A vegan apple baked cheesecake with a unique thick texture and a boozy citrus twist.
Hola!
Today I bring you a vegan apple baked cheesecake to help you stay cool in the summer heat, with loads of fibre from the apples, a citrusy lemon twist and a touch of booze. It’s vegan, oil-free, nut-free and refined-sugar-free.
When I was little, one of our favourite cakes was my mum’s Auntie Filo Apple Cake. In the absence of a better name, this is how we always called it. Why Uncle Fran’s Apple Cake? Same as with my mum’s auntie, without a name it is a plain apple cheesecake. And anything starting with Auntie/Uncle sounds very homely.
I have never known how to explain what this cake is or if its name should be “cake”. It has the ingredients of a sponge cake, but it’s more like a thick caramel pudding or a flan. The consistency reminds me of a baked cheesecake, but this is lighter in fat and much denser, closer to a custard slice but not that fatty. Clear as mud? I never appreciated how special this cake is until I realised that, although the biggest amount of baking powder is used, it doesn’t rise that much, probably because of the weight of the fibre from the apples in the batter, which is quite runny.
PLANT POWER, MAKE UP!
Some of the ingredients of the original recipe were eggs, cow’s milk, flour, oil and a ton of sugar. As you may know, when you follow a wholefoods plant-based diet you try to avoid animal origin ingredients and highly processed foods (flour, oil, sugar). It was not easy, but after a few attempts I came up with the recipe below.
I used Silken soft tofu, which is another vegan egg replacement, and after a couple of years experimenting (what am I if I don’t change a recipe every time that I make it), adding vinegar and bicarb soda helps with the chemical rise to make up for the lack of eggs.
UNCLE FRAN’S APPLE CAKE
Makes: 12 pieces
Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Batter
1/2 cup soya milk
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
3 medium size Granny Smith or green apples
1 Silken soft tofu, 300g
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brandy
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. lemon essence
1 1/2 cup white flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
Toppings
3 medium size Granny Smith or green apples
Glaze
1 tbsp. maple syrup + 1 tbsp. soya milk
Maple syrup or jam for shine
INSTRUCTIONS
- Mix the soya milk and vinegar and set aside until curdled.
- Peel, core and chop into pieces 3 apples and blend them with the curdled soya milk and the rest of the batter ingredients until smooth. Pour into a lined or (vegan) buttered baking tray (mine is 36x25cm or 14x10 inches).
- Preheat the oven at 160°C. Peel, core and slice into thin slices one apple at a time (depending on size, you may need 2 or 3). Arrange the slices over the batter in neat overlapping rows until the whole surface is covered.
- Glaze and bake for 40 minutes or until the apples start browning on the edges. You may need to glaze halfway through if the apple slices start getting dry. Cover with foil and bake for another 20 minutes or until there is only a wobble in the middle.
- Remove from the oven, brush with maple syrup or jam and let it cool down completely before putting it in the fridge.
This cake is served cold, so keep in the fridge for about 5 days.
Bon profit!