Philosophical Vegan Forum

Like making a nut cheese, different nuts will give you different flavors.

I just wouldn't use many sunflower seeds, since those have a strong taste. Cashews and almonds work. Walnuts might be nice, but would give a distinctive flavor. Just depends on what you have on hand and what taste you like.


Starch is starch, for most applications. Only in professional baking where you're concerned with characteristics like weeping, or the ability to hold up to a freeze-thaw cycle does it usually matter.

Corn starch will usually get the job done.

Although, nutritionally better than starch would be a thickening fiber, those can be more difficult to use, and also produce slightly different textures (and harder to find too).

brimstoneSalad wrote:Starch is starch, for most applications. Only in professional baking where you're concerned with characteristics like weeping, or the ability to hold up to a freeze-thaw cycle does it usually matter.

The only weeping I'm concerned about is the reaction to a cooking disaster. So I'll just go with whatever starch is handy.

Thanks for the added info.

cufflink wrote: The only weeping I'm concerned about is the reaction to a cooking disaster. So I'll just go with whatever starch is handy.

It's hard to mess up so bad that it's inedible, I don't think you'll have anything to weep about.

Please let us know how it turns out, or if you have any problems.

brimstoneSalad wrote:

cufflink wrote:Please let us know how it turns out . . .

I'm delighted to report that my first foray into the realm of vegan "cheesecake" was an unmitigated success. I made a fresh cherry sauce as a topping, and for better or worse, a rather large cake and a corresponding bowl of sauce were decimated in less than 24 hours. I'd say it rivaled, if not surpassed, the real thing.

I used about an equal amount of raw cashews and soft tofu, along with almond milk and lemon zest. I baked it a lot longer than some recipes suggested, since I wasn't sure the center was firming up. But it turned out great, especially after being refrigerated overnight.

The only thing is, I did use more sugar than I would like. I like to keep my sugar intake as low as possible. So next time I'll try cutting the sugar in half and substituting some Splenda. I know it's artificial, but it does enable you to avoid the empty calories of sugar.

Oh, and I took your advice and didn't bother with a crust. We never missed it!

cufflink wrote: I'm delighted to report that my first foray into the realm of vegan "cheesecake" was an unmitigated success.

Great news!
I'm glad it worked out for you.

Did you take any pictures?

cufflink wrote: The only thing is, I did use more sugar than I would like. I like to keep my sugar intake as low as possible. So next time I'll try cutting the sugar in half and substituting some Splenda. I know it's artificial, but it does enable you to avoid the empty calories of sugar.

Can you buy some off-brand 100% Sucralose? That's what I use. I have something like a 100 gram package... it's going to literally last years. The dextrose used to bulk up Splenda is empty calories too, and a huge waste of a waste of money.

Pure Sucralose is price-comparable to sugar based on its sweetening power. You have to be really careful about measurements, though (it's harder to measure something that concentrated- which is something Splenda helps with, but I don't think ease of measuring is worth the cost, or the empty calories).

If you wanted to cut the empty calories from the corn starch even more, you could try subbing with pectin, Agar-Agar, or Konjac for a fiber instead of starch based thickening. However, I have not yet tried this with cheesecake, so I can't offer any sound recommendations on it.

cufflink wrote:Oh, and I took your advice and didn't bother with a crust. We never missed it!

Great
I'd just make a crust if I was taking it to a party or something, so it's more recognizable, because otherwise people might be like "what?"
Best not to rock the boat any more than needs be. If some people saw a cheesecake without crust they might be traumatized.

I discovered that Okara (left over from making soy milk) and caramelized sugar make a pretty good high fiber/protein crust that's very durable yet palatable (and a good color).

Let me know if you ever need help figuring out a crust.
Have you bought a soy milk maker yet?