Vegan Cheesecake! How To Make The Classic Dessert Without Using Any Dairy

Just because her diet is plant-based, that doesn’t mean hot for food blog’s Lauren Toyota eschews comfort food. In fact, she couldn’t live without it.

For Chatelaine’s video series, Vegan It! with Lauren Toyota, the former MuchMusic VJ and current YouTube star and cookbook author, demonstrates how to create vegan versions of everyone’s favourite comfort classics — like grilled cheese and caesar salad — without elaborate recipes or compromising on taste.

vegan cream cheese, granulated sugar and lemon zest as well as lemon juice to mimic that cheesy tang.

Creating a fruity dessert topping:

While plain cheesecake can be delish, Lauren likes to top hers off with a fruity compote. She's partial to using blueberries, but she says any fresh or frozen berry would work well. To make her fruit-filled topping, she reduces blueberries with sugar and lemon juice. She then lets this jewel-toned mixture cool before spooning it all over her cheesecake.

Vegan Cheesecake Recipe

MAKES: 8 to 10 servings

PREP TIME: 30 minutes, plus at least 4 hours for chilling the cheesecake

COOK TIME: 55 minutes

Vegan Cheesecake Ingredients

CRUST

• 1 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
• 1⁄2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter, melted

FILLING

• 1 cup raw cashews (soaked in hot water for 20 minutes)
• 1 cup soft tofu
• 1 cup plain vegan cream cheese
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1⁄4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

BLUEBERRY TOPPING

• 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1⁄4 cup granulated sugar

Vegan Cheesecake Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. To make the crust, in a food processor, pulse the rolled oats into a flour. This should be a very fine mixture with no large pieces of oats.
3. Add the brown sugar, salt, and melted butter and pulse until the mixture comes together. It should press together when you pinch it. Press the mixture in an even layer into the bottom of a 7 or 8-inch spring form pan. You can also press it into an 8- inch square baking dish. If using the square baking dish you can line it with parchment paper for easy removal or you can serve the baked cheesecake directly from the dish.
4. To make the filling, drain and rinse the cashews. Place in a high-powered blender with the remaining ingredients and blend until very smooth.
5. Pour the filling on top of the crust.
6. Bake for 45 minutes until the edges of the cheesecake are light golden brown. The center might look a bit soft, but it will firm up upon cooling. Allow the cheesecake to cool completely. Refrigerate it for at least 4 hours or overnight. Only once the cheesecake has chilled completely should you remove the sides of the spring form pan. Let the cake sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving to remove the chill.
7. To make the topping, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 6 minutes. Let cool before serving over the cheesecake. There is enough blueberry compote to put a good portion on top of the cheesecake and have some extra to add to individual servings.
8. Store leftover cheesecake in the fridge for up to 7 days.

Watch: How to make a vegan chocolate cake