The Easiest Baked Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake (NO Tofu, No Cashews!)
You will never believe that this creamy, decadent, and rich vegan chocolate cheesecake is dairy free, eggless, and just so easy!! With an easy chocolate cookie crust and simple chocolate cheesecake batter made only in a food processor (and all without cashews nor tofu), this creamy vegan chocolate cheesecake is a chocolate lovers dream! Better than Cheesecake Factory!
Why you need to try this vegan chocolate cheesecake:
If you’re looking for the perfect vegan chocolate cheesecake that all eaters will love, whether or not you’re vegan, then look no further.
This chocolate cheesecake is it. Super creamy, full of rich chocolate flavor, decadent and just perfectly balanced with that classic tang and sweetness that you can keep eating bite after bite.
Like my classic vegan cheesecake, this baked vegan cheesecake is super easy to make too, doesn’t require any soaking of cashews nor heavy coconut milk. It’s actually so good, I used it as the base for when I developed my burnt chocolate basque cheesecake (all vegan too!).
You can even make this cheesecake gluten-free too with either homemade vegan Oreos or store bought gluten free Oreos (like in my vegan Oreo cheesecake!).
The Oreo crust is made with just two ingredients, and the chocolate cheesecake filling can be made with just a hand mixer or in a food processor!
Top with a decadent vegan ganache and chocolate frosting for the ultimate chocolate vegan dessert!
And if you want a no bake chocolate cheesecake, check out my easy 20 minute no bake mini chocolate cheesecakes!
Basic ingredients:
Here’s what you need to make this easy baked vegan chocolate cheesecake:
- Oreos: You can use store bought Oreos, gluten free Oreos, or homemade vegan Oreos.
- Vegan butter: You can also sub in coconut oil if you’d prefer. I used Miyoko’s vegan butter, as it’s my favorite, but for nut-free, I recommend either Miyoko’s oat butter, Flora Plant Butter, or Earth Balance sticks.
- Vegan cream cheese: My favorite brand for this recipe is Oatly or Kite Hill. You can also make your own homemade vegan cream cheese.
- Dairy free Yogurt: the key to balancing out the strong tang of the vegan cream cheese along with adding more moisture, is by using dairy free yogurt. You can also sub in vegan sour cream. Use your favorite dairy free yogurt, whether it’s nut free, soy free, or coconut free. I like Forager Project, which does contain nuts, but I’ve made this dozens of times with coconut yogurt and soy milk yogurt.
- Vegan heavy cream: I like Silk or Country Crock Vegan Plant Cream the best.
- Organic sugar or coconut sugar: Either one will work!
- Vegan chocolate: I recommend Pascha Chocolate or Enjoy Life Chocolate chips. You can use your favorite vegan chocolate, however!
- Cocoa Powder: To intensify the chocolate flavor! You can also use raw cacao powder for more nutrients.
- Arrowroot Powder: my favorite binding agent, arrowroot powder is a great substitute for cornstarch! Quite literally a one to one. I love using it in lemon curd and custard pies alike. It’s fantastic! You can use cornstarch, however, if you’d prefer!
- Vegan Chocolate Ganache: I’ll show you how to make this the best triple layer chocolate cheesecake you’ll ever taste down below! All you need is two ingredients too. You can top with a small batch of vegan chocolate buttercream frosting as well and shaved chocolate.
Because we’re using vegan cream cheese and dairy free yogurt, you won’t need any lemon juice, like other vegan cheesecake recipes. We already have the real tang!
Equipment needed:
- Springform pan
- Food processor
Overview: how to make a baked vegan chocolate cheesecake:
There are a few steps here for making an amazing baked vegan chocolate cheesecake, so I’m going to walk you through them! It’s certainly not difficult by any means, but there are steps you need to follow!
- Make the crust: You can use a food processor or a large bowl. Mix the two ingredients to make the Oreocrust, then press into your springform pan. I used an 8″ pan, but if you use a smaller pan, you will need to bake your cheesecake much longer.
- Prepare the filling: The filling is super simple. Simply use a hand mixer and cream together all ingredients together in a food processor (my preferred method!). Pour the filling into the prepared crust.
