Foodie Friday: Vegan dark chocolate, nutmeg & Oreo cheesecake

Preheat oven on top and bottom heat set to 160°C with low steam. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round springform pan with baking paper.

To make the base, place biscuits in a food processor bowl and pulse just until fine crumbs are formed. Add margarine and process until just combined. Press firmly and evenly into the base of the prepared cake pan. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.

For the filling, place cream cheese into a stand mixer bowl; beat on a low speed until smooth; gradually add chocolate. Add caster and brown sugar, sifted cornflour, cocoa powder and nutmeg and vanilla; mix until smooth. Pour over the biscuit base and smooth the surface.

Place cheesecake on a universal tray on level 1 and bake for 55 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool for 30 minutes before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely, about 2 hours.

To make the ganache, place chocolate and coconut cream into a heatproof bowl; heat in the microwave oven on 600W for 1 minute; stir, then continue to heat, stirring every 15 seconds, until the chocolate is fully melted. Set aside to cool and thicken slightly.

To assemble, remove cheesecake from the pan and place onto a serving plate; spread with chocolate ganache. Serve with berries. Recipe notes Vegan cream cheese is quite soft and smooth, so it doesn’t need much beating to make it smooth. It’s available in most local supermarkets. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can substitute cinnamon for nutmeg and add grated orange rind for a lovely jaffa flavour.