Happy Birthday To Me 🎉
It’s my birthday this week. I would usually plan ahead and bake a birthday cake for myself. However, as I was having a baking burnout from all my sourdough vegan panettone last week, taking on another baking project seems a bit too much for me. I promise I will post the sourdough vegan panettone recipe soon! But for now, please enjoy this Easy Vegan Panettone Tiramisu recipe.
Why I Created This Recipe
As mentioned above, I was too tired to bake a birthday cake. But I still want to enjoy some dessert on my birthday. So what would be an easy dessert that I can whip up quickly using some existing ingredients in my pantry?
Tiramisu used to be my favorite dessert before I went vegan. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find a decent vegan tiramisu. Therefore, I figure it wouldn’t hurt to make one using my leftover sourdough panettone. That way, the only thing I need to prepare is some vegan mascarpone cheese.
Vegan Mascarpone Cheese
To make the vegan mascarpone cheese, I used a mixture of silken tofu, cashews and vegan cream cheese. All these 3 ingredients are essential and compliment one another perfectly in this mascarpone cheese recipe. Silken tofu is for the creaminess, cashew for the richness and culture cream cheese for the tanginess. Now, the tricky part about this recipe is that different brands of tofu has different consistency, so how much liquid you’ll need strictly depends on which brand or kinds of tofu you have. If you are using silken tofu like me, you may not need to add more liquid. However, if you tofu is on the firmer side, I would suggest you adding 1/4 – 1/3 cup of aquafaba while blending. The consistency of the mixture after blending should be between yogurt and milk.
After obtaining the vegan mascarpone cheese with desired consistency, we will add 1/2 Tbsp of psyllium husk to it. Let it sit for at least 1 hour before assembling the tiramisu. The reason why I added psyllium husk is to give the mascarpone cheese an extra fluffiness. Psyllium is a form of water-soluble plant fiber which is known as its ability to absorbs loads of water. Adding psyllium to the mixture will give it a mousse like texture. You may notice that I use the same trick in my tofu mousse recipe.
Easy Vegan Tiramisu with Panettone
Course: DessertCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes5
minutesAn easy version of vegan tiramisu using panettone and homemade vegan mascarpone cheese. This recipe makes 4 servings in a 15 x 15 cm pan.
Ingredients
500g vegan panettone* (sliced into 1 cm thick) (or substitute with vegan sponge cake or vegan ladyfingers)
1/3 cup strong coffee/espresso (I brewed mine using Life Extension’s Rainforest blend)
- Vegan Mascarpone Cheese
200g silken tofu
1/2 cup vegan cream cheese (use any kind of vegan cream cheese you can find)
1/2 cup cashews (soaked overnight in cold water or 30 mins in boiling water)
1/4 – 1/3 cup aquafaba (or any plant milk)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp liquid sweetener
1 tsp vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)
1/2 Tbsp psyllium husk
- Topping
Cacao powder for dusting
Directions
- First, prepare the mascarpone cheese by placing all ingredients except aquafaba/plant milk and psyllium husk in a high speed blender, then blend until the mixture is super smooth.
- If you are using silken tofu like me, you may not need to add more liquid. However, if you tofu is on the firmer side, I would suggest you adding 1/4 – 1/3 cup of aquafaba while blending. The consistency of the mixture after blending should be between yogurt and milk.
- Once the desired consistency is achieved, add 1/2 Tbsp psyllium husk to the mixture. Blend again until the the psyllium husk is incorporated into the mixture.
- Pour the mixture into a container and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Once the mascarpone cheese is ready. Slice the panettone into 1 cm slices. Place the panettone slices evenly over the bottom of a glass baking tray.
- Brush the base layer of panettone with strong coffee/espresso.
- Cover the panettone layer with a layer of mascarpone cheese.
- Place another layer of panettone slices, brush them with coffee. Then, cover with mascarpone.
- Finally, dust with cacao powder, add a sprinkle of cacao nibs and shaved dark chocolate. Cover well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- * I used my homemade sourdough vegan panettone and I will share the recipe on my blog pretty soon! ☺️
