Luscious Vegan Lemon Meringue Cheesecake with toasted meringue!
My best vegan cheesecake recipe meets lemon meringue pie in the form of a cake!
I’ll admit there are quite a few recipes needed to make the Vegan Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
But believe me it is worth it the effort!
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS LEMON MERINGUE CHEESECAKE
Notes for Success:
Most people ask me about the cream of tartar addition that I have listed as an ingredient in the aquafaba meringue
This is not 100% necessary but it does help the stability of the final meringue.
So yes the recipe can be made without it, however you may not have as many days shelf life for the icing as I did.
When measuring cornstarch I cannot stress enough that a kitchen scale is the best way to go.
Cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume spoons measure
For a lightened up version and to cut some of the fat calories I like to add a small portion of tofu in place of some of the vegan cream cheese
However for a more dense NY style Cheesecake I find straight vegan cream cheese will achieve this texture
Additionally I only use Tofutti Cream Cheese for my BAKED recipes *not sponsored
I have not had success with any other brand in BAKED recipes; for some reason the other more expensive brands I’ve tried have broken down into an oily mess when baked.
Although I recently tried Violife again with good results, I think they have changed their formula
One last thing before we start!
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Many of my molded cold preparation cakes I cannot live without Acetate Cake strips
Well worth the investment as is a blowtorch to toast meringues since as you may know I use it all the time to also un-mold my vegan cheesecakes!
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Lemon Custard
- Plant Milk 1 cup (237ml)
- Lemon Juice ½ cup (118ml)
- Water ¾ cup (177ml)
- Tumeric less than 1/8 teaspoon for color *optional
- Sugar ¾ cup (150g)
- Cornstarch 5 Tablespoons (40g) *see notes
- Lemon Zest from 2 large lemons approx 2 Tablespoons
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
For the Aquafaba Meringue Icing
- Aquafaba ~ the water from a 1 can of chickpeas (1 cans = 3/4 cups liquid)
- Granulated Sugar ½ cups (100g)
- Water 4 Tbs (60ml)
- Cream of Tartar ¼ teaspoon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- Prepare your cake pans with pan grease and a parchment paper liner.
- Prepare the lemon cake recipe as per the instructions on that recipe post, then divide the batter evenly between the 3-7" pans (although you will only need 2 layers, you could freeze that extra cake for later or just make the extra batter into cupcakes)
- Bake immediately in the preheated oven for approximately 25-30 minutes or when you gently press the centers they are springy to the touch.
- Cool in the pans until you can safely touch without burning yourself then turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.
- Next prepare the cheesecake by combining all the ingredients together in the food processor and process smooth
- Pour the batter into a greased and parchment lined 7" cake pan and bake in a water bath ion the preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour.
- Once the hour is up, turn the oven off but leave the cheesecake in for another 30 minutes to cool slowly.
- Once the cakes and the cheesecake have completely cooled to cold, prepare the lemon custard by combining the sugar and the cornstarch together in a heavy bottom medium sauce pot
- Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, water and soy milk and a pinch of turmeric for color if desired
- Cook over medium high heat stirring constantly to avoid scorching the bottom
- Once it comes to a full boil remove it from the heat and add the vanilla extract
- Set up your cake as shown in the video tutorial with a layer of sponge cake on the bottom, the cheesecake layer and then an acetate cake strip to hold everything in place as you pour the hot custard over the cheesecake layer.
- Place the other sponge cake layer on top of the hot custard and refrigerate everything for about an hour until set and cool. *the 3rd cake layer is extra and usually I freeze it for another project (or a snack) later
- Prepare the aquafaba meringue by whipping the aquafaba with the cream of tartar on medium to high speed while you cook the sugar syrup at the same time
- Combine the water and sugar together in a heavy bottom sauce pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it boils do not stir or agitate the pot
- Attach a candy thermometer and cook to 240°F
- It should take about 10-15 minutes to reach temperature which is approximately the same time it takes to get the AF to stiff peaks.
- Slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the whipping meringue until it is all incorporated and then you can immediately ice your lemon cheesecake with it!
- Toast it with a blowtorch for that toasted look!
Notes
Lemon Meringue Cheesecake must be kept refrigerated and will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.
What size Acetate cake strip should be used? The link takes you to a 4” so I wanted to confirm. Thank you!
Hi Gretchen- I’m also wanting to confirm what size acetate cake strips you recommend buying? Thank you 😊
I made the cakes and cheesecake yesterday and when I made the custard today it seems a lot for the cake. Next time I will half the custard. I baked my cake in 2-8” pan and it looked perfect. The cake taste good the custard is sour, can’t wait to taste it all together when it’s done. Thanks Gretchen for share with us your amazing creation.