- Bake: Pour the filling into your springform pan and bake! This baked vegan cheesecake bakes a bit longer than our classic vanilla vegan cheesecake. However, it will set- it just needs a bit longer in the oven!
Optional baked vegan chocolate cheesecake toppings:
- 2 Ingredient Vegan ganache
- Vegan chocolate buttercream
- Vegan Chocolate shavings
- Coconut whipped cream
- Fresh berries
- Vegan caramel
Troubleshooting
We’ve all been there- we follow a recipe to the “t” but it’s not working quite right! I wanted to quickly go over some common problems that happen with baking vegan cheesecake and how we can solve them so your cheesecake comes out perfectly each time!
- My filling is too wobbly! This could be a few things- if you didn’t properly measure the arrowroot powder or cornstarch to the filling, then your vegan chocolate cheesecake filling might not stiffen properly. Alternatively, the starch might be expired.
- My cheesecake isn’t smooth! This is a result of not pureeing the cashews enough. When blending the cashews in your food processor, really aim for a nut butter consistency- it will yield the best results for an amazing baked chocolate cheesecake!
- My cheesecake is too hard! Just allow your cheesecake to unthaw for a few minutes at room temperature 🙂 Like how some fridges are warmer than others, some fridges are also cooler than others. Your baked vegan chocolate cheesecake is still perfectly edible and fine, just needs a few moments to warm up!
You’re just going to be absolutely obsessed with this easy vegan chocolate cheesecake! It’s perfect for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Fourth of July, holidays, and so much more!
If you give this vegan cheesecake recipe a go, let me know in the comments what you thought, and I’d absolutely love to see your beautiful recreations on Pinterest and Instagram 🙂
Happy baking!
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If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
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The Easiest Baked Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake (Gluten Free)
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 240
- Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You will never believe that this creamy, decadent, and rich vegan chocolate cheesecake is dairy free, eggless, and just so easy!! With an easy Oreo cookie crust and simple chocolate cheesecake batter made only in a food processor (and all without cashews nor tofu), this creamy vegan chocolate cheesecake is a chocolate lovers dream! Better than Cheesecake Factory!
Ingredients
Cookie Crust:
- 240 g (about 1.5 sleeves) chocolate sandwich cookies
- 1/4 cup (56 g) vegan butter, melted
Chocolate Cheesecake:
- 32 ounces (907 g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120 g) unsweetened vegan dairy free yogurt, room temperature
- 1 cups (240 mL) heavy vegan cream or cashew cream, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) organic granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- 7 tbsp (70 g) arrowroot starch or cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 ounces (283 g) vegan chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1/3 cup (35 g) cocoa powder
- 1–2 cups boiling water
- Optional toppings: fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, amareno cherries, coconut whipped cream, vegan caramel, vegan ganache, vegan chocolate frosting
Instructions
- Prep: Line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the edges of the pan with a bit of cooking or coconut oil and line with parchment paper as well. Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Make the crust: In a food processor, blend together the Oreos and vegan butter until a sticky dough forms. Press the dough onto the bottom of the springform pan. Once preheated, place the springform pan into the oven with a baking sheet underneath it to prevent any drips. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust looks set. Remove from the oven and set aside while you prepare the filling. Lower the heat to 350F.
- Make the cheesecake filling: In a large food processor, blend together the cream cheese and dairy free yogurt until smooth. Add in the sugar, dairy free milk, vanilla, and arrowroot starch. Cream together again until smooth. Then pour in the melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Blend or mix until completely combined. Pour the cheesecake filling into the springform pan, and smooth the top.
- Create the water bath: Be ready to move to the next step immediately after finishing this step. Make sure that you boil the 3-4 cups water prior to pouring the water into the pan. Pour the boiling water into the pan.
- Bake the cheesecake: Carefully place the water bath baking sheet into the oven on the low rack. Then place the cheesecake on its own separate baking sheet onto the middle rack and quickly close the oven to bake for 65-70 minutes, or until the the top of the cheesecake is set and not super wobbly. The center is set but still might be delicate (wiggle a little but NOT wobble like jello). Turn off the oven, and allow the cheesecake to sit in the oven for 10 minutes. The water should also be completely dissolved.
