This dreamy vegan cheesecake is made with a spicy ginger snap crust filled with a creamy cashew base that's swirled with a decadent mix of chocolate and coffee.
I don't post a ton of dessert recipes on this blog. Maybe one every two weeks or so for most of the year. But around the holidays I like to bump up the frequency of my sweet recipes, for obvious reasons.
Most of the year I find that you guys come here for dinner recipes, so that's what I try and stick with. However, with the increased volume of sweets coming out of my kitchen lately, I've been keenly aware of the fact that there's another reason I avoid sweet recipes: because I know I'll go to town on the batter.
Isn't that the blessing and the curse of vegan baking? You trade minimal risk of food poisoning for double the risk that you won't be able to fit into your pants. In my defense, I kind of have to taste test the batter while I'm developing a recipe. I guess I don't need to turn it into my lunch for the day, but whatever.
I knew I was on to something with this one. I've shared a lot of vegan cheesecake recipes on this site (mango cheescake, caramel apple cheesecake, and raw cheesecake, to name a few), and they're all fantastic, but nothing comes close to the combination of chocolate and cheesecake and coffee if you ask me.
What I didn't expect was for the cheesecake itself to be a million times better than even the batter that I joyfully snacked on while making it. It was kind of mind-blowing.
The whole mocha cheesecake thing is a winning combination, but I think it was the ginger snap crust that took it over the top. Bonus: lots of ginger snap cookies you buy at the store happen to be accidentally vegan. I think this is my new solution in lieu of the classic graham cracker crust — graham crackers without honey can be a challenge to come by.
My husband and I shared a slice of this and I promptly stashed the rest of it in the freezer. I'd love to have polished off the whole thing, but that would be a bit much at this point. I plan to bust it out for Christmas and wow my whole family.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Mocha Swirl Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 8 ounces vegan ginger snap cookies (such as Newman's Own Organic Ginger Snaps)
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup coconut sugar (or another vegan granulated sugar of choice)
For the Cheesecake
- 2 ½ cups raw cashews, soaked in water 4-8 hours and drained
- ½ cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- ½ cup maple syrup
- â…” cup melted coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups vegan dark chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand)
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For Serving
- Whipped coconut cream (optional)
Instructions
- To make the crust, preheat the oven to 400°. Place the ginger snaps, coconut oil and sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process until fine crumbs form and the ingredients are fully blended, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Press the mixture into the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch springform pan. Bake until it begins to brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool.
- While the crust cools, place the cashews, milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and salt into the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler, of place them into a microwave-safe mixing bowl and microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Stir in the coffee and cinnamon. Stir in 1 ¼ cups of the cashew batter.
- Distribute 3 or 4 small scoops (about ½ cup each) of the remaining cashew batter over the crust, then distribute 3 or 4 scoops of the chocolate mixture between the cashew batter scoops. Continue dropping scoops of batter in this manner until none is left, then swirl the batters together using a rubber scraper or butter knife, being careful not to overdo it.
- Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours, or freeze it for about 2 hours, until set.
- Slice the cheesecake and top it with the whipped coconut cream. Serve.
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I’m looking forward to making this for Boxing Day. Can I make it in advance and leave it in the freezer for a few days? How long do you usually leave it out of the freezer before eating it?
It should freeze just fine! If it's been in the freezer for a few days I'm guessing it'll take four hours or so to thaw. Enjoy!
Can you substitute tofu for the cashews?
Possibly, but I haven't tried so I'm not totally sure. You might want to leave out the milk if you do, since tofu is a bit less dense than cashews.
do you wrap the cheesecake when you freeze it? i've never frozen one before, and would love your tips!
I wrapped mine in a couple layers of plastic wrap and then put the whole thing in a freezer bag! I've done this with other vegan cheesecakes and it works great. :)