This baked dairy-free cheesecake is just as good or better than any baked cheesecake you’ve ever had. It’s creamy and cheesy and simply sensational!
So you may have heard me whining on this blog about not being able to get dairy free cream cheese. Well…the other day when I was wondering around my local supermarket, imagine how excited I was to see some tofutti dairy free cream cheese!
I was so excited that I basically bought their entire stock of it. And then got busy making baked cheesecakes.
I made a few before I got to the perfect consistency but oh wow, this cheesecake is exactly the consistency of the baked cheesecakes you know and love! In dairy free form. Yay!
Of course it’s also egg free because hey this is a vegan blog! But it really doesn’t miss the eggs either.
If you love cheesecake then you’ll probably also love our no-bake vegan cheesecake and vegan pumpkin cheesecake.
How to Make Baked Vegan Cheesecake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
The Crust:
- I went with an old favorite here which is an oreo cookie crust. Golden oreos and vegan butter make the perfect crust for this cheesecake.
- Just add oreo cookies to the food processor and process into crumbs.
- Then add in melted vegan butter and process again until all the crumbs are coated with the butter.
- Press down into a 9-inch round pie dish.
The Filling Part One:
- The first part of the filling is to add coconut cream, the separated cream part only from a can of chilled coconut cream to a blender jug.
- Add cashews and blend.
TIP: This is very thick, so if you have a Vitamix, you’re all set. But if you have a weaker model blender, then the best thing to do will be to blend the coconut cream first, until it’s well blended, and then add the cashews and blend them into the coconut cream.
The Filling Part Two:
- Then you move on to the second part of the filling which is to add two tubs of vegan cream cheese (we used Tofutti) to the bowl of your stand mixer, along with caster sugar (also called superfine sugar), cornstarch, salt, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
- Starting at slow speed gradually increase speed until everything is well mixed.
TIP: Be careful not to overmix. Don’t just leave the mixer running.
- Then (not pictured) add the coconut cream and cashew blended mix and lemon zest to the cream cheese mix and fold it in carefully.
- Pour the filling over the golden Oreo crust and smooth it down.
- Bake the cheesecake in the oven for 60 minutes at 320°F (160°C).
- After the cheesecake has baked for an hour, turn off the oven and crack open the oven door. Leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool down slowly for another hour.
- When it’s just finished baking it will be a little jiggly in the middle, don’t worry it firms up.
- After it finishes cooling in the oven, transfer it to the countertop and let it cool all the way down to room temperature and then move it to the fridge until chilled through and preferably overnight.
- Add the topping and serve!
No Water Bath
We bake this cheesecake at a low temperature so it doesn’t need a water bath. In addition to the low temperature baking, we crack the oven door after it has baked for an hour and let it cool down slowly for another hour. Baking it slowly and then cooling it slowly like this, means you don’t get cracks in the top.
As you’ll see from my pic above, mine cracked a little on the top, but that was because I got a little impatient with the cooling process and cut it short. If you let it cool nice and slow then it tends to not crack. But this tiny little crack in the top isn’t enough to convince me to go to the effort of a water bath. Especially because the crack will just get covered with a cookie crumb topping.
The Topping
The topping is just crushed golden oreo cookies. The topping is completely optional and you don’t actually have to have a topping at all.
I’m just a fan of how it looks with all those cookie crumbs!
Vegan Baked Cheesecake Q&A
It’s ideal to make this cheesecake in advance because you ideally want it to chill overnight in the fridge so it can firm up to the perfect consistency.
The filling is already gluten-free, so to make this cheesecake gluten-free all you need to do is use a gluten-free vanilla sandwich cookie to make the crust.
Keep it stored in the fridge and it will last around 5-7 days.
Yes you can freeze it! I froze a few slices and then thawed them in the fridge and they were perfectly delicious.
