Have you ever planned a friend gathering that resulted in hours and hours of pouring over blogs and recipes to conjure up the perfect meal or dessert? Well, I've got you covered. Look no further than this delicious vegan brownie cheesecake dessert!
I love an extra fudgey brownie and my go-to recipe is either an avocado with melted chocolate version or a traditional brownie recipe with all the vegan substitutes like flax egg and vegan butter. But for this brownie recipe, I wanted a crinkle top, fudgey center, and perfect chocolatey taste without being too sweet. Since my husband and I have been together, I have been in the search of a vegan brownie recipe that achieves that perfect crinkle top without sacrificing on the chocolate taste and texture. While I don't always mind if our brownie recipe has a crinkly top, I made it my dessert mission for our friend dinner.
Additionally, I felt like I wanted to turn up the flavor and tone down the sweetness as a result of wanting a brownie cheesecake combination. My favorite cheesecake recipe is a no-bake recipe, so I knew that I would need to somehow combine the two desserts after baking the brownie.
For some inspiration, I glanced back at some vegan brownie recipes that I used when I was first learning how to vegan bake. While each of the brownie recipes are delicious. I have experience flops, so either my baking is not consistent or the recipe is a bit wonky. But, either way, I knew that I wanted to try a different recipe.
For this vegan brownie version was inspired by Short and Sotma. As with all of the recipes that I try, I tweaked a few ingredients and ratios to achieve the perfect brownie that my husband and friends enjoyed. I encourage you to check out each of the recipes that I have included in this blog post (Short and Stoma refers to several) and let me know that you think is the best!
How to Make a Vegan Brownie Cheesecake
Prep Time: 8 HOURS and 15 MINS (you can do a 1-hour quick soak cashews for reduced time)
Cook Time: 25-30 MINS
Cool Time: 10 HOURS (6-8 hours for cheesecake and 2 hours for cake)
Assembly: 30 MINS
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Total Time: 19 HOURS and 15 MINS
Tools: Stand Mixer, Blender, Grinder, Biscuit Cutter (preferably three different sizes), Pie Dish, 9x13 Baking Pan, Parchment Paper, Sieve
How to Make a Vegan Crinkle Top Brownie - Perfectly Fudgey
For this recipe, I altered Short and Sotma's delicious vegan brownie recipe and cut the sugar amount significantly as well as cut the amount of flour. I was looking for supremely fudgey and not overly sweet due to the addition of cheesecake on top.
Vegan Crinkle Top Brownie Ingredients:
Directions:
Strain the chickpeas from the liquid. Reserve the liquid for this recipe.
Place the liquid in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat and bring to a simmer. You are looking to reduce the liquid to about 6.8 ounces, or a little over half. It took about 18 minutes.
Once the aquafaba has reduced by half, turn the heat on low and sprinkle the agar agar flakes over the liquid. Mix until fully incorporated. It took about 10 minutes to fully dissolve.
Cool the reduced aquafaba until room temperature.
Once cool, add to a mixture and whisk until stiff peaks form and you can turn the bowl upside down over your head without the meringue falling. This took me about 10 minutes.
At the same time while the meringue is on it's way to stiff peaks, dissolve the sugar into the water on medium heat. Make sure that the sugar fully dissolves. This will yield a crinkly brownie top.
Melt the chocolate and the butter together. I did this over the stove on low heat, but you can do this in a bowl over heated water on the stove. *You so fancy*
Sift the flour, cacao powder, and salt into a bowl.
Gently fold the melted butter and chocolate in the meringue. And once almost combined, fold in the flour mixure. Be careful to not over mix in this step.
Once combined, pour the batter into a prepared lined baking dish and bake for 40 minutes.
For this cheesecake, I used my favorite vegan cheesecake recipe as a base and then added a homemade marionberry syrup both in the batter and poured a little into the cheesecake as an extra touch. For those of you who do not know, a marionberry is the Pacific Northwest's version of a blackberry. It basically tastes like a cross between and raspberry and blackberry - tart yet sweet. There isn't a huge difference, so you can choose between raspberries and blackberries, or use both!
How to Make a Vegan Crustless Marionberry Cheesecake
Crustless Marionberry Cheesecake Ingredients:
4 cups fresh marionberries (or 2 cups raspberries and 2 cups blackberries)
1/4 cup coconut sugar
2 tsps vanilla powder
1/4 tsp lemon juice
Add 1 tsp fresh zest of ginger, turmeric, orange, or other spices (cinnamon, anise, or clove are nice for the fall)
1 1/2 cups raw, unsalted cashews soaked (overnight or quick soak)
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemon juice - freshly juiced medium lemon (or two small lemons)
1/2 cup coconut oil + 2 tbs
1/2 cup full-fat coconut cream (avoid the liquid as best as possible)
1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup homemade marionberry syrup, plus extra for drizzling
For additional sweetness, you can add maple syrup but taste beforehand. I think the homemade marionberry syrup was enough.
