Give Your Tastebuds a Gift This Valentine’s Day With a Vegan Oreo Cheesecake

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. No matter whether you decide to acknowledge it or not, you deserve a sweet treat (I don’t make the rules). Besides, you won’t be able to resist once you see this vegan chocolate oreo cheesecake.

This cheesecake recipe, whipped up by Reece Hignell and the team at Winning Appliances, is a surefire way to add some love into your life on Valentine’s Day. Here’s how to make it.

Vegan dark chocolate, nutmeg & oreo cheesecake recipe

Note that this recipe was made using a NEFF 45cm Compact Built-in Combi steam oven, however, if you don’t have one of these there are ways to make it with a traditional oven as well.

What you’ll need for your vegan cheesecake:

• 1 packet (133g) Oreo Original biscuits
• 40 g margarine, melted
• 600 g vegan cream cheese, at room temperature
• 200 g vegan dark chocolate, melted ½ cup (110g) caster sugar
• ¼ cup (55g) brown sugar
• ¼ cup (35g) cornflour
• ¼ cup (25g) cocoa powder
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste Chocolate ganache topping
• 100 g vegan dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• ¹⁄ ³ cup (80ml) coconut cream Fresh berries, to serve

Directions for vegan dark chocolate oreo cheesecake:

1. Preheat the oven on top and bottom heat set to 160°C with low steam. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round springform pan with baking paper.
2. To make the base, place biscuits in a food processor bowl and pulse just until fine crumbs are formed. Add margarine and process until just combined. Press firmly and evenly into the base of the prepared cake pan. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
3. For the filling, place cream cheese into a stand mixer bowl; beat on a low speed until smooth; gradually add chocolate. Add caster and brown sugar, sifted cornflour, cocoa powder and nutmeg and vanilla; mix until smooth. Pour over the biscuit base and smooth the surface.
4. Place cheesecake on a universal tray on level 1 and bake for 55 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool for 30 minutes before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely, about 2 hours.
5. To make the ganache, place chocolate and coconut cream into a heatproof bowl; heat in the microwave oven on 600W for 1 minute; stir, then continue to heat, stirring every 15 seconds, until the chocolate is fully melted. Set aside to cool and thicken slightly.
6. To assemble, remove cheesecake from the pan and place onto a serving plate; spread with chocolate ganache. Serve with berries.

Hot tips for your vegan cheesecake:

• Vegan cream cheese is quite soft and smooth, so it doesn’t need much beating to make it smooth. It’s available in most local supermarkets.
• Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
• You can substitute cinnamon for nutmeg and add grated orange rind for a lovely jaffa flavour.

If that recipe doesn’t scream love maybe you’d prefer this one for strawberry and cream buttermilk panna cotta.