Vegan and gluten-free basque cheesecake recipe by Kat Lieu

vegan and gluten-free

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vegan and gluten-free 〰️

blue spirulina and matcha basque cheesecake by Kat Lieu of modernasianbaking.com

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Hi friends! This morning I really wanted to make a blue and green basque cheesecake to celebrate Earth Day 2022. I reached for my eggs and Philly cream cheese, and then put them right back into the fridge. Wouldn’t an Earth Day celebration cake’s message be a little lost if I didn’t use more sustainable ingredients? So I looked to see what else I had in my fridge and pantry: tofu, two vegan cream cheese spreads (Tofutti and Miyokos), vegan butter, coconut milk, Bob’s Red Mill vegan and gluten-free egg replacer, tapioca starch, and baking powder! I had everything I needed to make a vegan basque cheesecake! Of course, I had to make it green and blue to represent the Earth, using matcha and a mix of blue spirulina and butterfly pea flower powder from my friends at Rawnice.

Please note that pictured here is my very first attempt and my written recipe has been tweaked to make it less shiny and oily. Full fat coconut milk is already super fatty so I cut the vegan butter from 1/4 cup to 1 tablespoon. I suspect you can just skip the vegan butter or oil altogether. Now if you don’t have Bob’s Red Mill vegan egg replacer, you can whip up aquafaba (whipped chickpea water) or use make flax seed egg. Without the Bob’s Red Mill egg replace, do add a tablespoon or two of tapioca flour.

Please experiment, as this texture is more jiggly and custardy than soft and creamy like dairy basque cheesecake. It’s still very, very good!

The best part about this cheesecake is that you can blend everything in a blender and then just bake it. You can try air frying as well! Let me know how it goes and happy Earth Day 2022. It really is up to us to make a difference, no matter how small, and we should do this every day, not just one day. I implore food influencers, food content creators, food brands, and food media to promote sustainable eating, cooking, and baking moving forward. It is imperative for us to make a difference now, for our future generations, and to stall climate change and reverse the damage we have already done to our one Earth.

Some ideas on how we can love our earth a little bit more every day:
-drive electric cars, if you can
-compost if you can
-promote energy efficiency at home, like switching to LEDs, conserve water (we really don’t need to bathe every day unless you stink fast)
-if you can stop buying plastic water bottles
-use the dishwasher if you have one
-use reusable tote bags
-use wool dryer balls vs fabric softener one use sheets
-ladies try to look into diva cups, period panties, no more single-use pads
-adopt meatless Monday or eat less meat in general and more sustainably, if you can
-utilize less single-use items in general
-stay educated. Did you know Bitcoin mining is terrible for the environment?

Just some ideas!

What else can we do to invest in our one Earth? Comment below 🥰 with your tips and ideas pls!

xoxoxo,

Kat

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Author Kat Lieu

Prep time

15 Min

Cook time

35 Min

Total time

50 Min

Print

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Vegan and Gluten-Free Basque Cheesecake Recipe Kat Lieu

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IngredientsUSMetric

For the gf vegan basque cheesecake

• 300 g silken or soft tofu
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter, softened (neutral oil like vegetable or canola is an OK alternative)
• 100 g vegan cream cheese (Tofutti or Miyokos or another brand of your choice, alternatively you can just use 100 g more tofu)
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar (adjust to your taste)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• splash of vanilla extract, optional
• 240 g full-fat coconut milk (vegan cream is OK, or an alternative plant-based milk)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 3 egg replacer (I used 3 tablespoons of Bob's Red Mill GF/Vegan Egg Replace mixed with 6 tablespoons of water
• Optional food powder (could be matcha, cocoa, butterfly pea flower, up to up, about 1 tablespoon of it, or split the batter into two if you're doing two different flavors and layers)

Instructions

To make the basque cheesecake

1. Preheat the oven 425°F. Blend all the ingredients together until you have a smooth cheesecake batter.
2. A 6-inch springform pan is best. Crumple and unfold a sheet of parchment paper and line the inside of the pan, running your fingers over the inside of the rim and the bottoms to dress the pan. Leaver about an inch or two of parchment paper standing tall. You may need two overlapping sheets of crumpled parchment paper.
3. Pour the batter into the pan. (If you are using two different batters, pour one batter first and another on top.) Smooth out the batter on top with a whisk and bake for 20 minutes. Raise the temp to about 450°F to 475°F and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the top has browned.
4. The top should have a beautiful burnt brown layer, which is a Basque cheesecake's signature look. The middle should be jiggly. Don't worry, it should be fully cooked. Cool at room temperature before refrigerating for at least 4 hours or overnight. Cut the cake and serve at room temperature. Great with a cup of coffee or tea!

Recommended Products:

Modern Asian Baking at Home Cookbook

6-inch springform pan

Vitamix Blender

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About the Baker

Kat Lieu is the founder of Subtle Asian Baking and this website modernasianbaking.com, and she is the author of Modern Asian Baking at Home. Currently, Kat is a full-time author, activist, and recipe developer. Follow her on Instagram.