The Butter Substitute You Need For The Best Vegan Cheesecake Crust

Vegan cheesecake is one of those dishes that is infamously difficult to pull off. The word "cheese" is literally in its name, which is pretty telling of what it is. Made from a whipped custard of eggs, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla, all held together in a delicate and buttery, graham cracker crust, nothing about this dessert is vegan, nor vegan friendly. But, these days, you can find a vegan alternative for every ingredient in your cheesecake recipe — from your go-to egg substitute to a dairy-free cream cheese, there are endless ways to make the cheese part of your cheesecake vegan. When it comes to the crust, on the other hand, you're going to want to grab something specific to replace the butter: soy margarine.

Graham cracker crust is, typically, made from a few ingredients: sugar, graham crackers, and butter. Aside from picking up vegan graham crackers for your vegan cheesecake's crust (i.e. ones that aren't made with eggs or honey), and organic sugar (i.e. a variety that isn't decolorized with bone char), the most obvious ingredient you'll need to substitute is the butter — and that's where the soy margarine comes in. Soy margarine is, essentially, just like the regular, butter-like margarine you're probably used to, only it's made with emulsified soybean and vegetable oils instead of dairy. Sold in tubs and sticks, margarine is regularly used as a butter substitute at a 1:1 ratio, but it's better in some baking applications than others.

Soy margarine sticks are what you'll want to use for your cheesecake crust — as well as any other baking recipe that calls for melted, softened, or cold butter. That's because tub margarine tends to have a higher water content than butter, and when it's melted, it ends up altering the taste and texture of your baked goods. As for recipes that call for cold butter, it simply isn't hard enough to hold up in recipes. The same also goes for any low-fat or light margarine you might come across. The standard fat, soy margarine you get in the stick form, on the other hand, has a texture and water content that is nearly identical to butter, allowing it to work seamlessly in all of your baking recipes when substituted at a 1:1 ratio.

In everything from your cakes and pies, to your cookies and cheesecake, soy margarine is yet another baking substitute you need to master vegan baking. But, it's not the only one. If for some reason you can't find a standard, soy margarine sold in sticks in store, you have other options. You could opt for any other vegan butter alternative, for one. Or grab that tub of coconut oil in the pantry. Both of the products act like butter in that they soften and harden depending on the temperature, and won't alter the texture of your baked goods if used at a 1:1 ratio.