Dairy Free Espresso Martini Cheesecake

Hands up who’s a fan of an espresso martini? Now, hands up who’s ever been sipping on their cocktail and thought “hmm, if only I could eat this like a dessert.” Well friends, that’s exactly what this recipe is.

I’m not going to say this is better than having a cocktail, but it’s pretty close (and less risk of a hangover.)

I planned to follow a recipe for this , and found a nice looking one on the BBC Good Food website – but then I realised it served 12, and in these lockdown times I do not have 12 people to cater for. So, by the time I’d adjusted all the measurements and substituted the dairy products for dairy free variations…and then scrapped the idea of creating two layers and chilling them for 24 hours…this recipe is nothing like the one I planned to make. But you know what, it tastes nice.

I made the cheesecake in coffee cups for maximum caffeine themed joy, but if you were to make this in a tin I’d suggest a 6″ tin (the same as my dairy free Biscoff recipe).

This recipe serves 6 (or makes 4 coffee cup cheesecakes which are slightly bigger than a slice.)

Ingredients

• 200g digestive biscuits
• 75g dairy free spread/butter
• 100g dairy free dark chocolate
• 170g dairy free cream cheese
• 100g icing sugar
• 100ml dairy free double cream (I used Elmlea plant cream.)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 30ml espresso
• 50ml Kahlúa or other coffee liqueur
• Coffee beans to serve

Method

• In a blender, blitz the biscuits down until they’re a fine crumb consistency.
• Melt the butter, and add it to the biscuit crumbs. Then, spread this evenly into the bottom of your tin or coffee cups, and pop in the fridge to cool for 20-30 minutes.
• While your base is chilling, melt your chocolate either on the hob over hot water or in the microwave. Once it’s completely melted, set aside for around 10 minutes to allow it to cool to room temperature.
• Add your sugar, cream cheese, vanilla essence and double cream, and whisk together until light and fluffy.
• Now, add your coffee and liqueur, and whisk again.
• The mixture might seem a little runny but don’t worry – it will set! Once your chocolate is at room temperature, add this to the rest of your mixture and whisk again until it’s all mixed together and a creamy consistency.
• Remove the base from the fridge and spoon the topping over it, making sure it’s level.
• Chill in the fridge for around 6 hours. (You could freeze it if you need it to set quicker.)
• Add a sprinkling of coffee beans to the top, and anything else you like – I used the last of my melted chocolate to drizzle on top but it didn’t look that great, so maybe avoid that method!
• Enjoy!

If you really wanted to (and didn’t plan on sleeping) you could serve with an espresso martini on the side. But maybe just let the cheesecake do the caffeinating…