More Vegan Desserts
- Dairy Free Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Lemon Bars
- Vegan Chocolate Tart
- Vegan Mug Cake
- Vegan Nutella
- Vegan White Chocolate
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Dairy Free Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 28 Golden Oreos
- ⅓ cup Vegan Butter (75g) Melted
For the Filling:
- 1 ¼ cups Canned Coconut Cream (300ml) hardened cream only from a chilled 14 ounce (400ml) can, chilled in the fridge overnight
- 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)
- 16 ounces Dairy Free Cream Cheese (450g) We used Tofutti brand
- 1 ⅔ cups Caster Sugar (330g) Superfine Sugar*
- ½ cup Cornstarch (64g)
- ½ tsp Salt
- 5 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Zest
For the Topping (Optional):
- 6 Golden Oreos Crushed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
- Add the oreo cookies to the food processor and process into crumbs. Melt the vegan butter and then add to the processor and process again until all the crumbs are coated with the butter. Spray a 9-inch round pie dish* with non-stick spray and then press the cookie crumbs down into an even layer. Set aside while you prepare your filling.
- Take the can of chilled coconut cream from the fridge and open the can. Scoop the hardened cream that has risen to the top into your blender jug, leaving the watery part behind. Add the raw cashews and blend until smooth. If your blender is not powerful (like a Vitamix) then blend the coconut cream first, and then add the cashew nuts and blend them in. Set aside.
- Add the two tubs of dairy-free cream cheese to the bowl of your stand mixer, along with the caster sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Starting at slow speed gradually increase speed until everything is well mixed. Be careful not to overmix, it just needs to be mixed in, don’t leave the mixer running.
- Add the coconut cream and cashew mix along with some lemon zest to the cream cheese mix and fold in.
- Pour the filling over the crust and smooth down.
- Bake for 60 minutes.
- After 60 minutes turn off the oven and crack open the oven door leaving the cheesecake in the oven to cool down slowly for an hour.
- When it’s finished baking it will be a little jiggly in the middle, this is perfect.
- After cooling in the oven, move it to the counter and let it cool down to room temperature and then move it to the fridge until chilled through. It’s ideal if you can leave it overnight.
- When it’s completely chilled through and firmed up then add the crumb topping and serve!
Notes
- Golden Oreos. You can switch the golden Oreos for a different vegan cookie if you prefer.
- Coconut cream. The hardened/separated cream from one 14 ounce can of coconut cream will usually equal about 1 and ¼ cups (300ml). If you have to replace the coconut cream in this recipe with a different cream then this is the amount you would use.
- Caster sugar. If you can’t get hold of caster sugar (superfine sugar) then you can use regular granulated white sugar instead.
- Pie dish. Our pie dish is 9-inches round and 2 and ½ inches deep. It needs to be a deep pie dish to fit the volume of this cheesecake. You could also use a 9-inch springform pan.
- Make it gluten free: The filling is already gluten-free, so to make this cheesecake gluten-free all you need to do is use gluten-free sandwich cookies (or other gluten free cookies) to make the crust.
- Storing and freezing: Keep it stored in the fridge and it will last around 5-7 days. It’s also freezer friendly.
I’m not vegan, but my neighbor is, and he did me a great favor so I repaid him by making your cheesecake. Now, I rarely bake so this took me a long time to complete and I had to pull out equipment that hadn’t seen the light of day in years. But, he LOVED it! I must say it did smell DELICIOUS when it was baking and it was all I could do not to take a swipe with my finger. Would I make it again? You bet!! And this time I’d save some for myself!
So glad your neighbor enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your great review!
I’m going to make this for Christmas. Do the cashews need to be soaked overnight?
We didn’t soak them first.
Absolutely love this delicious vegan cheesecake recipe! Have made this several times already and it always comes out perfectly – like many other recipes we have tried from your collection. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks so much Jen! So happy to hear you love the recipe!
I made this with rice flour instead of cornstarch, as I’m very allergic to corn and it was still fabulous. What a great recipe!
I’m so glad to hear it worked out great! Thanks for sharing Katie!
I don’t use corn starch, so I’m hoping arrowroot powder will work just as well. I’ll let you know!
Hi, I was just making this but we had a power outage 30min into baking that lasted 2.5 hours! Any idea what I can do now when the power comes back? (Loadshedding in South Africa 🤯)
Oh no! I would just continue baking it when the power comes back on and hope for the best!
Can you make ahead, then freeze?
Yes sure. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
I want to make this recipe & don’t have raw cashews. Could I use soaked roasted cashews in place of the he raw cashews?
You can, the roasted flavor will come through a bit though.