Vegan Cheesecake Brioche Buns (with Dairy Version Included)
Today I’m sharing a recipe for vegan cheesecake brioche buns, which can easily be made dairy.
I came across many variations of this recipe across different social media baking pages, and I wanted to give it a try for so long.
It is a simple, fun and rather quick to make recipe. You just make soft rolls and fill them with cheesecake filling and jam. I don’t even bother making the jam from scratch, and just use storebought.
You’ll get these puffy, soft and pillowy pastries, which stay soft for many hours, exposed at room temperature.
The taste and texture really reminded those of “sufganiot” (jelly filled donuts). To make the vegan version I am using a home-made vegan cream cheese that I make myself, and it is nothing less than a game changer for any cheesy vegan dessert (or savory dish) which calls for cream cheese.
I teach this recipe in my baking classes, however, if you opt to choose storebought cream cheese, make sure you use a brand that is to your taste and with as less off flavors as possible. I’ve come to understand it has a great impact on the final results.
First published:
Last modified:
Vegan Cheesecake Brioche Buns (with Dairy Version Included):
Equipment: No special equipment required.
Recipe: Makes 6 very large buns.
For the dough:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Milk (Dairy or Soy) | 100g |
| Water | 110g |
| Softened Butter (Dairy / Vegan), or Vegetable Oil | 60g, OR; 50g Vegetable Oil |
| Dry Yeasts | 6g |
| All Purpose Flour | 390g |
| White Granulated Sugar | 55g |
| Salt | 4g |
For the cheesecake filling:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Cream Cheese (Dairy or Vegan) | 170g |
| White Granulated Sugar | 25g |
| Vanilla Paste | 1 tsp |
| Cornstarch | 12g |
| Vanilla Instant Pudding Powder | 5g |
| Lemon Zest (do not skip) | Zest of half to whole lemon (to taste) |
| To pipe on top of the pastries: Jam of your choice | 70g It’s recommended to use a smooth textured jam |
For the crumbles:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| All Purpose Flour | 80g |
| White Granulated Sugar | 80g |
| Melted Butter (Dairy or Vegan) | 45g |
| Salt | 1/8 tsp |
Preparation instructions:
To make the dough:
- Into a bowl of a standing mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, add all of the dough’s ingredients – first add the dry ones and yeasts, and mix them together. Then add in the milk, water and oil. If using softened butter, turn on the mixer on low speed, and add it gradually only once a dough is formed.
- Knead the dough for about 15 minutes. The dough should be smooth, nice to the touch, not sticking with proper gluten network developed.
- Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough inside. Lightly oil the surface of the dough as well so it doesn’t dry out. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and proof for 1 hour at a warm room temperature (25C), or just until the dough has doubled in volume. Meanwhile, prepare the cheesecake filling and crumbles.
To make the cheesecake filling:
- In a medium sized bowl, add all the ingredients required for the cheesecake filling (except the jam – that goes on top, separately). The mixture should be mixed very thoroughly until there are no visible lumps of dry powders.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate until assembly. The filling can be made the night before.
To make the crumbles:
- Melt the butter in a medium sized bowl. Then add the flour and sugar, and lightly mix with a fork until crumbles are formed.
- You can control the size of the crumbles by pinching the dough together with your fingers, to get different sizes of crumbles.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate until assembly. The crumbles can also be made in advanced.
Assembly and baking:
- After the dough had doubled in size, divide into 6 equally sized portions, 115g each.
- Shape them into smooth balls, and place in large and even distance from each other on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure to ensure they are spaced out sufficiently as they WILL grow very big during proofing and after baking.
- Generously spray the dough with water, cover them with a large piece of plastic wrap and give them a second proof at warm room temperature (25C) for about 30 minutes. The pastries should be 8.5cm in diameter, and reach a height of 5.5cm and will be very jiggly.
- Towards the end of proofing time, preheat your oven to 190C, fan mode off, with a baking rack set at the lowest shelf inside the oven.
- Spray the dough balls lightly with some cooking oil. Then, by using an oiled small bowl or a measuring cup that’s about 6cm wide, push it against the center of each dough ball to make a hole. The tool used will not release easily because of the vacuum it creates, so it has to pulled while rotating it upwards. You can totally do this step with oiled fingers as well.
- Fill the holes with the cheesecake filling just until it fills them completely. Give the pastries another generous spray of water, and sprinkle the crumbles on the edges (the water will help the crumbles stick).
- Bake for 15 minutes until deeply golden brown.
- Transfer the tray onto a cooling rack and let the pastries slightly cool down before serving. They will stray soft for many hours. Store them in an airtight container, and reheat for 30-60 seconds in the microwave, or a few minutes in a preheated oven.
