Creamy baked vegan papaya cheesecake with a classic cookie crust. The cheesecake is made with less than 10 ingredients, has a beautiful orange papaya hue and flecks of vanilla!
This vegan baked cheesecake is easy, sooo creamy, indulgent and super easy to make. It is also nut free unlike many vegan cheesecake recipes out there!
Papaya really complements baked desserts like in my crumble cake and in no bake bars!
Ingredients to make this papaya vanilla cheesecake
I wanted to make a classic indulgent cheesecake so used:
- Vegan cookies and butter to make the base
- Vegan cream cheese
- Firm silken tofu (otherwise known as medium or traditional tofu)
- Rice malt or maple syrup
- Fresh papaya
- Vanilla and salt
- Coconut yogurt (and extra papaya) to decorate
How to make this baked vegan cheesecake
To make this cheesecake, it helps if you have a food processor or blender. However, if you don't, you can easily make it in a bowl with some elbow grease!
The base is super easy to make! Blitz the cookies in a food processor, add the melted butter then blitz again!
When you press the base into your cake tin, I STRONGLY recommend doing this as firm as possible. Having a firm base ensures your base doesn't crumble and your cheesecake has a solid foundation.
To press my base, I first used my hands and a spoon then used a cake scraper to make it very even and flat.
I baked the crust in the oven for 10 minutes to let it crisp up. This ensures the crust retains some crunch at the end and encourages it to firm up!
Making the filling is pretty easy too! Simply add all the ingredients (cream cheese, tofu, papaya, sweetener, vanilla and salt) to a blender. I find that a blender blends the mixture more thoroughly whereas a food processor leaves some chunks and takes more time.
Also, see how the cheesecake filling is slightly more yellow/orange than most cheesecakes?! That's thanks to the papaya!
Serving the papaya cheesecake
I love serving the cheesecake with coconut yoghurt and papaya on top. This adds texture, freshness and colour!
You can also serve the cheesecake with vanilla-infused maple syrup, other fruit, coconut cream... or whatever your heart desires!
To make a vanilla-infused syrup, simply add the maple syrup (or other syrup) to a saucepan with some vanilla bean, paste or extract. Bring to a boil and allow the ingredients to infuse. I like drizzling this over the cheesecake! The little flecks of vanilla are so beautiful :).
More Vegan Cheesecake Recipes
Follow Rainbow Nourishments on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest, and subscribe via email to receive all of our latest recipes!
Baked Papaya Vanilla Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- ~2 cups (200g) plain cookies, gluten free and/or refined sugar free if needed
- ⅓ cup (75g) melted vegan butter or margarine or coconut oil
Cheesecake filling
- ~2 ½ cups (600g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature (2 ½ x regular tubs)
- ~2 ⅓ cups (600g) firm silken tofu, also known as 'medium' or 'traditional' tofu
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean powder
- ½ cup (180g) maple syrup or rice malt syrup, or cane sugar
- 1 cup (100g) papaya, roughly chopped
- Pinch of salt
To decorate
- Fresh papaya, cut as desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Line the bottom and sides of a spring-form or loose-bottom cake tin (I used a 20cm or 8-inch cake tin).
To make the crust:
- Add the cookies to a food processor and pulse until they form breadcrumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom the lined cake tin. Set aside.
To make the filling:
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until it is very smooth. Pour the cheesecake filling into the crust.
To bake the cheesecake
- Bake the cheesecake for around 40 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown. The filling will be baked on top but still jiggly.
- With the oven door ajar, allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven for at least 1 hour. When the cheesecake is at room temperature, cover it and set it aside in the fridge overnight to chill.
To decorate:
- Carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin. Top with coconut yoghurt and fresh papaya. Serve immediately.
- If you have any leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
Hi Anthea. Your papaya cheese cake looks delicious. I love papayas but not a fan of tofu. What can I use as a substitute?
Hi Gadija, you can use cashews (blend it with the cream cheese in a blender) or the thick part of canned coconut cream. Hope that helps!
Hi Anthea,
All your cheesecakes look so delicious!
My question is if I can replace with more tofu instead of the vegan cream cheese? and which ingredient makes the filling to be firm?
when do you use yoghurt and when not? When Is necessary to add cornstarch?
Ha ha ha!! many doubts!
Hope you can answer me,
Regards from Buenos Aires,
Thank you! Cream cheese or cashews are usually used to help make vegan cheesecakes firm. In my baked cheesecake with berries recipe, I added yoghurt for flavour and sourness but it's not necessary when you use cream cheese which is already full of flavour.
Corn starch is a thickener and emulsifier so I add it when there's no binding ingredient (such as cream cheese) in a cheesecake. I wouldn't replace cream cheese with tofu as it won't be firm enough. If you want to make a cheesecake without cream cheese, I'd recommend the recipe I linked above. Hope that helps!
This looks amazing just What can be used instead of silken tofu???
Dairy free yoghurt may work but I haven't tried it!