This is a German-style cheesecake, made with thick dairy-free yogurt, in the style I grew up eating. If you can’t have dairy – or want to eat less of it – this is a delicious baked yogurt cake that makes a good substitution. No nuts or tofu! To be clear, it’s not the same thing, but I was still pretty thrilled when I got it right. You can find a similar recipe in my cookbook but I’ve refined it a bit more here.

The cake has a smooth texture and comes out quite airy and light, but isn’t as rich as a cheesecake made with quark or cream cheese. It has a rather classic cake flavour with lemon zest and vanilla.

Not particularly sweet, it’s a good carrier for any type of fruit or sweet sauce you’d like to serve it with. Pictured are fresh strawberries macerated in a bit of honey and vanilla, but blueberry compote and stewed rhubarb are two other seasonal favourites. I think you could swirl a little lemon curd through the cake before baking but haven’t tried it.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Yogurt: this is strained dairy-free yogurt (vegan labneh) and it works best with thick Greek-style coconut or soya yogurt. I have tried with oat and almond yogurts and it didn’t turn out as well. Choose unsweetened, unflavoured yogurt that you like the taste of. Note that coconut will lend a slight coconut flavour.
• Sugar: you can use any kind of granulated sugar. Cane, plain white, and coconut all work well. I haven’t tried with dark brown sugar.
• Eggs: use room temperature eggs. The fresher, the better, as they’ll whip up with more volume and be more stable when folded in with the other ingredients.
• Flour: I usually use sifted (light) spelt flour. I have had success with sifted buckwheat flour if you want a gluten-free option.
• Vanilla: some vanilla adds a nice flavour and increases the sense of sweetness.
• Starch: corn starch and arrowroot flour are best. This helps a bit with the structure.

Step by Step

Step 1: beat the eggs whites until stiff and set aside.

Step 2: mix the other wet ingredients in another bowl.

Step 3: add the dry ingredients and beat on low to combine.

Step 4: gently fold in the egg whites to incorporate.

Step 5: transfer the batter to a lined springform pan.

Step 6: bake until golden and puffy, then cool fully before serving.

Recipe Notes

I’ve made this cake dozens of times now, because 1. I really, really love it, and 2. I hated every picture I took of it. So for my cookbook I made it at least ten times, and then countless more variations in the years since. The most important element is the yogurt.

If you don’t like the taste of the yogurt you have chosen, you won’t like the cake. If you don’t like coconut, don’t use coconut yogurt (use soya). There are many options for Greek-style dairy-free yogurt these days, and some of them are excellent, so choose a good one!

My understanding is that vegan yogurt is astronomically expensive in Canada, presumably elsewhere too – I can get a good quality organic option in Europe for 2€ – so please read carefully and make sure you follow the instructions so you don’t waste your money. Do not make substitutions that aren’t outlined or change the recipe in any other way.

This is typically not a recipe I’ll make for butter-and-sugar people as the texture is rather different from dairy cheesecake. If you’re clear that it’s something else, they usually like it, but if you call it a baked cheesecake, they might be a bit confused.

How to Store

Storage: this cake will keep well for a couple of days at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Once it’s fully cooled, keep it in a sealed container. If you’ve topped with berries or another topping, it won’t keep as well, so keep that separate if you think you’ll have leftovers.

Freezing: I don’t recommend freezing this baked cheesecake. The texture is a bit watery and unpleasant when thawed.

Expert Tips

• Expect a collapse: the cake will puff right up in the oven and look a bit like a Japanese cheesecake, but it falls once it comes out. Expect it to go down to about half its in-oven height.
• Really beat those egg whites: you want to have stiff peaks, with no liquid egg white remaining. I always turn it over my head but that is risky. If any yolk (or other fat) gets into the whites, they won’t whip up.
• Start in advance: it takes a while to strain the yogurt, so keep in mind that you need to start this recipe a day before you plan to serve it. The yogurt should strain overnight.

More Dairy-Free Cakes

Dairy-Free Carrot Cake
Apple Crumble Cake
Chocolate Snack Cake
Rhubarb Streusel Cake