Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake

Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake.

These are my mini vegan cheesecakes I just made. They have a delicious Vegan Brownie Crust, that will just make your life so much happier.

I am not kidding, friends. This vegan brownie that I used in the crust of my Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake was the best ever! I have even made it twice in the past week.

One late night, genius that I am, I had the delicious idea of warming up the brownie in the microwave for a few seconds, and then spooning some yogurt on top, before devouring the whole thing. It was a yummy late night snack that I thoroughly enjoyed.

As you must know, I am not a vegan, but I enjoy making vegan desserts, since I enjoy baking of all sorts.

And I’ve been a vegetarian for most of my life, even going through a period where I wouldn’t eat eggs, or dairy when I was a child. I became a vegetarian by option, when I was 7 years old, because my grandma told me how salami was made. All of this before being a vegan, or a vegetarian was even trendy.

Anyway, that’s why I am inclined to explore vegan baking, because it resonates with me.

If you want to check out some more of my vegan recipes, click here.

For this Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake, you have the option of using any kind of pan you want. You can use cupcake tins, tart pans, or even a large cheesecake pan. I used a silicone mould such as this one:

And just an FYI, when I purchased this mould, I paid $0.99. I can’t promise that when you click on this link, they are still going to be selling for that price, but I figured I should let you know so you can go check it out.

Anyway, since my mould only had 8 cavities and I had more brownies and cheesecake batter left, I decided to use some of my Plating Rings to form the remaining cheesecakes. Since the rings were larger, I got 4 more cheesecakes out of them.

I also got these rings on Amazon. You can check out by clicking on the picture above. The rings are also great for plating dishes, making any desserts that require a neat assembly.

I used strips of parchment paper to help me get the cheesecakes out after frozen.

Anyway, this just comes to show that you can go ahead and just use whatever you have in your house. If you have cupcake tins, that will work perfectly. Or even a large cheesecake pan. Just get resourceful in your kitchen and find any tart pans, cake pans, or muffin cups that will work for this recipe.

This Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake was very hard to say no to. At my house, we literally devoured them all in a week, which is saying a lot because I make lots of desserts, and it’s hard to keep up with eating it all so I am always sharing with friends, family, and neighbors!

And in the Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake batter, I also added some fresh strawberries, which was so refreshing and yum! I recommend getting the cheesecake out of the freezer about 10 minutes before you plan on eating it, so you get some of the chill off.

And it will give the delicious brownie a chance to soften up a bit.

Check out how creamy that is!

In the batter, I also added some freeze dried strawberries. They provide delicious strawberry taste, and that beautiful color. Sometimes I use freeze dried strawberries in smoothies, or frostings. I highly recommend you consider adding freeze dried strawberries to your pantry. It’s a great snack for kids too, my son Luke loves it. And the best part, I buy the brands that have no sweetener addition, so the only ingredient will be freeze dried strawberries, and that’s it!

I hope you enjoyed today’s recipe. If you enjoy vegan baking, or even if you enjoy guiltless treats (with not so much processed ingredients), this recipe is perfect for you, and also my other vegan recipes.

My favorites Vegan Desserts are: Vegan Cookie Cups with Raspberry and Peaches, Vegan Cookie Dough Bars, Vegan Peanut Butter Tart.

Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake

Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake with Brownie Crust. Topped with Coconut Whipped Cream.

