No Bake Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake (GF Option too) + VIDEO

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WHY WE LOVE THIS VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

My husband’s favorite dessert is cheesecake, and I love chocolate so this is basically our dessert baby. But, since my son was diagnosed with a dairy allergy, nut allergy and an egg allergy and my husband’s gluten intolerance we have really missed our darling dessert. So, I was beyond thrilled when I found out cheesecake can still be made in a vegan version! This has a perfect texture–smooth and creamy just like the real thing. I can’t wait for you to try it! Be sure to read through all the FAQs to get the best results possible.

WHAT VEGAN CREAM CHEESE DO YOU USE?

This vegan cheesecake recipe uses tofutti cream cheese. The only vegan cream cheeses I know of are: tofutti (made of soy), kite hill (made of almonds) daiya (made of coconuts) and violife (made of coconuts). Tofutti has always been my go-to, so I made this with the tofutti brands cream cheese. I cannot test it with the kite hill because we also have nut allergies (yay for a vegan recipe that doesn’t call for raw cashews!). I have made it with violife as well. My go-to choice is tofutti because they come in 8 oz instead of the 7 oz like violife, but violife gets the job done if you cannot have soy. I find them both at Natural Grocers, some Smiths/Krogers and Whole Foods.

WHAT DO YOU USE FOR THE CRUST?

Since we also need it to be gluten-free, we use the gluten-free Oreos. If you do not have gluten allergies, then feel free to use regular oreos. For the butter, I’ve always like this vegan butter: Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, though I assume you could probably use any brand that works for you. Earth balance also make a soy-free version if you need that. I wouldn’t recommend using refined coconut oil, because this is a dessert that needs to be refrigerated, and coconut oil hardens when it gets cold and so the crust won’t be as easy to cut. I like to use a food processor and put the room temperature butter and oreos all together and process until they’re fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, you can put the oreos in a bag, crush them, and then stir them together with the melted butter. Either way, once you’re done press it into a springform pan. You could use a graham cracker crust if you prefer, but I prefer the double chocolate–so a chocolate filling and a chocolate cookie crust. And if you really want to go over the top–you could drizzle some chocolate sauce on top to make it a triple chocolate cheesecake. (Frozen berries would also be tasty as a topper.)

CAN I HALF THIS RECIPE?

I get that the ingredients are expensive, so I tried halving the recipe, and it fit perfectly in a regular pie pan. It wasn’t as deep/thick, but was certainly delicious if you’d rather not use as many ingredients.

DO I NEED AN OVEN?

NO! This is not a baked cheesecake. This is a no bake cheesecake, which is great for Thanksgiving time, so you can use your oven for other things. And, for in the summer when you need a cool treat. This is also great because it means no hot water bath and standing at your oven door worrying about it cracking!

CAN I USE A STORE-BOUGHT VEGAN WHIPPED CREAM?

I haven’t tried it with the store bought whipped cream, like So Delicious, because it can be hard to find. I would think it would work. I wanted to use something that was more accessible to everyone, so I started with a from scratch vegan whipping cream. I used to just buy the cans of coconut cream in the Asian isle to make it, but found it tedious to have to chill it in advance and then scrape off the fat at the top and be stuck trying to use up the coconut water at the bottom in some other recipe. Now, even though it’s more expensive, I prefer to buy the Silk Dairy-Free Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative. I like that I can use the whole carton (there’s no leftover coconut water) and it’s already pre-chilled because it’s kept in the refrigerated dairy-section at most grocers. I just never know if there will be a whole cup in a can of coconut cream, versus I know I’ll have plenty in the Silk container.

WHAT INGREDIENTS DO I NEED FOR THIS VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE?

Here are the cheesecake ingredients you’ll need:

• Dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Coconut oil
• Vegan butter
• Oreo cookies (gluten-free if needed)
• Silk Dairy Free Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative
• Pure vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar
• Tofutti better than cream cheese
• Cocoa powder
• Salt

Cheesecake Toppings

I eat this cheesecake plain because it’s SOO good on its own. However, lots of people love to add fruit with chocolate, and I can’t see that being a bad thing. These toppings could be delicious:

• Vegan homemade whipping cream, or store bought (like Coco Whip)
• Cherry pie filling
• Strawberry pie filling
• Strawberry compote
• Raspberry compote
• Homemade vegan caramel sauce
• Hershey’s syrup

IS EVERY INGREDIENT ALLERGY FRIENDLY AND VEGAN?

