Creamy vegan strawberry cheesecake which is no bake and has no cashews. This is the best vegan strawberry dessert you can ask for!
What to expect from this recipe
This easy vegan strawberry cheesecake is:
- no bake
- nut free, dairy free and date free
- creamy and mousse-like
- perfect for as a Summer dessert, DIY Valentine's Day present or thoughtful vegan Mother's Day recipe!
Alternatively, check out my no bake lemon cheesecake recipe for a citrus version of this dessert.
If you prefer baked cheesecakes, make my baked vegan cheesecake recipe... and just top it with strawberries! I do not recommend blending strawberries into the filling of that recipe then baking it.... I tried and it turns an unpleasant brown colour.
If you prefer an easier recipe, see my vegan strawberry cupcakes or red velvet cupcakes.
Making the graham cracker crust
I wanted this no-bake vegan strawberry cheesecake to be indulgent and as close as possible to a classic 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 ingredients
Lots of baked and no bake vegan cheesecakes rely on cashews or other nuts to make them creamy. However, this recipe has NO cashews (and no need for a high-powered blender)!
The key ingredients for this cheesecake are:
- Vegan cream cheese for that classic cheesecake taste and texture.
- Canned coconut cream which provides structure. I'd recommend buying full fat coconut cream rather than coconut milk as you'll get more of the thick creamy layer from canned coconut cream.
- A LOT of strawberries to pack this dessert with flavour. You can use either fresh or frozen (but defrosted) strawberries
- Sugar because it's a dessert!
- Lemon juice, to add tartness to the cheesecake.
The setting agents (and natural colour) for this cheesecake are:
- Cornstarch/flour, a thickening agent which helps maintain the creaminess of the filling. Also minimises the amount of coconut oil or agar.
- Coconut oil (or agar powder) to help the filling really set. Unlike traditional no bake cheesecakes, this recipe has no gelatine (which also makes it vegetarian).
- A little beetroot powder to give the dessert a beautiful pink colour and a real show stopper!
How to make a VERY fruity cheesecake
Now, this is the best vegan strawberry cheesecake because it's packed with 4 cups of strawberries including the topping!
To get an intense fruity 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:
- removes alot of 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
This no-bake strawberry cheesecake has no cashews so we're setting it using other ingredients. Instead, we're using two thickening/setting agents (cornstarch and coconut oil). Why two ingredients?!
- A cheesecake set with only cornflour is more like a wobbly pudding/custard. Adding too much will make the filling grainy.
- Alternatively, a cheesecake set with only coconut oil will taste VERY coconutty.
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 coconut cream to help with this process!
At this point, we've essentially made a dairy-free strawberry custard.
Then add your strawberry coconut cream mixture to your dairy-free cream cheese mixture in the food processor. Process until combined to make your strawberry cheesecake filling. Easy!
How to decorate this strawberry dessert
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 this dairy-free cheesecake and added extra strawberries. Of course, you can skip the compote and just serve it with fresh berries on top!
Customizing the cheesecake
For a gluten-free cheesecake, simply use gluten-free cookies in the base.
For a refined sugar-free cheesecake, simply use maple syrup instead of cane sugar for the filling. For the crust, make sure you use (or make) refined sugar-free cookies.
Try substituting the cookies in the base with Oreos! You may also drizzle some chocolate ganache on top of the cheesecake.
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 is often found in containers. It's halfway between extra firm tofu and silken tofu. However, after blending, tofu is less firm than coconut cream so using tofu will result in a softer cake.
If you don't like the taste of coconut oil, use refined coconut oil, or even cacao butter or vegan white chocolate. However, there is MINIMAL coconut flavour (if any) in this cheesecake as it's overpowered by vegan cream cheese and strawberries.
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)! I personally prefer the cheesecake made with coconut oil as it's creamier and softer.
Simply use an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking tray and follow the recipe as is!
More vegan strawberry desserts
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Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
- ~2 cups (200g) plain sweet cookies, gluten free and/or refined sugar free if needed (note 1)
- ⅓ cup (75g) vegan butter, margarine or coconut oil, melted
Vegan strawberry cheesecake filling
- ~2 cups (480g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature (2 x regular tubs)
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar, or light-coloured sweetener of choice
- 3 tablespoons (45g) melted coconut oil or cacao butter, or 2 tsp agar powder (note 2)
- 3 tablespoons (45g) lemon juice and zest, or to taste (around ½ lemon)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean powder
- 3 cups (360g) fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1 cup (240g) thick scoopable canned coconut cream, (note 3)
- ¼ cup (30g) corn starch / corn flour
- 1 teaspoon beetroot powder, to colour if ndeed
To decorate
- 1 cup (120g) fresh strawberries, stems removed (you can even sub half with raspberries as they tend to be more vibrant)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch / corn flour
Instructions
- Line a 20 cm (8 inch) spring-form or loose-bottom cake tin with baking paper.
To make the crust:
- Add the cookies to a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom of your cake tin. Set aside.
To make the filling:
- Add the cream cheese, sugar, coconut oil, lemon juice/zest and vanilla extract to a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Add the strawberries and a dash of water to a medium-size saucepan over high heat. Simmer and mash with a fork or stick blender to help the strawberries break down. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the mixture has reduced to around ½ cup, heaped (~180g). It should be the texture of tomato pasta sauce.
- Add the coconut cream and corn starch/flour to the saucepan of reduced strawberries and whisk thoroughly. Bring it to a gentle boil for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens up. The mixture may seperate which is normal!