- Turn OFF the oven: Crack the door, and allow the cheesecake to rest in the turned off oven for 1 hour.
- Chill the cheesecake: Remove the cheesecake from the oven. Then place the cheesecake into the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours or covered overnight.
- Serve and enjoy! When ready to serve, top with desired toppings and enjoy! Store any leftover cheesecake in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
Gluten free: Use gluten free Oreos or homemade Oreos as needed.
Nut free: Use nut-free vegan cream cheese, dairy free yogurt, and dairy free milk.
Would vegan cream cheese work as a substitute for the yogurt?
Hi Megan! Absolutely! I’ve actually tried that combo and it totally works!
Dear Britt, this recipe looks delicious! I would like to try it but I do not have arrowroot powder at home. Do you think I could use Tapioca powder/starch instead?
Greetings from Switzerland, Flurina
Hi Flurina! Oh my goodness, so cool you’re reading this all the way from Switzerland! 🙂 Yes, tapioca powder/starch should work just fine as well! You can use the same amount here. Enjoy, and let me know how it comes out!
Hi! I was wondering if this dessert freezes ok? Thanks!
Yes it does! Totally fine to wrap it tightly and store in the freezer- you can transfer it to room temperature to thaw for 1-2 hours before serving!
Hey Britt!
I actually would like to make this with silken tofu as living in Japan it’s so hard to get the vegan cream cheese.
Would same amount work?
Thanks!
Hi Skye! Unfortunately, I’ve never tried tofu in this recipe so I cannot say how it works. However, one of my friends, Christina, from addictedtodates.com has a wonderful chocolate cheesecake recipe using tofu! I highly recommend Christina’s recipe for a tofu version!
I usually don’t leave comments or anything on recipes but this cheesecake recipe was soooo good! I made it for my sister’s birthday and I decorated it with the ganache and frosting and it came out perfect! 🙂
Oh my goodness!! How wonderful 🙂 Happy birthday to your sister! And thank you for such a great review!! Enjoy!
Hey! I am looking forward to making this receipe. I wanted to check with the yoghurt should it be a Greek style/natural yoghurt or just any vegan yoghurt? Thank you
Hi Georgina! Oh I’m so excited for you to try it!! Yes, it can be any vegan yogurt 🙂 I’ve tried it with both Greek-style and regular vegan yogurt!
Is the boiling water poured on top of the cheesecake (in which case I imagine it would come out the side of the pan) or put in a bowl in the oven?
The boiling water is poured on a separate baking pan and placed on the bottom rack the oven! Separate from the cheesecake entirely!
Loved this recipe! Best vegan cheesecake I’ve made so far! Wondering if you could substitute vegan white chocolate and omit the cocoa powder?
Oh I’m so happy to hear it!! Enjoy!! And yes you can totally do that, that would be delicious! 🙂 Thank you for the review!
Delicious
I made this cheesecake for a thanksgiving gathering with friends and their family. They all loved it, I will say if you’re not a full on chocolate lover this cake may be too decadent for you.
I however am a chocolate lover, this cake is moose texture before cooking and is scrumptious beforehand. After it has cooked and cooled, it’ll sink a little just like the photo with chocolate frosting. When I remake the recipe for Christmas I’ll use more Oreos for a thicker crust.
I crushed extra Oreos on top.
Hi Britt, thank you very much for sharing lovely recipes always.
Can I please just ask if you have tried Violife cream cheese with this recipe (or any kind baked cheese cake) I read your note that you recommended it but I guess you’d rather Miyoko’s. I can only obtain Violife where I live, and once I tried another author’s baked cheese cake recipe (filling was cream cheese. coconut milk(thick part), sugar, cornstarch and vanilla), and my filling went all transparent liquid after baked, ever since I am hesitating to try baked cheesecake recipes using cream cheese..
