Becca's Crazemazing No Bake Dairy Free Chocolate Cheese Cake!

The other day I was having a very stressful week and I had been watching a lot of Golden Girls and I was craving some cheese cake. I unfortunately had not had cheesecake in over a year due to my severe lactose intolerance. I looked in the fridge and it hit me, why not make my own no bake dairy free cheese cake? I had an abundance of dairy free sour cream and cream cheese from making dairy free blintzes and I have to have watched over a 100 no bake cheese cake videos from Tastemade and Tasty so I thought I would give it a shot. I just threw together some ingredients and went for it and boy was I surprised when it actually tasted like cheese cake. And no, not the horrible vegan cheesecake that vegans have deluded themselves into thinking is good, but actually tastes good! (Probably because of my secret ingredient) Fair warning, this recipe is an approximation of what I made and you will probably need to adjust the amount of ingredients to your taste. I like my cheesecake really sweet, some don't. Also, I like my graham cracker crust almost falling apart so you will probably want to add more butter than I do. Finally, most dairy free cream cheese and sour cream brands suck and taste absolutely horrible. I would use the brands I recommend or ones you already know taste good (or at least good with a crap ton of sugar added to them). I can in no way guarantee that this will taste good with other brands, so proceed with caution. So without further ado, here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 6 oz dairy free sour cream (I use Tofutti better than sour cream) 
• 8 oz dairy free cream cheese (I use follow your heart)
• around 2 cups dairy free semi sweet chocolate chips, melted (I like chocolate dream, but enjoy life is also good)
• 1 Tbs vanilla extract (or accidentally dump in half the bottle and then have to dump out most of it like I do) 
• 2 packets Knox unflavored gelatin (I am guessing around 3-4 tablespoons)
• around a cup of water, hot (This is just to mix with the gelatin, so as little as possible to still fully dissolve the gelatin is best)
•  3/4 cup sugar (I would start with 1/2 cup and then add more to taste)
• 1/2 cup Hershey chocolate syrup (my secret ingredient! I would say this is more to taste depending on how chocolaty you like your cheesecake) 
• 1 sleeve of graham crackers, crushed 
• 4 Tbs vegan butter, melted (I love earth balance, it is by far the best vegan butter) 

Directions:

1. Melt your butter and crush your graham crackers. You can use a food processor and then add the butter to the crushed crackers and mix them together in that. I happen to love smashing the crackers with a rolling pin. Either way you want a wet sand texture that will hold together. Press this mixture into your pan. I used a pie tin, you can use whatever you want. 
2. Whip together your sour cream and cream cheese until well combined.
3. Heat up your water and add the gelatin. Try and get it as dissolved as possible. If parts are not mixing then either add more water or don't add those parts. Add this to the mixing bowl
4. Melt your chocolate and add it to the mixing bowl. Add in vanilla extract and a pinch of salt if you desire.
5. Mix until well combined. Taste your mixture. Add in your sugar until it is the sweetness level you like. Don't over sweeten because the Hershey's syrup will be sweet as well.
6. Mix in the sugar and add in Hershey's syrup, tasting to get the desired chocolatyness. Mix until everything is combined. 
7. Put in the pie tin and spread evenly. Add shaved chocolate, chocolate ganache, or maybe some crushed Oreos. Get creative with it! I have a feeling whipped cream would probably taste good. 
8. Let set for at least 30 min in the fridge. mine set really quickly, but just wait long enough to get that delicious cheesecake texture.
9. Grab your book and piece of cheesecake and enjoy! 

