Knowledge Base > Fran Costigan - A Fresh Take on Spring Desserts

Fran Costigan - A Fresh Take on Spring Desserts
This event was on
Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 1:00 pm Pacific, 4:00 pm Eastern
Join Chef Fran Costigan, Rouxbe’s Director of Vegan Pastry, for an exciting and delicious exploration of springtime sweets. This special event will showcase the vibrant and fresh fla… Read More.
Question:

Have you used non-dairy ricotta cheese in baked items such as Italian cheese cake recipes?
— Cecilia Litvak
Answer:
I have not personally done that, but um, I know that it is possible. I know Kit Hill is a brand that sells a very nice vegan non-dairy ricotta cheese. Um, it would probably get pretty expensive to buy enough containers to make your cheesecake, but ricotta can be made, um, with some people make the base to make a non-dairy ricotta with tofu. Some people do it with cashews and tofu and acid like lemon. And I've seen it work really nicely. If anybody here, you know, I'm in Philadelphia, but Miss Rachel's pantry, Rachel Klein, so wonderful chef, anybody here ha who watched beat Bobby Flay? I don't know if it's still on television, Rachel beat Bobby. Um, but she does a non-dairy ricotta and I've seen other people do it. I have made one myself for stuffing shells. If I were doing it for a cheesecake, then I wouldn't probably, I wouldn't put in the garlic, I wouldn't put in the artichoke hearts and so on. But it's possible you will need to use some, I believe you would need to use some non-dairy cream cheese as well. So yes, I think it's possible.
