Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

Red Velvet Cheesecake

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What better way to eat two of the most fabulous desserts ever?

Red Velvet Cake meets my famous New York Style Vegan Cheesecake.

Can be made gluten free and sugar free! *see notes below!

red velvet cheesecake

 

My original red velvet cake recipe gets added to my famous vegan cheesecake recipe!

Then it all gets smothered in crushed up red velvet cake crumbs!

red velvet cheesecake

 

While the original cake recipe includes the red dye I do have a separate recipe for No Dye Red Velvet Cake if you prefer!

Research “Is red dye vegan?” and you will see right away that it is not.
Using all natural beet root powder for an amazing intense red color!

Whichever recipe you decide to use this cheesecake is going to be a win at your next party!

Vegan Red Velvet Cheesecake

The best part is: 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.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE RED VELVET CHEESECAKE!

Red Velvet Cheesecake

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Notes For Success:

Since I make 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 and the other will be for chunks to go into the batter, so be sure to prepare the red velvet cake recipe first.

Red velvet cake can be made gluten free by using a 1:1 gluten free blend like Bob’s Red Mill *not sponsored

Sugar free is also an option for this entire recipe CLICK HERE FOR MORE!

At times I add an addition of firm tofu in place of some of the cream cheese for a lightened up version and to cut some of the fat calories.
I do not find an extremely noticeable difference in the outcome of straight vegan cream cheese versus the tofu addition,  so for me I like the tofu version.

Additionally I only use Tofutti Cream Cheese for my BAKED recipes *not sponsored
I have not had success with any other brand in BAKED recipes
However more recently I tried Violife again and it works! Although I still prefer the Tofutti brand

Cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume spoons measure
So while I list both measures below I cannot stress enough how the grams measure with a scale is going to give you the best results.
Many times people have complained that their cheesecake is like rubber and they don’t know why!

Yield: serves 8

Vegan Red Velvet Cheesecake

red velvet cheesecake
Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the Red Velvet Cake

  • 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 teaspoon
  • 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) *see notes
  • Vegan Granulated Sugar 1 cup (200g)
  • Cornstarch 1 Tablespoon (8g)
  • All Purpose Flour 1 Tablespoon (7g)
  • Salt ½ teaspoon
  • Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
  • Vegan lactic Acid 1½ teaspoons
  • OR Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons (10ml)
  • Vegan Butter 2 Tablespoons (28g)
  • ½ Recipe 2-2-2 Cream Cheese Icing

Instructions

  1. Grease and parchment line a 2-7" cake pans and preheat the oven to 350°F
  2. Prepare the red velvet cake recipe by combining the ground flax seed with hot water and whisk smooth
  3. Let stand for at least 5 minutes to thicken to a paste
  4. In a large bowl place the sifted Flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Cocoa Powder together
  5. In another bowl combine all of the wet ingredients including the sugar and the red food color whisk smooth
  6. Add the flax paste and then the dry ingredients and whisk smooth
  7. Pour the batter into the greased and parchment lined cake pan 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
  8. Once the red velvet cake is cooled take one layer and chop HALF OF IT up into ½" cubes, reserve them in the freezer or refrigerator to go into the cheesecake batter later.
  9. The other layer of cake will go into the refrigerator (wrapped well) until after the cheesecake is completely set and ready to assemble
  10. The rest of that layer will get crumbled up for the garnish of the final cheesecake
  11. Now make the cheesecake batter:
  12. Place all cheesecake ingredients (except the red velvet cubes) into a food processor and process until smooth
  13. Fold the red velvet cubes in by hand so they don't break up too much
  14. 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)
  15. Pour into a greased and parchment lined cake pan and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour.
  16. After 1 hour turn the oven off and let the cheesecake stay inside to cool down for another hour,
  17. After the 2nd hour remove from the oven and place in the refrigerator to cool and set for at least 4 hours or overnight.
  18. 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 with a small amount of the 2-2-2 Cream Cheese Icing
  19. Ice the top and sides with the remaining icing then press the red velvet cake scraps that have been ground down to crumbs all over the top and sides
  20. Vegan white chocolate drizzle optional

Notes

Red Velvet Cheesecake must be kept refrigerated and will stay fresh for up to 6 days loosely wrapped to prevent drying

© Gretchen

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Saundra

    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.

      • Nicole

        This looks amazing. I’m about to have a crack at it. But was wanting to know if you can actually add an actual fruit syrup swirl rather than just colouring the cheesecake mix with food colouring 🏵️

        • Gretchen

          Hey thanks! I’m not sure what you mean by fruit “syrup”. When I hear the word syrup I think liquid + intense sugar, so not only will adding in a “syrup” make the balance of sugar higher in this recipe but the added liquid could throw off the thickeners as well. I would rather you use something like a concentrated fruit paste or even better *I’m in love with flower powder super food color lately *not sponsored
          It give intense color with a fruity taste

  3. Amanda

    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!

    • Gretchen

      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!

  4. Špela Buda

    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! ❣️

  6. Shan

    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.

  7. TERESA DIJOSEPH

    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!

    • Gretchen

      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

  12. Neha jain

    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?

    • Gretchen

      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.

  13. Yasmine

    Hi Gretchen,
    Thank you so much for the recipe! Have you had any feedback on making this recipe with Daiya cream cheese?

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