Southern Chess Squares
1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Cherrybrook Kitchen)
1/2 cup of vegan margarine (Earth Balance works well)
1 egg replacer
1/3 cup water
1 8oz package vegan cream cheese (room temp)
3 egg replacers
16 oz vegan powdered sugar (or make your own and use 3 3/4 cups)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13x9x2 pan with nonstick spray.
Mix cake mix, margarine, egg replacement, and water. Pat down in a 13x9 pan.
Mix vegan cream cheese, egg replacers, and powdered sugar. Beat until blended very very well. Pour over cake mix.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until edges are browned and the middle doesn't jiggle! Let cool for 1-2 hours or it will be gooey when you cut it.
Every once in a while when I make this it doesn’t bake up very pretty, but it always tastes yum! The vegan cream cheese can make it turn out funny if it's not at room temp.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I would give this four out of five stars if I knew how to do that. I think the taste of these is pretty good, but no where near as good as non-vegan chess squares, unfortunately. Mainly the topping, I didn't like so much because mine was so gooey even after baking and it just didn't have a cream-cheesy taste at all. I used Toffuti brand vegan cream cheese. There was still a salty-sweet taste which came from the cake mix batter. I used Pamela's wheat-, gluten- and dairy-free chocolate cake mix, which came out a bit gooey after baking as well. I baked for about 23 minutes.
Next time I'd just make vegan cream cheese brownies instead with a different brand of cream cheese or some other nut-based cream cheese substitute.
I also thought the amount of the cream cheese topping was too big.