The most perfect creamy dairy free cheesecake recipe will have you head over heals in dessert heaven. You’ll never miss having cheesecake again when you have this delicious dairy free cheesecake!
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Everything that you’ve been missing from not having a traditional cheesecake is here in this dairy free cheesecake recipe. It’s creamy, sweet, slightly tangy, and pure perfection. It’s also a vegan cheesecake, so that means not only is it dairy free, but it’s also completely egg free as well. It can be made gluten free if that is a dietary concern as well.
For some, cheesecake is a holiday dessert staple, so when going dairy free, they really miss that part of their holidays. Luckily, now, that’s no longer a concern because this dairy free cheesecake is perfection for everyone, vegan or not.
Watch how to make a dairy free cheesecake?
What ingredients do you need to make a dairy free cheesecake?
What if I told you that you only need 10 ingredients to make the most delicious dairy free cheesecake recipe. It’s true. To make this vegan cheesecake recipe, the ingredients that you need are:
- Raw cashews
- Vegan Cream cheese
- Sugar (vegan if necessary)
- Plain Dairy-Free Yogurt
- Vanilla Extract
- Lemon Extract
- Arrowroot Powder (or Cornstarch)
- Vegan Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Graham Crackers (Gluten Free if needed)
How do you make a dairy free cheesecake?
The first step in making a dairy free cheesecake is soaking your cashews. You’ll want to soak them for 4-6 hours or overnight. If you need to speed this process up you can place cashews in boiling water, turn off heat and cover for 30-60 minutes. Drain when finished soaking.
While your cashews are soaking, you’ll want to make your dairy free cheesecake crust. Place 15 graham crackers (a little less than 2 sleeves) in a sealable bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Once they are all crumbled evenly and finely, place them in a bowl with melted butter and brown sugar. Stir until all the crumbs have soaked up the butter and are one consistency. Using the back of a spoon, start at the middle of a 9″ springform pan and work your way to the edges until you have one even layer. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Now, it’s time to make your dairy free cheesecake filling.
In a blender, combine the cashews and yogurt until well blended. A high powered blender works best. Next, beat the cream cheese on low until nice and fluffy. Add the cashew mixture to the beaten cream cheese and mix until combined. Add in the sugar, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and cornstarch.
Once the ingredients are well combined, add it to the cooled crust. Evenly spread out the mixture and then tap the pan to remove any air bubbles. Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 55-60 minutes. The center should be slightly jiggly looking, but not completely set.
Do not open the oven, but turn off the heat and let remain in the oven for 60 minutes. Then, remove the pan to a cookie sheet. Carefully, take a butter knife around the outside edge of the dairy free cheesecake. Let cool completely. Once cooled, place into a fridge for 4-6 hours or overnight.
Right before serving, place any desired topping on it and serve! Store any leftovers inside an air tighter container.
What topping can I use on a dairy free cheesecake?
When it comes to cheesecake, the toppings are endless. When you make a dairy free cheesecake, that statement remains true. There are literally so many topping ideas that you can do. Eight dairy free cheesecake toppings that we like are:
- Classic Cherry
- Place cherry pie filling on top of dairy free cheesecake
- Strawberries and Cream
- Put Dairy Free Whipped Cream around the edge of the dairy free cheesecake and place sliced strawberries in the middle
- Salted Caramel
- Drizzle dairy free caramel across the entire dairy free cheesecake and then top lightly with course salt
- Chocolate Frosting with Chocolate Chunks
- Warm up dairy free chocolate free to make pourable and then drizzle across entire dairy free cheesecake. Top with dairy free chocolate pieces or chocolate chips
- Confetti
- Place desired colored sprinkles on top of dairy free cheesecake. December Holidays: Use red, green and white for Christmas. Blue and white for Hanukkah. Red, Green, and Black for Kwanzaa. Other Ideas: Red and pink for Valentine’s Day. Green for St Patricks Day. Red, white, and blue for Fourth of July. Or Rainbow Sprinkles for a birthday celebration.
- Blueberry and Lemon
- Make this Blueberry Syrup recipe and then pour over the dairy free cheesecake. Top with fresh lemon zest
- Raspberry Sauce & Powdered Sugar
- Make raspberry sauce by combining 2 cups frozen raspberries, ⅛ cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice in a sauce pan over medium low heat until raspberries start to break down. About 5-7 minutes. Strain the sauce to remove seeds if desired. Pour the sauce over the dairy free cheesecake and top with powdered sugar right before serving.
- Pecans and Brown Sugar
- Make the pecan topping recipe found here and pour over the dairy free cheesecake.
🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Classic Dairy Free Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- 15 graham crackers, crushed (use gluten free crackers for a gluten free cheesecake)
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
- 6 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
Dairy Free Cheesecake Filling
- 2 cups raw cashews, soaked
- 1 ½ cups plain dairy free yogurt
- 16 oz vegan cream cheese
- 2 cups vegan sugar
- 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- 2 tablespoon arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
Optional Toppings
See Notes above about 8 different topping combinations
Instructions
- If you don’t have them ready, soak cashews in water for 4-6 hours or overnight. If you need to make this cheesecake more quickly, you can boil water, put cashews in, turn off heat and cover for 1 hour.
For the crust
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- To a bowl, add the crushed graham crackers, melted butter, and brown sugar. Combine well until all the graham crackers have been soaked up with the butter mixture.
- Put the mixture into a 9″ springform pan and, using the back of a spoon, push the mixture to the edges until you have one uniform layer of crust.
- Put into oven for 15 minutes. The edges should start to be turning golden.
- Remove from oven and set aside until cooled completely.
For the filling
- Take soaked cashews and combine with yogurt inside of a high powdered blender. Blend until smooth consistency.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add in the cashew blend, along with the sugar, vanilla and lemon extracts. Beat together until combined.
- Add in the cornstarch and beat on low speed, just until combined.
- Pour the filling mixture into the cooled crust. Make sure there is one even layer.
- Tap the pan so the air bubbles release.
- Place cheesecake in oven for 55-65 minutes. The very center (about a ½-1 inch diameter) should be just about set but still slightly jiggly.
- Turn off the heat (DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN) and let cheesecake set inside of the oven for one hour.
- Remove the cheesecake and set on a cookie sheet. Very carefully take a butterknife and run along the edge of the cheesecake.
- Let set until completely cooled.
- Place cheesecake in refrigerator for 4-6 hours, or overnight.
- Add any optional toppings before serving. Keep remaining cheesecake in fridge in covered container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
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I made this today, I used non dairy Vanilla yogurt since my local supermarket didn’t have “plain”. The verdict? This was delicious! We are not vegan, we are vegetarian but I stopped eating dairy; milk, regular yogurt and regular ice cream over a year ago when I realized that All those stomach pains and guts issues I had were related to diary. This is a most try and will make it again soon! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
We appreciate you so much for taking the time to leave a review and so happy to hear that you’re enjoying the recipe.
What dairy free yogurt do you recommend?
Hi! We recommend Oui Dairy Free by Yoplait
What can be substituted for dairy free cream cheese. We don’t get it here in India. Can we use firm tofu instead?
We’ve never tried tofu in replace of that, but you could surely try!