STRAWBERRIES & CREAM CHEESECAKE

I really should start writing an autobiographical pocket novel called ‘The unbearable loneliness of a being on bank holiday weekends’ or ‘Izzy’s day out’ or ‘I should have stayed at home’ and the story would go like this. One weekend someone doesn’t have time in their life for vegan cake, and another obviously less antisocial individual escapes to mainland Europe for coffee leaving you all alone staring at the ceiling of your tiny tiny studio flat in a part of town that’s suddenly turned into something too trendy for your run-away-from-home self to hang out unaccompanied by a freelance jewellery designer husband and a toddler. But not all is lost. Never mind washing your hair (it adds to the charm), you jump on a train to dear Peckham, where people’s main concern appears to be the price of plantains and you can wander around middle Eastern bargain stores that resemble Narnia and art galleries and take photos of songbirds in alleys and sit in cafés sipping rhubarb tea and writing postcards to worried parents who now label you as bohemian, then go back home with a new-found quite concerning feeling of belonging, a bag of blackcurrant sweets and twelve hundred grams of strawberries for your (almost) raw vegan cheesecake because as it turns out, you are one of those people who do have time in their life for vegan cake and I fail at seeing anything wrong with that.

The end.

STRAWBERRIES & CREAM CHEESECAKE

Crust:

420g (15oz) vegan cream sandwich biscuits (I used these)

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Filling:

Adapted from The Post Punk Kitchen

190g (1 ½ cups) cashews, soaked for at least 3 hours

60ml (1/4 cup) agave syrup

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

325g (11oz) strawberries, sliced

90g (1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) coconut oil, melted

Strawberry drizzle:

1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

4 large strawberries, sliced

3-4 vegan cream sandwich biscuits, crushed/chopped

3-4 strawberries, sliced

Lightly grease a 22cm/9” cake tin and set aside. Place the cream biscuits in a blender and blitz until roughly ground. Add the coconut oil and keep going until you get a smooth paste. Place the mixture into the prepared tin, pressing it down evenly and firmly to cover the base. Put the tin in the fridge whilst you prepare the filling. Blitz the cashews in a blender until roughly ground then add agave syrup, water, lemon juice, and vanilla. When the mixture is smooth, add the strawberries, and last the melted coconut oil. Blend until everything is well combined, smooth and creamy. Pour the filling over the biscuit crust and return to the fridge until set (at least 4 hours, ideally overnight).

To make the strawberry topping, blitz coconut oil and strawberries in a blender until smooth, then drizzle over the cake with a spoon. For the finishing touches, sprinkle the cheesecake with some more crushed and/or chopped cream biscuits and top with strawberries.