These individual lemon and blueberry cheesecakes are vegan, refined sugar free and gluten free! And the best bit is you can’t tell! 

I don’t normally use store bought vegan cream cheese but I wanted to give it a try and make things a little easier on myself, so I gave Angel Food Dairy Free Cream Cheese a go. 

It’s the first time I’d tried it and I was so happy with it! It tastes so much like traditional cream cheese and it worked amazingly well in this recipe. I was surprised how well it whipped and turned nice and smooth and creamy. In these cheesecakes it honestly just tastes like the real thing and has the same consistency as a cheesecake made from dairy does. I definitely recommend. 

You could possibly use another store bought brand of vegan cream cheese or make your own or even try my cashew cream cheese in this recipe. I haven’t tried any other type of dairy free cream cheese in this recipe myself though so I can’t guarantee how others will work. But if you do try with something else please let me know what you used in the comments and how it came out!

The reason I chose to make individual cheesecakes rather than one big cheesecake is because the pot of Angel Food Cream Cheese is pretty small with only 240g and not cheap at around $8 for one tub. I didn’t know if it would make enough filling to fill a whole standard cake tin and I didn’t want to buy two pots of cream cheese, especially as I’d never tried it before so didn’t even know if it would be good or not. If you have a small round cake tin you could try that but otherwise I’d suggest making mini individual ones, the cheesecake filling isn’t enough for one standard cake. I just used small glasses for mine but ramekins or even jars would work too. This recipe makes 4 minis.  

Also for the first time, I used Date Paste rather than whole dates. I found it and thought it might be a cheaper, easier alternative to using whole dates. And I was right. No need to soak the dates before using and then blend them up, the date paste means it’s all ready to be used straight out of the jar. You also need less – ½ C date paste is equal to 1 cup of whole dates, plus it’s cheaper than buying whole dates. I used Camel Dates by Cinderella which I just got at my local Countdown. You’ll likely see a few more of my recipes popping up which use date paste because I’ve already been converted!

I’ve used coconut cream in the filling to give it a bit more volume and lightness, it also makes it taste less cheesy and more like a traditional cheesecake. I was actually surprised that despite using this it didn’t make the filling taste remotely like coconut, so if you’re not a fan of coconut you can still use it without worrying about the flavour coming through. I do like the taste of coconut but was happy the taste is hidden in this recipe as I wanted a lemon filling, not lemon and coconut. I just used canned coconut cream. But I suggest not buying the cheapest one you can find. I used Ceres Organics. It doesn’t contain emulsifiers which is great and means the fatty cream layer and the water easily separate. You absolutely must put your can of coconut cream in the fridge overnight. This really helps the fatty layer rise to the top of the can and the water to sink to the bottom. This is what you want because when you’re whipping coconut cream you do not water in the mix as it’ll prevent it whipping properly. When you’re ready to use the coconut cream just spoon the creamy thick layer off the top and only use that, I used about 3/4 C worth. 

Blueberries finish these cheesecakes off perfectly, adding a nice touch of colour, more flavour and of course antioxidants as well as additional vitamins and fibre.