Pudding Vegetarian Baking Vegan

Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake

This deliciously different vegan cheesecake is ideal for using up any leftover pumpkin from Halloween

20 minutes, plus chilling time prep, 20 minutes cook

Serves 6-9

Ingredients

For the base

300g nuts (a mixture of almonds/walnuts/cashews)

100g pitted dates

2 tbsps coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the pumpkin filling

225g edible pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into bitesize pieces

2 tsp oil 150g cashew nuts

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground ginger (optional)

200g vegan cream cheese (or regular cream cheese if you don't want to make the recipe vegan)

80g coconut oil 150g maple syrup 1⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon 1

For the topping

50g vegan dark chocolate (or regular chocolate if you don't want to make the recipe vegan)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment. Put the pumpkin for the filling into a baking tray with 2 tsp oil. Roast for 20 minutes until cooked through and soft then leave to cool.

Soak the cashew nuts for the pumpkin filling in a bowl of boiling water.

Add the nuts for the base to a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the rest of the ingredients for the base and blend until it comes together.

Spread this over the bottom of the prepared tin and compact it down with the back of a spoon so it holds together. Pop this into the fridge to harden while you make the pumpkin filling.

Drain and rinse the soaked cashews, then transfer to a clean food processor along with the rest of the pumpkin filling ingredients and a pinch of salt. Blend until really smooth.

This should take about 5 minutes. When it is ready, spread this mixture evenly on top of the nutty base layer. Put back in the fridge for about 1 hour to set.

When the cheesecake is firm, chop the dark chocolate into thin shards using a sharp knife on a chopping board. Sprinkle on top of the cheesecake to decorate before serving.