Directions:
For the Vegan Crustless Marionberry Cheesecake:
First you need to make the marionberry syrup. Place the berries in a saucepan on the stove over medium heat.
With the pot uncovered, bring to a simmer and add the sugar and vanilla.
Allow the berries to simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add a fresh squeeze of lemon and any fresh zest you are using. For this recipe, I used ginger.
Once the water has cooked away and the sauce has thickened, use an immersion blender to blend the berry and sugar mixture. If you don't mind the seeds, you can also use a blender.
Once blended, use a fine meshed sieve to strain some of the larger seeds away. Use the back of a spoon to press the syrup through.
Compost the extra pulp, or freeze for a smoothie for later!
Store the syrup in a glass container - keeping cool will help thicken. You can also freeze in an ice cube tray for a fun addition to drinks, smoothies, or a cool treat. Of course, for this recipe, set 1/4 cup aside and a little more for drizzling.
Next, you'll start on the vegan cheesecake. Place the cashews and salt in a large container (I use an 8-cup pyrex) and cover with water. Cover and place in the fridge. Let soak for 8 hours or overnight. * I prefer to soak the cashews overnight, but if you are in a time crunch you can quick soak the cashews. Place the cashews and salt in a large container (I use an 8-cup pyrex) and cover with boiling water. Let soak for 1 hour.
Line a pie dish with parchment paper.
Once the cashews have soaked, strain and rinse.
Juice one fresh medium lemon.
Melt the coconut oil in the microwave. I tend to break up into 15 second increments, so I don't begin to boil the oil.
To ensure that you are using just the coconut cream, I prefer pierce a hole in the cream and pour out the coconut water/milk into a glass jar. I then measure the cream and the coconut liquid separately.
Place all the ingredients in a blender - soaked cashews, lemon juice, coconut oil, coconut cream, coconut milk, berry syrup. I use a Vitamix.
Blend on high until creamy and fully combined. I usually run one full 50-second smoothie cycle, stop and taste.
Taste for sweetness. Add maple syrup, if you need.
And then run another 50-second smoothie cycle.
Pour the cheesecake batter into the lined pie dish.
Add a few small scoops (about 1 tsp) around the cheesecake batter and then take a knife to swirl through the dollops of berry syrup.
Set in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
Vegan Brownie Cheesecake Assembly:
Use the medium and small sized biscuit cutter. Medium for the brownie and small for the cheesecake.
With the medium biscuit cutter, cut a medium circle out of the brownie sheet.
With the small biscuit cutter, cut a small circle of the crustless cheesecake. You might need to push the cheesecake out, so I used a bit of parchment paper to avoid a fingerprint.
Place the medium brownie round on a dessert dish and place small round of cheesecake on top.
Option: Top the small cheesecake round with a berry of your choice - strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry.
Devour.
We had friends over for a dinner and despite our lack of furniture and entertainment space, we ended the night with satisfied chocolate smiles and goodbye hugs. As always, don't forget to leave a comment and let me know if you made this recipe, or what other vegan recipes that you enjoy!
All my light. All my love,
Jordan
P.S - If you are interested in changing up a vegan recipe or creating your own, here are some tips to vegan baking, especailly when it comes to brownies:
Tips for Vegan Brownie Baking:
Fat. Stick to vegan butter. Nut butters tend to be overpowering and take over any other flavors. And, avoid oil. Depending on the oil that you use, it can overpower the flavor and even result in an oily texture and separate from the brownie batter, which is not tasty. Also, they can result in a flatter brownie and tacky texture. Lastly, I do not reccomend using a milk substitute because it can lead to a drier brownie - stick to a fat.
Water Content. Be weary of brownie recipes that call for too much water-based ingredients. Just like humidity can effect the perfect meringue, mositure can cause the crinkly top of the brownie to go missing. If you use flax-eggs, make sure that the other ingredients listed aren't also watery. It not only ruins the crinkly top, but it can also make the brownie taste supremely dense and almost like play-doh.
Don't Forget Salt. If you forget salt, your bake may result in a flat flavor. It's all about chemistry, too. Salt in bread can help strengthen the effect on the gluten. In pastry, salt can encourage browning and cut the oils from the butter. And as you may know, salt can balance the sweetness of a recipe. But, leave the baking soda out. While a salt, this is meant to make your bake light and fluffy, which for me, is not what a brownie is about.
Melted and Chocolate and Cacao Powder. Like Paul Hollywood uses for his brownies, a mixture of melted chocolate and cocao powder yields the best brownie. I reccomend this for a vegan version, as well. The cacao will add a deeper, richer chocolatey flavor and the melted chocolate will lend itself to a fudgey texture. A win-win, in my opinion.
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