Old Fashion Lemon Tofu Cheesecake

The vegan cheesecake recipes that are appearing all over blogophere are made with soaked cashew nuts or vegan cream cheese, but I have been making this old fashion vegan cheesecake with tofu for a while.  And what's more, it is no cook too.  

When you tuck into this Lemon Tofu cheesecake, please don't go trying to compare it to the dense, rich dairy version.  This one is very different, yet it delivers on flavour and textures. 

I've made this No Cook Cheesecake in the past with a vegan strawberry jelly topping in the shape of hearts, this time though I decided to stud it simply with some glace cherries.  

My husband wasn't too sure as to why I made this vegan cheesecake, especially as we have a couple of tubs of dairy cream cheese in the fridge, but the truth is I was prompted to make this recipe for one of the cutest girls I have ever met in my life.  She has the most infectious giggle that sets you off to a good day.  She goes by the pseudonym Twitter name Tequila Mockingbird.  I hope she approves of this old fashion Lemon Tofu Cheesecake.  

Slice of cherry tart

The tart below is made with the cherries I picked from a tree in Essex. These cherries were originally yellow with a bright red blush, but have ripened furthermore on the window sill. I think they are a variety known as Ranier as the flesh was pure yellow, very firm and finely textured, but I may be wrong.
We ate most of them au naturale, just popping them into our mouths like sweet popcorn, but I had about 250g left, so I made this cherry almond tart. This tart is pretty much based on the greengage and almond tart. On cooking, the cherries tasted quite sour, but it was nice washed down with a cuppa Darjeeling.
Cherry almond tart
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
Make your own recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry

For the filling
50g margarine or butter

50g ground almonds

30g caster sugar

1 large egg

250g cherries, stoned

2 tbsp flaked almonds

Method

Heat the oven to gas mark 6. Dice the butter into a bowl. Add the almonds, caster sugar and combine, then add egg and mix until your achieve a thick paste. Spread the paste in the pastry case. Place the cherries cut-side up in the frangipane with a little space between each one. Scatter the flaked almonds over the tart. Bake for 25 – 35 minutes, or until the frangipane is firm and swollen, the cherries will bleed a little, but that add more colour to the tart. If you wish, dust with icing sugar before serving.

Essex eating cherries from the tree

I am in Essex for a long weekend celebrating my father in laws birthday, back in Scotland on Tuesday.
Not far from were my in-laws live, I noticed a cherry tree planted randomly near a pathway which is used as a short cut by people to the estate.

Oh I feel blessed, I was commenting on Nicisme's blog Cherrapeno a little while ago about enjoying English cherries, but I honestly did not think I would be picking and eating them literally from the tree. Someone up there must like me!