Or, the cheesecake that was almost vegan…

Happy New Year! Since I’m not one for resolutions or year-in-review posts, I decided to start the new year with a new baking challenge: vegan cheesecake. I’ve never made a cheesecake before but Leinana’s roasted banana cheesecake has been calling my name for months now. If [...]]]>

Or, the cheesecake that was almost vegan…

Happy New Year! Since I’m not one for resolutions or year-in-review posts, I decided to start the new year with a new baking challenge: vegan cheesecake. I’ve never made a cheesecake before but Leinana’s roasted banana cheesecake has been calling my name for months now. If you’re a peanut butter and banana junkie, it’ll soon be calling your name too.

The vegan portion of my baking challenge came to a halt during my search for vegan cream cheese. I visited three different stores on my quest, and the only tub of vegan cream cheese that I could find contained partially hydrogenated oil as well as mono and diglycerides.

I stood in front of the refrigerated case, weighing my decision. I decided that at this point in time my food philosophy values simple, healthy ingredients over dairy-free products. I opted to use organic neufchatel cheese in my cheesecake, but you can certainly use the vegan (or cow’s milk) cream cheese of your choice.

The star of this recipe is not the cream cheese, it’s the roasted bananas. How could I resist an excuse to throw a few whole bananas (peels and all) into the oven? Though the resulting browned bananas are rather gooey and not so pretty when peeled, their intense flavor complements the creamy filling and nutty crust perfectly.

Can any of my vegan readers recommend a vegan cream cheese that doesn’t contain questionable fats or oils? I would love to turn this into a truly vegan cheesecake.

And no matter what type of cream cheese you prefer, this cheesecake is the perfect way to kick off a new year of baking adventures! I’m so grateful for all of you who take the time to stop by my blog, and here’s to another year of great friends and food.

Roasted Banana Cheesecake with Maple Rum Sauce
Adapted from The Conscious Cook via Vegan Good Things
Yield: One 9″ cheesecake

For the roasted bananas:
4 large very ripe bananas, unpeeled

For the crust:
1 cup peanut flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 tablespoon brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of sea salt
4 tablespoons vegan butter, melted slightly

For the filling:
roasted bananas
16 ounces neufchatel cheese (or your choice of cream cheese), room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup dark rum
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the bananas, unpeeled, onto the paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the bananas darken and become soft. Place the pan on a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature while you make the crust.

Increase the oven temperature to 400°. Combine the peanut flour, almond meal, brown sugar, cardamom, ginger, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and mix with a spoon or your fingers until combined.

Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9″ springform pan. Place the pan in the freezer for 5 minutes, then bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes. The crust should be slightly dried out with lightly browned edges. Place the pan on a cooling rack to cool while you make the filling.

Note: you may choose to use a food processor to make the filling. I used my stand mixer and it came out a bit lumpy due to the texture of the bananas, but it was still tasty!

Peel the roasted bananas and remove any long strings. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the bananas on high speed until smooth. Add the cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon, rum, corn starch, and salt. Beat on medium-high speed until well blended, but not for too long as the cream cheese might separate.

Pour the filling on top of the crust and bake for 10 minutes at 400°. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes, or until the top is light brown and the center is set.

Place the pan on a cooling rack until it cools to room temperature. Then cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

For the maple rum sauce:
1 cup pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons vegan butter
1 tablespoon dark rum
sea salt to taste

Add the maple syrup, butter, and salt to a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened. This will take about 10 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and gently stir in the rum. Let the sauce cool for a few minutes, then taste test to see if it needs more salt. Allow the sauce to cool, then drizzle it over the cheesecake and serve.

I think they’d partake in a little bit of self-promotion, don’t you? These cupcakes are delicious, and they know it! It wasn’t much of a challenge to figure out what they were saying to me. Rich chocolate and dark brown sugar offset the flavors of Guinness perfectly. Topped with Bailey’s Irish Cream frosting, [...]]]>

I think they’d partake in a little bit of self-promotion, don’t you? These cupcakes are delicious, and they know it! It wasn’t much of a challenge to figure out what they were saying to me. Rich chocolate and dark brown sugar offset the flavors of Guinness perfectly. Topped with Bailey’s Irish Cream frosting, these cupcakes definitely make a statement!

Normally, I don’t publicize statements from my food. All the commentary is mine, and I just let the food look pretty in a few photos here and there. However, these cupcakes are so full of themselves that they wouldn’t settle for anything less than full-blown advertising!

And this time, I’ve let them have their say. Why? Because it’s time for the 2010 “Eating Your Words” challenge! The challenge is hosted by Tangled Noodle and Savor the Thyme.

So what makes these cupcakes so special? Start with a combination of Guinness, chocolate, brown sugar, and butter. Swirl in some sour cream along with the rest of the liquid ingredients. Fold in the flour, and you’ve got a darn good cupcake batter! I can definitely attest to the fact that this batter is much tastier than your average chocolate cupcake batter.

These cupcakes just wouldn’t stop talking! They know how much I like math, so they told me that Guinness has a connection to the mathematical field of statistics. In the early 1900′s, Guinness employed a statistician by the name of William Sealy Gossett. Gossett studied barley cultivation, researching ways to improve yield and select for favorable varieties for brewing Guinness. He derived Student’s t-distribution, a probability distribution used when sample sizes are small.

I’m not really sure what that means, so the cupcakes spelled it out for me.

I’m still not really sure what it means. Don’t worry, this equation is not part of the recipe. You’ll just need a basic understanding of fractions and a love for chocolate and beer.

Guinness Cupcakes
Adapted from Big City, Little Kitchen
Yield: 24 cupcakes

1 cup Guinness
9 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners, or grease the pan.

In a large saucepan, heat the Guinness and butter over medium-low heat until the butter melts. Remove the pan from the heat and add the cocoa powder and sugar, whisking to combine.

In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the sour cream mixture into the Guinness mixture. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda, then fold it into the batter. Fill cupcake cups 2/3 full of batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the pan and cool directly on the cooling rack.

When completely cooled, frost with Bailey’s Irish Cream frosting, or your favorite frosting.

Bailey’s Irish Cream Frosting
Created by Simple Math Bakery
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons Bailey’s
1 tablespoon milk
4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

With an electric mixer, combine the butter, Bailey’s, and milk on low speed. Slowly add confectioner’s sugar until desired frosting consistency is reached. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

The liquor gives this frosting a slightly different consistency, making it a bit more difficult to spread. You may want to add some extra liquid, one tablespoon at a time.

The cupcakes have rearranged themselves once again. I’ll let them have the final word.