The Kind Diet, Recipe 24- Mixed Berry Cheesecake

This beautiful looking cheesecake was my latest endeavor.  I have tried other vegan cheesecakes in the past and I wasn't very impressed, not so with this one!  It was very easy to put together, though it does take awhile, so plan to make this on a lazy afternoon.  To start you make the crust- simply melt down 3/4 cup of earth balance in a sauce pan.  Once it's melted you mix in about 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs until it's all incorporated.  Pat this down in the bottom of a greased springform pan and you are ready to bake.  Just a quick 5 minutes at 350 degrees is all you need.  While the crust cools you assemble the cheesecake filling.  This couldn't get any easier- just process together silken tofu, nondairy cream cheese, safflower oil, maple syrup, soy milk, arrowroot, vanilla extract, and lemon extract in a food processor until it is smooth and creamy, with no lumps.  Pour this over the crust and bake about 45 minutes.  VOILA!  You've got vegan cheesecake!  How easy is that?  My favorite part?  I could lick the spatula and not worry about getting sick since there are NO eggs in this recipe- yum yum!  Now comes the hard part.........waiting!  You cool the cake to room temperature (this takes several hours), then you top with mixed fresh berries that you have tossed in a few teaspoons of maple syrup and chill until ready to serve.  I skipped the chilling part because I just couldn't wait- I had to try a piece!  I was so pleasantly surprised!  The crust had great flavor, but the filling is the stand-out in this recipe- SO creamy and refreshing- the lemon extract really accents the fruit and makes it so summery and cooling.  This is the perfect recipe to make if you are hosting a summer party and you have to make something for dessert that everyone will love- my whole family loved this!  My husband had 2 slices (which he shared with my 2 year old), my 4 1/2 year old ate one whole slice, and I had one slice too- just like that half the cake is gone!  Make two of these for a party- it will disappear quickly!  My only disappointment was that I like a really good crunch with my crust that it seems only butter can give, so I think next time I'll try to tweak it a bit (maybe pre-bake it a bit longer and/or add a bit of sugar?) to see if I can increase the crunch of the crust.  Other than that, this is a SURE winner!

My rating- 9.5