My family is vegan because my son is allergic to dairy and eggs, so I do not call every company to ensure that the ingredient I use is certified vegan. If you need it to be, you’ll need to do your own research or use your trusted ingredient brands to ensure all items are certified vegan ingredients. Allergy friendly means something different to everyone. Even though my son’s food allergies are very severe, we can go by labels alone and I do not call manufacturers to find out any more information. This is why I typically only hyperlink specialty ingredients, and allow people to source typical ingredients like sugar and cocoa on their own to their own satisfaction. If made with the coconut based cream cheese, soy free buttery sticks and gluten free oreos, this recipe would be very allergy friendly, as it would have no: wheat, dairy, milk, egg, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts or tree nuts, making it top-8-free.

CAN I USE ANOTHER BRAND OF CHOCOLATE COOKIE?

Yes you can. If you have another chocolate type cookie (for example Kinnikinick and Glutino make similar cookies) you’d rather use, they should be able to sub out 1:1.

CAN I USE ANOTHER SUGAR?

The original recipe that I tweaked this from used regular granulated sugar. However, I found that because there are no eggs and dairy-free products can be a bit runnier, that I switched to powdered sugar to help thicken and stabilize it. I would not recommend subbing it out for a natural sugar, like maple syrup, because that will make the end product too runny.

WHAT TOOLS DO I NEED FOR THIS EGG-FREE & DAIRY-FREE CHEESECAKE?

I like to use three bowls, with one of those being a bowl of a stand mixer. If you don’t have a stand mixer, then you can use hand held electric beaters. You will also need spatulas, measuring cups and spoons, a springform pan and aluminum foil or plastic wrap to cover it. You can use a small, medium and large mixing bowl, or any varying size, as long as there’s at least one deep one so that when you mix cream cheese and the powdered sugar it doesn’t fly everywhere. You can see my video as reference. Also, I am a bit type A, and I like an instant read food thermometer, to see what temperature the chocolate is at, but it’s not needed. (See next paragraph)

WHY DOES THE MELTED CHOCOLATE HAVE TO COME BACK DOWN TO ROOM TEMP?

The reason why you need to let your melted chocolate (the chocolate chips and coconut oil) come back down to room temperature is because of the texture. If you put the hot chocolate liquid into the cold mixture it will harden up. I’ve done this in a rush, and it ends up making the chocolate turn into little shards all throughout the mixture. It still tastes great, but it isn’t smooth or creamy. This is why I melt the chocolate first, so it can sit and cool down while I make the rest of the filling. I aim for around 72-75 degrees F.

How to Store this Vegan Cheesecake

Store any leftover chocolate cheesecake in an airtight container in the fridge. It should last around 3 days.

WHAT DAIRY-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIPS DO I USE?

The classic and always dependable vegan chocolate chips are Enjoy Life. However, I’ve found them to be very expensive, so I use the Kirkland Chocolate Chips. It’s in the tall, white stand up bag (NOT the red, flat bag). They only carry them around the holidays at my Costco. And, while they don’t specifically call out vegan or dairy-free, the ingredients look clean to me, but use what you’re comfortable with. You just get a lot more chips for your moneys worth.

MORE VEGAN DESSERTS

All of the baking recipes on my site are gluten-free vegan. If you don’t need them to be gluten-free, you can always swap in regular four 1:1 and omit the xanthan gum. Be sure to check out my recipe index for even more delicious desserts. At the present time, I have not found a satisfactory traditional cheesecake, just the chocolate one, in case you’re looking for that. I sometimes have to try for years and have lots of fails before I feel it’s worthy to share on here. Here are some of our favorites, to name a few:

• Gluten free vegan chocolate cake
• Gluten free vegan texas sheet cake
• 20+ Gluten free vegan cookies
• Gluten free vegan rice krispies
• Gluten free vegan fudge
• Gluten free vegan caramel
• Flourless Chocolate Torte

If your only concern is gluten, then check out my friend Amanda’s Gluten Free Cherry Cheesecake Bars from Eat at Our Table.

DO I HAVE A VIDEO SHOWING HOW TO MAKE THIS VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE?

Yes I do! I wanted to make sure you had all the tools you needed to make the best vegan cheesecake recipe possible. The video should automatically pop up in the video player on the side. If it does not, it’s imbedded into the bottom of the recipe card. And if not, you can watch this good dessert tutorial on YouTube here.