What better way to eat two of the most fabulous desserts ever?
By combining them!
Red Velvet Cake meets Cheesecake.
Yes this vegan red velvet cheesecake is a dream come to reality!
I am using my awesome original red velvet cake recipe and baking it up into my perfect vegan cheesecake batter.
That original cake recipe includes the red dye, which for various reasons we really don’t want to be using artificial dyes.
#1 Artifical Dyes. Enough said.
But #2 Bug juice. Yeah.
Research “Is red dye vegan” and you will see right away that it is not.
BUT no worries! Because I came up with a NEW RECIPE for Red velvet Cake that is DYE FREE! CLICK HERE
So whichever recipe you prefer to use, this cheesecake takes it all the way home and uses it as a sponge cake base with some added chunks of cake throughout the batter!
You don’t even need an electric mixer for this entire recipe!
A blender or food processor will make your job a bit easier, but even that is not 100% necessary.
Check out the video below to see how to make it and I hope you will too!
Vegan Red Velvet Cheesecake
Prep time
Bake time
Total time
Since I made 7" cheesecakes, the red velvet cake batter will also be baked into 2- 7" cake pans.
One layer will be for the base of the cheesecake (after cooling and unmolding) and the other will be for chunks to go into the batter- so be sure to prepare the red velvet cake recipe first.
In the video I made a larger sized batch of red velvet cake, but realized I only needed a half recipe which is written below, for those who question why my recipe looks bigger on the video- It was!
One layer will be for the base of the cheesecake (after cooling and unmolding) and the other will be for chunks to go into the batter- so be sure to prepare the red velvet cake recipe first.
In the video I made a larger sized batch of red velvet cake, but realized I only needed a half recipe which is written below, for those who question why my recipe looks bigger on the video- It was!
Serves: serves 8
Ingredients
- For the Red Velvet Cake OR CLICK HERE FOR NO DYE RECIPE
- All Purpose Flour 1¼ Cups (156g)
- Granulated Sugar ¾ cups (150g)
- Baking Soda ½ teaspoon
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- Natural Cocoa Powder 1 Tablespoons (6g)
- Vegetable Oil ¼ cup (60ml)
- Almond Milk ½ Cup (120ml)
- Ground Flax Seeds 1 Tablespoon (8g)
- Hot Water 3 Tablespoons (45ml)
- Red Food Color 1-2 teaspoons *gel paste or liquid
- White Vinegar 1 teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
- For the Cheesecake Batter
- Vegan Cream Cheese 1½ package (12oz) (282g)
- Firm Tofu half package (7ounces) (196g)
- Vegan Granulated Sugar 1 cup (200g)
- Cornstarch1 Tablespoon
- All Purpose Flour 1 Tablespoon
- Salt ½ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- Vegan lactic Acid OR Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- Vegan Butter 2 Tablespoons (28g)
Instructions
- First prepare the red velvet cake recipe by combining the ground flax seed with hot water and whisk smooth
- Let stand for at least 5 minutes to thicken to a paste
- In a large bowl place the sifted flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Cocoa Powder together
- In another bowl combine all of the wet ingredients including the sugar and the red food color whisk smooth
- Add the flax paste and then the dry ingredients and whisk smooth
- Pour the batter into the greased and parchment lined cake pans and bake immediately at 350°F for 25 - 30 minutes or until springy to the touch when gently pressed in the centers or a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs
- Once the red velvet cake is cooled take one layer and chop it up into ½" cubes, reserve them in the freezer or refrigerator to go into the cheesecake batter later.
- The other layer of cake will go into the refrigerator (wrapped well) until after the cheesecake is completely set and ready to assemble
- Place all cheesecake ingredients (except the red velvet cubes) into a food processor and process until smooth
- Fold the red velvet cubes in by hand so they don't break up too much
- Optional red food color swirl into a small portion of the batter (which actually made mine more pink, and I still can't decide if I like it or not! LOL)
- Pour into a greased and parchment lined cake pan and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour turn the oven off and let the cheesecake stay inside to cool down for another hour,
- Take out of the cooled oven and place in the refrigerator to cool and set for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Once completely firm and set unmold the cake onto a platter or cardboard cake circle, remove the parchment paper and adhere the red velvet cake layer onto the bottom (sometimes a little cream cheese icing helps as glue)
- Ice the top and sides with more cream cheese icing then press the red velvet cake scraps that have been ground down to crumbs all over the top and sides, vegan white chocolate drizzle optional
The cream cheese icing is an entirely option recipe, you do not have to make this at all unless you want it to look just like mine!