I’d really appreciate if you could give me any advice, and would really love to try this recipe as it looks sooo good, thank you!
Hi Luna! Thank you for your question! Violife can be a bit oily and probably contributed the cheesecake liquifying. Do you have access to Oatly or Kite Hill by chance? Really hope you can find another cream cheese option!
Hi. I am from South Africa and getting vegan yogurt here is very expensive and hard to find. What would be the best substitute for the vegan yogurt. More cream cheese or coconut cream?
Hi Marianne! No problem at all, I completely understand. I would do an additional 3/4 cup cream cheese plus an additional 1/4 cup vegan heavy cream 🙂 Enjoy!
Good day. Marianne again. The recipe indicates 32 ounces (454g) of cream cheese. 32 ounces is 908g. 454g is 16 ounces. Not sure which 1 is correct. We work with g. Would the chocolate be 141g? Thank you. 🙂
Hi Marianne! So sorry for the confusion! It looked like my recipe converter was having a glitch, and not properly converting and showing ingredient measurements from US to Metric- I’ve disabled it on this card and manually entered the correct amounts. I’m so sorry for that confusion!
Thank you so much.
Ah, this one was a fail for me… The cheesecake bubbled and inflated in the oven, and then it turned pretty much liquid towards the 60 min mark.
I can only imagine my ingredients are to blame here, as I’ve never had issues with regular non-vegan cheesecakes.
I used half Violife, half Oatly cream cheese Because that’s what I had on hand. Silk heavy cream.
I can only guess this has mainly to do with the cream cheese. I wonder what was the culprit – Violife, Oatly or the fact they were mixed.
Any ideas?
I’m bummed because it’s a lot of ingredients wasted… and they’re not inexpensive :/
Of course I’m not blaming the recipe, since it looks great and people seem to have good results.
Maybe this can help other people, though.
Hi Glenda! Ugh I’m so sorry to hear this! So my gut instinct is that the violife caused the liquid-like texture (as I noticed that when I used it as a cheesecake filling in muffins and cookies). That said, it had nothing to “disappear” into, which happens often if you’re using it as a component for something like cheesecake stuffed cookies, so it should have set in the fridge fine, but how did it come out after you let it set? Cheesecakes are ALWAYS going to be very wobbly right after baking, vegan or not, so it will never seem “baked” and set, which is why we let it set in the fridge! But I did just review another reader had made a comment about violife not working for her as well- I’m going to make a note in the post so that others don’t use it! I’m so sorry this happened, but I have used all oatly and it works great!
Thanks for the reply!
So, unfortunately there was nothing to even try and set. The mixture separated in such a way that there was a liquid layer of oil on top of a liquid layer of loose chocolate cream cheese mix with chewy and burnt edges. It was truly unsalvageable (and I promise I did try hahah it stayed in the oven for SO long).
I have made a vegan cheesecake successfully before (with Violife, curiously) and I do agree that they seem dangerously wobbly coming out of the oven (much more than their regular counterpart), but do set quite firmly in the fridge – this one, however, was truly truly just separated, messy, oily liquid.
I’ll try Kite Hill next time. I think that’s one you use and recommend, right?
Ugh I’m so sorry!! That’s so interesting about the Violife though- it must be something with my ratios of ingredients that it really doesn’t work? I’m wondering if the other recipes had a lot of vegan heavy cream, like mine?
Definitely let me know how it comes with Kite Hill, that’s the one I use most of the time! That, Tofutti and my homemade cream cheese when I’ve made a large batch of it!
It’s totally fine! Fails are part of the game. It just hurts to spend so much $$ on ingredients that can’t be saved 🥲 besides that, all good.
Since you asked, I went and compared the two recipes: I adapted a bit the other one (it is by Pastry by Saloni), but not a whole lot – for that one, I used 338g cream cheese to 135ml cream, so I’d say yes, there was still a high ratio of cream in that one! But comparatively, way less cream cheese. It also used vegan yogurt.
That’s so interesting, I do know of her recipes but I haven’t tried them personally! Interesting that there was even less cream cheese though! Definitely keep me posted on the Kite Hill!