Recommended Reading to Pair with Recipe 

Now I know most people don't just sit down and read the Great Gatsby, but they really should. While it isn't an easy read, this cheesecake will give you a taste of the decadence and high life of Gatsby's parties. Just don't get caught up in the book and eat the whole cake!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
My rating: ❤❤❤❤

The Great Gatsby explores a world of money, love, drama, and mystery. Nick Carraway has moved to New York to pursue being a stock broker when he moves in next door to the mysterious Jay Gatsby. Everything about Gatsby seems fake, yet Nick can't stay away. When he finds out there is a history between Gatsby and his cousin Daisy, Nick is pulled into a crazy affair and a course of events that leave you asking why. I read this book in English class (not surprising) and I loved it! The imagery and metaphors are fantastic and the plot is some how slow and fast at the same time. The irony and sarcasm are amazing. This book is a classic and I think that a lot of teenagers have a hard time relating to it. I find that the story itself can be a little confusing as the writing is complex. This book definitely inspires deep thought and immerses you in the story. This is not a fast read, but it is an enjoyable one. I would highly recommend this book to everyone, though I think adults get a lot more out of it than teenagers.

Becca's Perfect Pound Cake

I don't know about you, but I love pound cake. Before my dairy allergy emerged, every time I went to Starbucks I would get the lemon pound cake. Sadly I have not been able to successfully create a dairy-free lemon pound cake, but I have made a delicious regular pound cake! So I found a recipe from all recipes that I think was taken down where I got the original recipe from, but I am unable to link it as I can not find it now. Honestly, this is delicious and perfect for dessert and breakfast. (Or if you are me just eat a whole loaf for every meal!) This is a super easy recipe, so beginners have no fear! It only takes around 5 minutes of prep time and 1 hour of baking (Which means 1 hour of Netflix and chips!)

Lately I have been having trouble making time for my blog and its making me very sad. School starts in a couple of days and I have been scrambling to make the most of the end of my summer. This is why I have only been posting poetry because I already have it written. As of today I will be posting only on Monday and Thursday because I am not going to have enough time to post every other day. This makes me super sad because I love blogging, but balancing two jobs, school (I am going for an IB diploma which means like three hours of homework a night!), and debate (I am at practice every day I am not working) means having to give up that third blog post of the week. So Basically no one is as disappointed as I am that I am having to cut down on my blogging, but this will hopefully allow for more reading time and for longer posts. I really hate having to post a bunch of poetry in a row because I didn't have the time to put together a post, because it feels like I am letting you all down. (This is not to say that I don't love sharing my poetry with you all!) In other news, I am writing a book!( I know pretty cool right?) It is a science fiction romance novel with a billion characters and an extremely confusing plotline. So it is basically my perfect book! So writing this book is also taking up some of my time, though because I have no deadines as it is just for fun, I am pretty flexible as to when I write it. So far I have about 50 pages written (Like 13,000 words) and a lot of notes about the characters and the plot! Please don't ask me to post my writing of my book as I am not going to. It will not be read by any one other than my very close friends and family until it is finished, so you are only going to get to enjoy my poetry for now! Now back to the matter at hand, my amazing pound cake! I chose this recipe because it always cheers me up and I am really sad about going to only two posts a week. I hope it is able to cheer you all up too! I was going to take pictures of it as I had some frozen, but before I could get any my mother ate it! Moral of the story, this pound cake is just as delicious after it has been frozen as it was fresh out of the oven! Alright lets get cooking!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar 
• 1/2 cup butter, coconut oil, or vegan butter alternative (I love earth balance)
• 1/2 cup sour cream or vegan sour cream (I use sour supreme which is by tofutti and is made with tofu)
• 3 eggs (The fresher the better! My friends gave me some of the eggs from their chickens and they were so good!)
• 1 pinch baking soda 
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (Or 1 vanilla bean, which I had a try and they loved!)
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (This is optional, but I wouldn't recommend not using it)

Directions 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan (I would use Crisco, but butter or coconut oil will work too)
• Cream butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract until light and fluffy
• Add in sour cream (Putting around 1 tbsp at a time)
• Add in eggs one at time beating well after each one
• Add in flour, salt and baking soda and mix well
• Pour into a pan
• Bake for one hour or until a knife inserted comes out clean
• Create glaze with powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk/milk alternative

Book Recommendation 

Do to a time crunch I couldn't write a recommendation today! This is why I have to go down to two posts a week. Don't worry I will write an extra long recommendation list to make it up to you!