Vegan Cream Chees Icing
Ingredients
- Vegan Cream Cheese 2 Tubs (2cups) (454g)
- Vegan Butter 1 stick (½ cup) (112g)
- Confectioner's Sugar 1½ cups (180g)
- Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon
- Apple Cider Vinegar *optional 1 teaspoon - see note above
Instructions
- In an electric mixer (or by hand!) mix the sifted confectioners sugar with the vegan butter until smooth, add the vanilla extract, optional apple cider vinegar and then add the vegan cream cheese last and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Be careful not to whip it or you will get a soupy mixture, as vegan cream cheese has a tendency to break down very easily.
- I would even recommend to mix the cream cheese in by hand to avoid this possibility
- Refrigerate until you are ready to use
Notes
Keep vegan cream cheese icing refrigerated at all times
Thanks for sharing the recipe Gretchen, you are fantastic. Bought your Modern vegan Baking cook book haven’t tried anything yet but looking forward to it. Have loved all your recipes I’ve tried in the past, thanks again.
thank you!!
So elegant.
Hey! So I’m a little confused about your quantities on the recipe as it says “1/2c oil (60ml)” and then “1/2c almond milk (237ml)” ??
I’m just sort of winging it and trying to follow the quantities as I already started making the recipe but if you could update it so the quantities are correct that would be super helpful! Thanks!
Thanks Amanda! Updating now! Its ½ cup which is 120ml! It was actually the oil that was incorrect!
I did what I tell everyone to be careful of doing! I HALVED this original recipe but forgot to HALF the oil part! Yikes!
Your recipea are just AMAZING! So professional looking but super easy to make! And I can’t wait to try this cheesecake!❤️
Do you amybe know if i could use an egg replacer instead of flax seeds which i cannot seem to find anywhere?
Thank you for inspiring us! ❣️
Hi Thanks! Yes you can use egg replacer for the flax instead sure.
Is there a suitable substitute for the tofu (soy allergy)?
TIA
Yes you can use Daiya Cream cheese (it is soy free) and use all cream cheese in place of the tofu part as well
Thank you so much! I am so excited to try thjs, can make the cream cheese from scratch, dont think i can vegan cream cheese in my city.
Thanks! Most Cream cheese made from scratch is going to be a cashew base, which will not work great here. For that kind of cream cheese you will be better to use a recipe like this one CLICK HERE
Gretchen,
You are so gifted!!! Such a GIFT to the world of baking!
You had a video of an Italian Ricotta Cheese cake, It was FABULOUS! Your instructions were PERFECTION!
However, it was removed. Is there any way you can bring it back?
Thank you for ALL YOUR HARD WORK!
You are truly AMAZING!
Hi Teresa, thanks. That was on the NON vegan website here
Is this for the denser or the creamier cheesecake? Thanks.
Whenever I add tofu it makes it lighter and creamier. For a more dense cheesecake replace the tofu with another package (8ounces) of vegan cream cheese
Also note when adding red velvet cake (as was the case when I added oreos to my oreo cheesecake) the result is also a bit more dense (even with the tofu, NOT the double cream cheese) since those items, cakes, cookies will absorb some of that liquid and make the cake slightly more dense right away
It looks divine!
Do you press the tofu or is it silken?
I use firm, I do not press it
Are you using regular or silken firm tofu for this? It looks amazing!
Thanks! I use firm tofu
This is also gluten free thank you!!!
Love the time and effort you put into sharing the amazing desserts. I love baking but I would also like to just eat these delicious things without any effort any day!
I try to avoid processed flour and sugar as much as possible (risk of diabetes and stuff) so I wanted to ask you if I can make these recipes with low glycemic sugar like coconut sugar or maple sugar instead of confectioner’s sugar as well as replace all purpose flour with almond meal or any other low glycemic flour options?
Hi Thanks yes you can for the sugar, the almond flour though is something else, you cannot make a gluten free cake just by subbing the flour, other things need to happen for the structure of the cake. I am not a gluten free baker, so I really have no good advice for you there.
Hi Gretchen,
Thank you so much for the recipe! Have you had any feedback on making this recipe with Daiya cream cheese?
Hi Yasmine! Im sorry for the late reply! I have not had internet connection for the last 4 days!!
I have not had any feedback re: Daiya CC.
I cannot find ANY vegan cream cheese lately, but have had a total disaster with Voilife! CLICK HERE FOR MORE! **Video visual of the disaster too! LOL
Hi again Gretchen,
As a follow-up, I made your cheesecake with Daiya and it was fantastic!
Thanks again,
Yasmine