One of my favorite desserts growing up was my mom’s no bake cheesecake. So today I will be showing you a delicious vegan cheesecake recipe! It’s super easy, quick, and it tastes just like the real thing. Everyone loves sweet treats, so let’s get started! But if you like this, you should also try this recipe! or this recipe!
But First, Crust
We are going to start with our graham cracker crust. I’m using Nabisco Grahams but you can use whatever grahams you prefer. In a food processor I toss in about two whole sleeves of crackers, saving two or three crackers for later on. Pulse the crackers in the food processor just a couple good times, you want bigger rather than smaller crumbles. Now we need vegan butter, I melt one whole stick in the microwave for around thirty seconds. You want the butter to be melted, but soft. If there are some chunks left, it’s okay. I then add the butter to the food processor and pulse a couple more times, just until you notice the whole mixture combine and darken up.
I then grab my nine inch springform pan. Also cut out a nine inch circle of parchment paper. Add your circle paper to the bottom of the pan, then all your graham and butter mixture, spread that out evenly. Once it’s evened out, use a flat object to press down on the crust to make it flat. Make sure it’s pressed really firm, as firm as you can get it. Now time to toss that in the freezer to let it rest and harden up!
Say Cheesecake!
It’s time to start on our cake! I forgot to buy powdered sugar so I just made some. To make powdered sugar I use raw cane sugar. Time to add one cup of the cane sugar into a high power blender along with two teaspoons of cornstarch. Now blend, it powders up very quickly so I set it off to the side for now. Time for our stand mixer to come out. You could beat this by hand, but personally with how much you have to mix, I like to use the stand mixer. To that I add one fifteen ounce can of coconut cream, one tablespoon of coconut oil, one cup of powdered sugar, and start to whip. It mixes together really nicely and becomes a little airy.
While it’s whipping I add one tablespoon of vegan yogurt, one teaspoon of citric acid (you could swap this for about a tablespoon of lemon juice), one tablespoon vanilla extract, and a quarter teaspoon of xanthan gum. You don’t have to add the xanthan gum, I just like it for the texture. Now start to measure out two cups of vegan cream cheese. I add little bits of the cream cheese at a time, and allow the mixer to get everything smoothed. Once it’s all added let it continue to mix until you see zero chunks, it needs to be very smooth and silky.
Almost there
Time to grab our graham cracker crust from the freezer, and pour our mixture right over top. Make sure it completely covers all the crust. Now I get those couple saved crackers from earlier, crush them up, and sprinkle them over top of the whole cake. Let this all sit in the freezer now for a few hours then it’s ready to enjoy!
It’s Sweet Treat O’Clock!
We did it! This tastes exactly like cheesecake. It slices very smoothly, the graham crackers make a perfect crust, it’s fabulous. It’s the slightest bit more sour and dense than a typical cheesecake, but nobody would know it wasn’t an actual cheesecake. There you go! Easy, plant based, fast, and delicious dessert!! Make sure to check out the full video here!
My Favorite Recipe This Year
Ingredients
- 2 sleeves graham crackers
- 1 stick vegan butter
- 1 15 ounce can coconut cream
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vegan yogurt
- 1 tsp citric acid
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 cups cream cheese
Instructions
- Pulse graham crackers in food processor. Save two or three crackers for later.
- Melt vegan butter and add to food processor,then pulse.
- Grab pan and parchment paper, spread out graham mixture on bottom of pan and flatten it out.
- Once flat, add to freezer to firm.
- In stand mixer add, coconut cream, coconut oil, powdered sugar, and start to whip.
- While it's mixing add vegan yogurt, citric acid, vanilla extract, xanthan gum, and two cups cream cheese.
- Mix until there are no more clumps.
- Get crust out of freezer, pour cheesecake mixture over top.
- Sprinkle crushed graham cracker over top mixture, set back in freezer for a few hours.
- Once it's firmed up, it's ready to enjoy!!
This was much easier than I anticipated, having never made a no-bake cheesecake before. Mine were made in muffin tins for individual servings and I ended up with at least a cup of leftover filling, which did not go to waste! I’d like to figure out a way to reduce the coconut flavor next time or lean into it and add some lime to make it tropical 🌴
It looks like the sugar/cornstarch is missing from the ingredient list. Thanks for sharing. I can’t wait to try it!