Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake

Creamy vegan strawberry cheesecake with no baking and no cashews! It's the best strawberry dessert you can ask for!

This vegan strawberry cheesecake is:

• no bake
• nut free
• date free
• creamy and mousse-like
• perfect for Summer days, Valentine's Day or when you're craving strawberries!

If you prefer baked cheesecakes, see my baked vegan cheesecake recipe... and top it with strawberries! I do not recommend blending strawberries into the filling of that cheesecake the baking it.... I tried and it turns an unpleasant brown colour.

Or if you prefer easier recipes, see my vegan strawberry cupcakes or red velvet cupcakes.

Graham cracker crust

I wanted this vegan strawberry cheesecake to be indulgent and as close as possible to a classic unbaked cheesecake. So, I made a classic buttery graham cracker crust using common ingredients including:

• Vegan-friendly sweet cookies
• Melted vegan butter or melted coconut oil
• Sweetener, if desired (I thought it was sweet enough)

I used a food processor to crush the cookies as that was the easiest. However, you can use a rolling pin and smash the cookies in a reusable silicon bag or in a large bowl!

When you press the crust into your cake tin, make sure you do it as firmly as possible!

Filling for the vegan strawberry cheesecake

Lots of baked and no bake vegan cheesecakes rely on cashews or other nuts to make them creamy. This time, I really wanted to make a vegan cheesecake with NO cashews (and no need for a high-powered blender)! I used:

• Vegan cream cheese for that classic cheesecake taste and texture.
• Canned coconut cream which provides structure to the cheesecake.
• A LOT of strawberries because I wanted the cheesecake to be packed with strawberry flavour.
• Sugar because it's a dessert!
• Lemon juice, to add tartness to the cheesecake.
• Cornstarch/flour, a thickening agent which helps maintain the creaminess of a cheesecake. Also minimises the amount of coconut oil or agar.
• Coconut oil (or agar powder) to help the cheesecake really set.
• A little beetroot powder for extra colour. This is optional but it will make the cheesecake a show stopper!

I PACKED this cheesecake with strawberries!

Now, this is the best vegan strawberry cheesecake because it's brimming with strawberries... 4 cups including the topping!

To get an intense strawberry flavour, I created a strawberry reduction on the stovetop. We start with 360g strawberries which need to be reduced to 180g. The final texture should be similar to tomato pasta sauce!

Reducing the strawberries also:

• reduces their water content thereby intensifying their flavour
• makes the cheeseecake more CREAMY without tasteless thickeners
• means we can avoid artificial strawberry flavouring.

When I made cakes for customers and in my cookbook, I often reduced fruit on the stovetop to intensify their flavour. Sally's Baking Addiction also does this for her popular strawberry cake!

Setting the cheesecake

Since this vegan strawberry cheesecake is no bake, we need to set it in other ways. I used double thickening/setting agents (cornstarch and coconut oil) because:

1. A cheesecake set with only cornflour is more like a wobbly pudding/custard. Adding too much will give the cheesecake a powdery mouthfeel.
2. Alternatively, a cheesecake set with only coconut oil can have a firm mouthfeel tastes VERY coconutty and can have an overly firm mouthfeel.

Cornflour is activated through HEAT. Since we're heating the strawberries on the stove, we might as well activate the cornflour at the same time. I added the coconut cream to help with this process!

The above mixture is essentially a strawberry coconut cream custard. Then I added it to my cream cheese mixture and processed it until combined. Easy!

Decorating the vegan strawberry cheesecake

Cheesecakes are best served with a sauce or compote as it helps cut through the creaminess.

I made a very quick strawberry compote to top the cheesecake then topped it with extra strawberries. Of course, you can skip the compote and just use the fresh strawberries!

Ingredient substitutions for this vegan strawberry cheesecake

If you want a refined sugar free cheesecake, simply use maple syrup instead of the cane sugar for the filling. For the crust, make sure you use (or make) refined sugar free cookies.

To make the cheesecake coconut free, you can use firm silken (aka medium) tofu instead of coconut cream. Medium tofu is also known as 'traditional' tofu and often found in containers. It's half way between extra firm tofu and silken tofu. However, as tofu is less firm than coconut cream when blended, so your cheesecake will be softer.

If you don't like the taste of coconut oil, use refined coconut oil. However, the taste of the oil is overpowered by the vegan cream cheese and strawberries so you won't notice it as much as a cashew-based raw cake. You can also use cacao butter or vegan white chocolate instead of coconut oil!

You can use agar powder instead of coconut oil. Mix the agar powder with the coconut cream and heat it up with the strawberry reduction.

The below cheesecake is made with agar instead of coconut oil. You can see the texture is much more firm than the one made with coconut oil (above)!

See my other vegan cheesecake recipes

• Baked Vegan Cheesecake with berries
• Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake with pecan pie crumble (baked)
• Papaya Vanilla Cheesecake (baked)
• Blueberry, blackberry and ginger cheesecake (raw / unbaked)

Or my vegan strawberry recipes

• Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
• Vegan Strawberry and Cream Tart
• Strawberry, pink pitaya and chocolate tart

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Please leave a comment below if you made this recipe, have any questions or thoughts! Your comment will help other readers and Rainbow Nourishments.