How to make Vegan Vanilla Choc Cheesecake – no baking required!

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This no-bake Vegan Vanilla Chocolate Cheesecake is oh-so-scrumptious and so easy to make! It’s egg-free, dairy-free and even refined-sugar free.

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

• It’s cheap – made from inexpensive, easy-to-find ingredients, this vegan dessert is surprisingly budget friendly. This is because the components that hold it together are coconut based, and this is a cheaper option than nut-based or tofu-based vegan ingredients.
• It’s dairy and egg free – which makes it suitable for vegans and those with dairy intolerances. It also makes it more shelf stable, lasting longer in the fridge.
• It’s an impressive dessert – three layers, with a thick, creamy vanilla filling, you’ll get wows as you bring this out to the table. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser!
• It’s a delicious dessert – the dark chocolate and smooth vanilla are a classic dessert combination, and are heavenly in this dessert form. The rich chocolate ganache, with the creamy vanilla cheesecake filling and the crunch of the chocolate base create a taste sensation on your tongue.

Why Make a Vegan Cheesecake?

Especially when the real cheesecake is so utterly delicious!

There are multiple reasons why, here at Simply Home and Health, we have jumped aboard the Vegan Cheesecake Bandwagon.

The first reason is that New Zealand is currently in the grip of an Egg Shortage. Eggs are currently SUPER expensive to buy, and it just is not worth sacrificing a massive chunk of my $100/week grocery budget.

Even though I LOVE eggs, and do think they are super healthy! I could eat them every day…but I just cannot right now.

The second reason why I am into Vegan Cheesecakes, is that I have found a way to make them which is incredibly frugal. I can get all the ingredients without having to blow the budget. Now, if I wanted to enjoy a dairy cheesecake every night like I am able to with my Vegan Cheesecakes, I would have to buy copious amounts of cream cheese, cream and butter.

As much as I’d love to do that, I just cannot afford it.

And the final reason is that the Vegan Cheesecake Recipe I have formulated is WAY healthier, using unprocessed ingredients and no sugar! So I can enjoy it every night, with a clean conscience.

How is this Vegan Vanilla Choc Cheesecake Recipe so Frugal?

Vegan Recipes are not always cheap.

Quite often, they require a magnitude of nuts and maple syrup and tofu. Or, they require coconut yoghurt, which costs the earth to buy.

My recipe transforms ordinary tinned baking goods into a luscious belle of any party.

Think: Cinderella.

The ingredients this recipe uses are: Oats, Desiccated Coconut, Coconut Cream, Vanilla Essence, Sweetener, and Peanut Butter.

That’s all! Nothing weird or fancy. In fact, you probably buy these things on a regular basis, anyway!

And they definitely do not compromise the $100/week grocery budget.

Making a Vegan Biscuit Base

There are multiple ways you can make the Cheesecake Biscuit Base Vegan.

You could use Vegan Biscuits, such as Oreos or Biscoff, crush them, and mix them with a melted dairy-free spread.

Both of these options would be utterly delicious, but not healthy OR budget friendly.

The way I like to make a Vegan Biscuit Base for my cheesecakes is to use my No Nut Cookie recipe. This is a great recipe to use for a Vegan Cheesecake base because it sets exactly like a crunchie cookie. No baking required!

Just follow the recipe for the cookie, but instead of rolling into balls, you press the entire mixture into a loose-bottomed cake tin.

For this Vanilla Choc Cheesecake recipe, I omitted the cocoa, and replaced it with peanut butter. All the peanut butter flavour is in this biscuity base, making it not too overpowering or rich. It compliments the vanilla of the “cheesecake” filling perfectly, and elevates the cake.

Achieving that classic Cheesecake Texture

This Vegan Cheesecake requires no soaking of expensive nuts for hours on end, or dealing with soy-filled tofu!

Coconut cream is the miracle product that achieves that cheese-cakey crumbliness and utter creaminess.

I adore coconut cream because it sets with a beautiful texture. There is no need to faff around with gelatin or agar agar. It is smooth and rich, and is the perfect vehicle for any kind of flavour.

It lends itself to spicy, chocolatey, caramelly or even fruity flavours. It is so versatile!

And it is SO cheap!! Coconut cream has been my hero in recent times, allowing me to have my dessert EVERY NIGHT, all while on a $100 grocery budget!

Setting the Vegan Vanilla Choc Cheesecake

Ok, so you might be wondering how this Vegan Cheesecake manages to stand tall and proud, when you know there’s definitely no eggs, cream cheese, cream, gelatin – AND it’s not baked!

No, there’s no cashews lurking in the creamy depths, either!

Let me introduce you to my well-known friend. He’s been around these parts for a while, but now he is pushing himself more forcefully into the limelight.

The hero ingredient which allows this cake to have a lovely, firm texture is Desiccated Coconut.

When ground in a high-speed blender (I use an electric coffee grinder attachment on my Kenwood), desiccated coconut magically transforms into a coconut butter, which sets ROCK hard when chilled.

This coconut butter mixture sets the coconut cream, and if you get the ratio right, you get a lovely luscious cheesecake. Plus, it is just as versatile as the coconut cream, meaning it lends itself seamlessly to different flavour profiles, be it chocolatey, spicy, or fruity.

A cheesecake that is Vegan, refined-sugar-free, gelatin-free, and absolutely delicious, let alone cheap to make – what could be better?!

Serving Suggestions

This Cheesecake is delicious all by itself. The sweet vanilla flavour complements the deep peanutty base, and the sharpness of the chocolate layer ties it all together.

Because the vanilla layer is so thick, I do not think it actually needs any cream or ice-cream as a garnish. Some fresh strawberries or raspberries would be much more suited to a rich dessert like this, providing some relief from the sweetness.

Or, you could garnish it with chopped Honey Roasted Peanuts or even some chopped Reece’s Pieces. Absolutely delicious, and a bit of saltiness will not go awry with this sweet cake!

Storage Instructions

Store this Cheesecake in the fridge. Because it has no dairy or eggs, it is pretty shelf-stable.

However, the older it gets, the more chalky it becomes, so I would recommend taking it out of the fridge half an hour before you intend to serve it. This will allow the middle layer to soften a little bit and become a bit more creamy.

This cake lived in our fridge for a whole week, and was still yummy on day 7!

I hope you enjoy!

Steph x