Name: HEART-SHAPED VEGAN VALENTINE’S CHEESECAKE FOR TWO
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 210 min
Ingredients: 100 g (around 1 cup) Lotus Biscoff biscuits; 45 g (3 tablespoons) vegan butter, melted; 125 g (1 cup) cashews, (soaked in boiling hot water for 1 hour or in cold water overnight); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; 2 tablespoons maple syrup; ¼ teaspoon sea salt; 2 tablespoons oat cream (or any other dairy-free cream); 180 g (1 heaped cup) frozen or fresh strawberries; 2 tablespoons maple syrup; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 6 tablespoons water; 2 tablespoons zero calory caster sugar (or raw coconut sugar/caster sugar); 2 teaspoons agar-agar powder; Fresh raspberries; Freeze dried strawberries

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Looking for an easy yet impressive vegan dessert for Valentine’s Day or a romantic night in? This heart-shaped cheesecake for two will win anyone’s heart. Crunchy caramel biscuit base combined with silky cashew cream and topped with a thin layer of sweet strawberry puree. A beautiful combination of flavours and textures.

Heart-shaped vegan Valentine’s cheesecake with raspberries on a black plate

If you’re looking for easy vegan dessert for Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day, this vegan heart-shaped cheesecake for two is a perfect dessert for the occasion. It serves two people, so you can share your heart(cake) with your Valentine! It sounds rather cheese I know. But Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity for a little romance, right?!

Why you’ll love this recipe

The combination of flavours and textures in this vegan Valentine’s cheesecake is a like a beautiful marriage. Crunchy biscuit base, silky cashew cream and sweet and tarty strawberry puree. Delicious!
It’s impressive and so romantic. Cut the heart in two and share it with your partner.
It doesn’t require any baking!
You can make it in advance, which makes it a perfect desert for any dinner party.
It serves two, so no waste and no leftovers.

What is this vegan Valentine’s cheesecake made of?

First of all, we make a crunchy biscuit layer by combining crushed Lotus Biscoff biscuits with melted vegan butter. Although you can use any type of vegan biscuits, I’d really recommend Biscoff for their rich caramel flavour. They pair really well with cashew cream and strawberries.

The middle layer consists of cashew cream made with soaked cashews, maple syrup & oat cream.

And finally, this vegan cheesecake is topped with a thin layer of sweet & a little tarty strawberry puree. We make the strawberry puree by combining crushed strawberries with a little sugar (I’m using Pure Via Baker’s Secret zero calory sugar), water, maple syrup and agar-agar powder. Agar-agar is ‘the secret ingredient’ that helps this vegan jellies and purees set.

What is agar-agar powder

Agar-agar is a gelling agent extracted from red algae. Because gelatine is made from animal collagen, agar-agar makes a great vegetarian & vegan alternative. It has no scent and doesn’t leave any colouration or residue.

Normally, a small amount of dried agar-agar is added to a liquid, brought to a boil and then simmered for 5 minutes. It sets on cooling.

Agar-agar is widely used in a variety of vegan & vegetarian desserts like jelly, panna cotta, custard. It works well as the basis of layers in sponges or mousse cakes, like this Vegan Strawberry Mousse Cake for instance.

Heart-shaped vegan Valentine’s cheesecake cut in half

Useful tips on cooking with agar-agar powder

Agar-agar can be a little temperamental at times, so the tips below might be useful:

Agar-agar may be dispersed in either hot or cold water.
It dissolves completely at temperatures above 90C.
To get the mixture to gel consistency, you need to bring the solution with agar-agar powder to a boil and then simmer gently for around 5 minutes.
Agar-agar powder sets at room temperature (35-45C).
Once set, the gel stays stable in hot and cold temperatures.
If your agar-agar mixture has set too quickly, don’t worry, you can easily re-melt it. Just bring the pan with the agar-agar mixture to a boil, whisk continuously and then simmer on low to medium heat for around 5 minutes.
To test if your gel will set properly, just spoon a small amount of agar-agar mixture on a cold plate. It should set within 30 seconds.

Recipe tips

The heart-shaped springform cake tin I’m using is 11.5cm x 11.5cm. If you don’t have this type of cake tin, you can use cooking rings or silicone muffin molds. Just bear in mind that if the size of your molds is different to this cake tin, you might end up with more cheesecake portions.
To ease the cheesecake out of the tin, lightly grease the sides of the cake tin with spray oil or coconut oil. I find it helps to get the cake out of the tin easier and without cracking.
When you’re topping the cheesecake with strawberry puree layer, make sure that the cheesecake is at room temperature. You have to spread the puree really quickly before it has a chance to set (spreading with a palette knife works best). If you spread the strawberry layer over the cheesecake base that has just been taken out of the fridge/freezer, the jelly is likely to set very quickly before you get a chance to spread it.

Heart-shaped vegan Valentine’s cheesecake on black plate

Looking for more Valentine’s Day vegan recipes?

These vegan recipes will be sure to win your Valentine’s heart, so give them a go:

Try some of the readers’ favourite recipes below:

A slice of heart-shaped vegan Valentine’s cheesecake with raspberries on a black plate

In conclusion, if you give this recipe a try, I’d be delighted to read your comments and hear your feedback. Be sure to drop a comment here on the blog, tag me in your photos on Instagram @Fit Foodie Nutter, Facebook or Pinterest so I don’t miss them.

Healthfully yours,

Tania x