Your favourite desserts — made vegan

Veganuary is the perfect time to mix up your diet and start cooking with plant-based products. Trust us when we say, cooking without milk and butter doesn’t mean eating without flavour.

Try these vegan alternatives for some of the nation’s most-loved desserts. They’re easy to make and packed with flavour — no one will ever know they’re vegan.

1. Cheesecake with salted caramel fudge sauce

By Alison Andrews, Loving It Vegan

For the crust

150g macadamia nuts

88g pitted Medjool dates

80g dried dessicated coconut

For the filling

450g raw cashews

180ml water

180ml maple syrup

120ml coconut oil

60ml fresh squeezed lemon juice

1tsp vanilla extract

For the caramel sauce

120ml

1. Spray an 8 inch round springform pan with non-stick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Add the macadamia nuts, pitted dates and dried coconut to the food processor and process until it starts to form into a sticky dough. It will start off crumbly, keep going until it starts to clump together in sticky clumps. Transfer to the springform pan and smooth it down into a pie crust. Use the back of a spoon to press it down into a neat flat layer. Place into the freezer to set.
3. Take your soaked and rinsed cashew nuts and place them into the blender jug. Add the water, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, lemon juice and vanilla extract and then blend everything together until very smooth. Stop and give your blender a break as needed as this is a lot of volume to blend up. Pour this over the macadamia crust and smooth down with the back of a spoon. Return to the freezer to set completely – about 4-6 hours.
4. When the cheesecake has completely set, remove it from the springform pan and put it onto a cake stand to do your topping.
5. Add the melted coconut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt into a bowl and stir it together into a caramel sauce. Spread this out over the top of the cheesecake, working quickly, as the sauce thickens and sets quite fast when in contact with the cold cheesecake.
6. Decorate the cheesecake with sprinkles of sea salt and some macadamia nuts.
7. Allow the cheesecake to thaw at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving.
8. Once the cheesecake is thawed, keep it stored in the refrigerator or freezer*.

Find Alison on Instagram @lovingitvegan

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2. Vanilla cake with berries and jam

By Hannah Hossack, Domestic Gothess

Ingredients

Follow Hannah on Instagram @domestic_gothess

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3. Cardamom banana loaf

By, Lucy & Lentils

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

215g cups plain flour

35 g cup fast oats

35g cup brown sugar

2 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

Wet ingredients

3 Overripe bananas

170 g oat milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

For the icing

1/4 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

water

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC
2. Start by adding the oat milk and apple cider vinegar to a cup, whisk and leave to slowly bubble whilst putting the other ingredients together
3. In a large mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients together and stir until fully combined
4. In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas then add the oat milk then fold into the dry ingredients
5. Make sure no hidden pockets of flour are in the mix (I did this once and ended up with a volcano like rise in the middle)
6. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes
7. Cover with tin foil and bake for a further 25 minutes or until you can stick a knife in and remove it clean.

To make the icing 

Simply add 1 tsp of water to the powdered sugar and cinnamon, give a thorough mix, then slowly add more water, drop by drop until you reach your preferred consistency.

Follow Lucy & Lentils on Instagram @lucy_and_lentils

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4. Millionaire’s shortbread with peanuts (gluten free)

By Emilie Iggiotti, Aime & Mange

For the base

110 g coconut flour

100 g wholemeal rice flour

170 g vegetable margarine

60 g whole cane sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 pinch of fleur de sel

For the peanut caramel

250 g unsalted roasted peanuts

300 g blond cane sugar

25 cl coconut cream

1 vanilla pod

2 pinches of fleur de sel

For the chocolate

340 g of good 70% dark chocolate

1 teaspoon of coconut oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °.
2. Sand the margarine, the flours, the sugar, the bicarbonate and the salt together with your fingers to obtain a homogeneous dough. Line a square pan with parchment paper and add the shortbread dough. Prick with a fork. Bake for 5 minutes then lower the oven to 150 ° and cook for 35 min. Let cool and then spread the peanuts on top.
3. Bring the coconut cream to a boil, make a dry caramel with the sugar. When the caramel is golden, add the coconut cream off the heat, stirring well. Then add the fleur de sel and cook again until a thick caramel coats the spoon. Pour the caramel over the cooled shortbread and cool for at least 30 minutes.
4. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie with coconut oil and pour over the cooled caramel layer. Equalise the surface and keep cool before cutting.

Follow Emilie on Instagram @aimemange

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5. Marbled black sesame chocolate Bundt cake

By Hannah Che, Hannah Chic

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6. Two minute apple crumble

By Wholefood Simply.

For the crumble

1 cup of walnuts

1/2 cup coconut

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 pinch of salt

For the apples

4 apples, cored and quartered

8 Pitted Medjool Dates

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Pulse the crumble ingredients in your  processor and blend until the mixture resembles a well textured crumb. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set aside.
2. Place the apple ingredients into your processor and blend until the mixture is finely chopped. Divide the apple mixture between four microwave safe dishes and top with even amounts of crumble. Microwave each serve for 60 – 90 seconds.
3. Eat. Enjoy.

Follow Wholefood Simply on Instagram @wholefoodsimply

Find all of our flavour-packed recipes in the Platinum food & drink pages – from delicious desserts and savoury meals, to kids’ treats and unique bakes, we have it all. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more Veganuary inspiration, @PlatinumMagUK