- Add the strawberry mixture to your food processor/blender with the cream cheese mixture and blend until as smooth as possible. If desired, add beetroot powder to colour. Pour the cheesecake filling into your cake tin and smooth the top. Chill the cheesecake the fridge for 4 hours or until set.
To decorate:
- Add most of the strawberries and all the corn flour/starch to a small saucepan over high heat. Mash the strawberries with a fork or stick blender. Stir until thickened to a jam-like consistency. Sweeten if desired.
- Just before serving, top the cheesecake with the strawberry compote and reserved strawberries. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 5 days.
Notes
- Substitute with oreos or chocolate cookies for an epic vegan oreo strawberry cheesecake!
- If you use agar powder, mix it with the coconut cream and corn flour/starch mixture. Then add it to the strawberry reduction.
- I don't recommend buying light canned coconut cream or canned coconut milk as they contain less 'thick scoopable cream' compared to regular canned coconut cream. Otherwise, you'll need to buy too many cans to get the required amount of coconut cream in the recipe.
Nutrition
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I made my own vegan cream cheese for this recipe but instead of leaving in water overnight - the recipe I used said soak the cashews for 1 hr in hot water - worked a treat and the cake looks amazing!!! We are vegan or veg but we do like to reduce our load and also try new things!
That sounds delicious and glad it worked with your own cream cheese! Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
hi!! which vegan soft cheese would you recommend for this recipe?
Hey! I used Sheese which is available in Australia but Tofutti which is available internationally will work too 🙂
My husband and I made this recipe last night. To us, it tasted like Strawberry Yogurt. My husband remarked that this was the most expensive strawberry yogurt he’d ever tasted! It’s a no go for us.
I'm sorry you didn't like the taste of this! The vegan cream cheese is the main flavour in the filling so it sounds like your cream cheese wasn't right for the recipe.
Hello,
I couldn’t find coconut cream anywhere and milk didn’t have any of those lumps, so I bought a KTC Pure coconut cream (solid block) an just added it to my saucepan with strawberries and corn flour. I hope that’s ok? Can’t tell now as it’s in the fridge overnight. Also, got the last one of cream cheese and the remaining added soft cheese. I hope it turns out ok. Lol
Thank you
Hey! Ooh, it sounds like you bought coconut butter which is a different product. It's basically ground up coconut whereas coconut cream is a cream/liquid derived from it. I haven't tried this recipe with coconut butter but your cheesecake will be a bit more solid and textured (but still yummy if you don't mind the taste of coconut). Let me know how you go!
Have to say I have tried to feed my non vegan friends vegan cake before and it has never been a success.
This cake was superb! There were genuine requests for seconds! So lovely and the consistency of it is so creamy. ( I used coconut oil instead of agar) it also presents beautifully as a birthday cake. Thank you
Hi! Can you recommend a few vegan cream cheese brands that would work well in this recipe? I’m in Canada.
Hi Leigh! I'm based in Australia so have different brands from you. We have Sheese and Tofutti which (I think) are also in Canada and they're both reliable! However, any brand should work as the cream cheese isn't baked. Hope that helps!
Hi Anthea, thank you for this stunning recipe. I was wondering if it was possible to freeze the cheesecake ? I know agar agar doesn't do well when freezed but maybe if I only use coconut oil ?
Hi Margaux! I personally haven't frozen this cheesecake but all the ingredients freeze well seperately (for the coconut oil version) so I imagine the cheesecake would freeze well :). Let me know if you do!
It’s so easy to make for a non-baker and tastes DELICIOUS. I used regular full cream cheese instead of vegan cheese and it turned out AMAZING. Thank you for such an easy recipe.
I'm always so happy when non-bakers enjoy recipes like these! I'm sooo stoked you loved this recipe! Thanks so much for leaving your feedback x
I’ve been vegan for over 10 years. I tried many vegan recipes. I don’t normally leave negative comments because everyone has a different taste but honestly this cheesecake tastes horrible to me. I had to quickly eat something else to get rid of this taste from my mouth.
Hi Kate, I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy this cheesecake especially as many others raved about it! The recipe doesn't do much with the ingredients except reducing the strawberries so perhaps one of your ingredients was off and ruined the whole cheesecake? Or did you choose a sour-tasting cream cheese (like Miyoko's) which didn't complement the strawberries?
Delicious! I made this with a mix of frozen strawberries and blueberries and with the agar powder. The recipe was easy to follow and the colour was vibrant even though I didn’t add any colouring. I made this to take to a picnic with friends and it went down a treat.
Ooh adding blueberries sounds lovely and glad it worked with frozen berries for you (that's what I used too). Thanks soo much for your feedback!
Another recipe from this lovely lady that I have tried and didn't disappoint. This no bake cheesecake is very light and delicious. I reduced the ingredients in half and used a 16cm round cake pan. It was very cute and
delightful. I'll be making this again but have to try her other recipes first. Thanks again Anthea!
Ooh I'm sooo happy to hear that! And glad it worked with a smaller batch. Thanks for your ongoing support Gina 🙂
I made this to use up frozen berries and it was the best recipe I found? do you know the nutritional info?
Aw so glad you enjoyed it! I don't calculate nutritional info on my site but I'm sure it'd be easy to figure it out using an app and your particular brand of ingredients xo
Hello!
I'm trying this cheesecake tomorrow and I would like to ask, what size is the tin that you used?
I can't wait to see it! I used a 20cm (8 inch) tin. It says it in the first step of the instructions 🙂
The best vegan cheesecake ever! Took me a bit more time (should've pre prepared a bit more) but was so worth it in the end. A must try recipe, it will certainly all be gone by tomorrow since my family loves it.
Aw thank you soooo much for your feedback! That's the best news :). So glad you and your family loved it!