the hot water step & blade clean for all the portions we are going to serve. This process will make tidy and neat cheesecake slices.
For other vegan desserts also check:
– Raspberry Vegan Trifle
– 2 Ingredients Persimmon Pudding
– Easy Lemon Pound Cake
– Vegan Black Forest Cake
– Easy Vegan Tiramisù
– Deliciously Moist Rhubarb Sponge
– Brioche Swirl Cake
– Heart shaped Mini Cakes
– Carrot Cake with a Twist
– Fudgy Chocolate & Sweet Potato Cake Loaf
– Indulgent Chocolate & Raspberry Mousse
– Best Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding
– Amaretto & Rhubarb Crumble
– Banoffee Pie
– Chocolate & Almond Fudge
– Chocolate Brownie Cake with Raspberries and Peanut Butter
– Cinnamon and Apple Crust Pie
– Raw Strawberry Tart
–Rhubarb Baked Cheesecake
– Zesty Lemon Cake
– Raspberry & Rhubarb Panna Cotta
– Choccolate Mousse Biscoff Tart
12 comments
I prepared this 2 ways, with silken tofu & with vegan cream cheese. Both times following the recipe exactly, it never “burnt” rather it just turned into a separated, oily on top, gooey mixture that is not at all edible. I even tried refrigerating overnight to set it more. Still gooey the next day… what a waste of money spent on expensive ingredients! Vegan ingredients are standardly double the cost as non-vegan ingredients 🙁
Hi Christine, I’m so sorry to hear this recipe didn’t work out for you and you ended up wasting ingredients 🙁
Hi Adriana!
I was so excited to try out your recipe, and did so twice, both time with abysmal results. I followed your instructions to the letter. But both times, it didn’t raise, turned out gooey and inedible. I am trying to put my finger on where might have I gone wrong. Any ideas?
Oh dear! I’m so sorry to hear that.
This is quite unusual, as I’ve been only having good feedbacks on this recipe both on here and social networks.
Are you UK based? It probably could be down to the single ingredients/brands at this point, oven used or just a very bad luck.
The rise happens thanks to the blended tofu and tapioca flour. They need to be blended for a few minutes with a standard blender or for 1-1:30 with a power one.
I’ve tried the recipe myself a few times before posting with a different ingredients combo and always turned out ok, this is why I’m really sad to hear about your experience.
All the best,
Adriana.
This made 13 amazing mini burnt basque cheesecakes! Thank you so much for this recipe!
Oh I’m so happy for you!
Thank YOU Gladine for your kind comment 🙂
Take care x
I cannot get the vegan double cream in my country, what can I substitute it with?
Hi! You can use coconut cream if that’s easier to find for you, or even soaked cashews or macadamia nuts to blend into a paste.
Hope that helps 🙂
We sadly don’t get vegan double cream in South Africa, can I us coconut cream or orley whip or do you have another alternative? Looks so delicious I would hate to not be able to make it! Thank you
Hi Chelsea!
Maybe it’s sold under the name of “heavy cream” like in the US?
If not, I you can indeed use the two alternative mentioned. I took a look of the product and it seems to me that it could work!
It might have a coconutty aftertaste though, but if you’re happy with that I cannot see why not give it a try!
Best of luck and please let me know if you make it 🙂
My friend just went vegan and swore she would never eat tofu. Then she made that TikTok feta pasta with tofu and loved it, so I get to cook with tofu when I see her next! This will be on the list, for sure.
Yay! I wasn’t fond of tofu either when I first turned vegan to be honest with you.
But now I literally cannot see or think myself living without! It has became one of my favourite ingredients to work with!
Hope you’ll both enjoy this cheesecake!