Carina’s Kitchen’s vegan cheesecake with passionfruit curd and honeycomb recipe

Carina’s Kitchen, who specialises in vegan and gluten-free sweet treats, shares one of their favourite festive cheesecake recipes to impress this Christmas

Vegan cheesecake with passionfruit curd and honeycomb

Serves 12

For the cookie crust

300g vegan cookies, crushed

150g melted vegan butter

For the filling

300g raw cashew nuts soaked in cold water overnight or in hot water for at least 15 minutes

600g vegan cream cheese (can substitute with silken tofu)

200g caster sugar

8 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp cornflour (can substitute with arrowroot)

2 tsp vanilla extract

For the passionfruit curd

1 packet custard powder

1 tin passionfruit pulp

For honeycomb

50ml water

170g caster sugar

100g golden syrup

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 170C. Mix crushed cookies and vegan butter together, and press the mixture into the bottom of a 20cm pan. Drain the soaked cashew nuts. Place the cashew nuts, vegan cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, cornflour and vanilla in a food processor or blender. Blitz until completely smooth — scrape the sides as you go to make sure it’s properly mixed. Pour the cheesecake filling over the crust until it’s completely evenly covered and make sure the surface is smooth. Gently tap the baking tin on the counter a few times to get rid of air bubbles. Bake in the oven for 1 hour, until surface is golden brown; it will be a bit jiggly when you take it out, but will firm up as it cools. Make sure to leave the cheesecake to cool before putting it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

For the honeycomb, begin by having all your equipment ready and ingredients measured out. Line a baking dish with some greaseproof paper. Add the water, sugar and golden syrup to a pot and place on a medium heat. Stir using a wooden spoon for a few minutes until all of the sugar has melted. At this point stop stirring the mixture, as continuing to do so will cause the sugar to crystallise. Instead turn up the heat to medium-high, and place your candy thermometer into the syrup to monitor the temperature. You want the syrup to get to 149C, known as the “hard crack” stage of candy making. This will take around 15 minutes, so be patient and keep a very close eye on the pot. Once the syrup hits 149C remove the pot from the heat and immediately add in the bicarbonate of soda. Whisk for a few seconds to combine the mixture. Be careful to only whisk in one direction, either clockwise or anticlockwise, as whisking in both directions will deflate the honeycomb. Be very careful not to touch it as it is extremely hot. Transfer the mixture directly to the baking dish. Allow the honeycomb to set completely for 1-2 hours without moving it. Once it is completely set and at room temperature, you can remove the honeycomb from the baking dish, or cut into slices.

For the passionfruit curd, follow the method on the back of your custard powder packet. Swap half the required liquid with plant based milk, and the other half with passionfruit pulp.