5 from 5 votes

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Prep Time 3 hours hrs

Course Dessert

Cuisine vegan

Servings 12 servings

Calories 400 kcal

Ingredients

  

Vegan Brownie Crust

• 1/2 cup coconut oil 105 grams, 3.7 oz
• 2 cups vegan chocolate chips divided (350 grams, 12.4 oz)
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar 127 grams, 4.4 oz
• 1 cup mashed avocado about 1 avocado (226 grams, 8 oz)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup brewed coffee or milk of choice
• 1 cup almond flour 96 grams, 3.3 oz
• 1/2 cup oat flour 45 grams, 1.58 oz
• 1/4 cup cacao powder 31.25 grams, 1.1 oz
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder optional
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chips 175 grams, 6.2 oz

Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake

• 1 1/2 cup raw cashews 180 grams, 6.3 oz
• 1/3 cup coconut oil 70 grams, 2.46 oz
• 1/2 cup coconut milk 114 grams, 4 oz
• 1/3 cup maple syrup 107 grams, 3.7 oz
• 1/4 cup lemon juice about 2 lemons
• 1 cup freeze dried strawberries 28 grams, 1 oz
• 1 cup fresh strawberries chopped (166 grams, 5.8 oz)

Coconut Whipped Cream

• 1 can coconut milk

Instructions

 

Vegan Brownie Crust

• Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a 8x8 or 9x9 cake pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
• To make the Vegan Brownie Crust, start by melting the coconut oil and 1 cup of chocolate chips together.
• You can melt them in the microwave, at 15 second intervals, always stirring in between.
• Add coconut sugar to melted chocolate and coconut oil.
• Whisk until combined.
• Mash the avocado very well mashed and add it to the batter. I actually like to puree my avocado for this.
• Add avocado to the batter. Whisk until combined.
• Add vanilla extract and mix.
• Add brewed coffee or milk of choice and whisk until smooth.
• Combine almond flour, oat flour, cacao powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder together.
• Add dry ingredients to wet.
• Once ingredients are almost completely incorporated, add the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips to the batter.
• Fold with a spatula until just combined.
• Pour over prepared pan.
• Bake for 20 minutes, or until the brownie looks set, and if you touch its surface with your finger, it will spring back.
• Set brownies aside to cool.

Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake

• You want to start soaking your cashews for about 12 hours. (Note* You can do a quick soaking with some boiling water, leaving your cashews submerged for at least 1-2 hours)
• Once cashews have soaked, you can drain them.
• Process the freeze dried strawberries to turn them into a very fine powder. Set aside.
• Add cashews, coconut oil, coconut milk, maple syrup, lemon juice, and freeze dried strawberries powder to the bowl of a food processor.
• Process mixture for a few minutes until smooth.
• Add strawberries and fold with a spatula to combine.

Coconut Whipped Cream

• Leave sealed coconut milk can in the fridge overnight. When you open the can, open from the bottom, so the water will be concentrated in the bottom and you will be able to easily drain it.
• After draining the water, scoop the thickened cream in the bowl of an electric mixer.
• Whip on high for a few minutes until you see peaks forming.
• You may add powdered sugar if you’d like, but I didn’t see the need.

To assemble

• I have used this pan to make my cheesecakes. And I also had to use large metal rings like you can see in the pictures above because my pan was too small to hold all of the cheesecakes. I could have used cupcake tins as well.
• Cut rings in the brownie pan that are the size of the bottom go the pans you choose to assemble your cheesecakes in.
• Layer the bottom of the pans with the cut out brownies.
• If you aren’t using a silicon pan, I suggest that you cut strips of parchment paper and place 2 crosswise strips in the bottom of the pan, before start layering the brownie crust in. This will facilitate the cheesecake removal from the pan, once chilled. Check pictures above in the post for reference.
• Pour some of the vegan strawberry cheesecake filling over brownies.
• Place pans in the freezer for a few hours, or overnight.
• Once chilled through, you can make the Coconut Whipped cream and pipe over your beautiful cheesecakes, and then finish to decorate them with a fresh strawberry.

Storage

• Store in the freezer, in a sealed container, for up to 1 week.

Notes

If you want to make just a large cheesecake instead of mini ones, you can just bake the brownie in the pan where you will later assemble your cheesecake. Then simply pour the prepared cheesecake filling over the pan where you baked and cooled down your brownie. Freeze for a few hours, or overnight and then you can top with the whipped coconut cream, and serve.

Keyword brownie, cheesecake, strawberry, vegan