Healthier Vegan Pecan Caramel Cheesecake – No Bake

This Healthier Vegan Pecan Caramel Cheesecake – No Bake recipe is soo dreamy. It’s incredibly delicious and tastes indulgent but it’s made with a lot of healthier ingredients than your average cheesecake! For instance, the caramel layer is made with medjool dates so the amount of sugar in this recipe is exponentially lower and better than others. The texture of this cheesecake is super creamy and delicious, but it’s topped with roasted pecans which not only add loads of delicious flavour, but also add a lovely crunch! Yum!

Healthy Swaps

The first healthy swap in this recipe is the use of medjool dates in the caramel layer, instead of the regular sugar and cream. Another healthy swap in this Healthier Vegan Pecan Caramel Cheesecake recipe is the crust. Instead of using a traditional buttery crust for this cheesecake, I’ve included a healthy option as well. I suggest using my recipe for Healthy Raw Vegan Gingerbread Bites for the base of this cheesecake. This option provides the inclusion of more nutritious ingredients but also tons of delicious flavour. Dreamy!

Dreamy Creaminess

A lot of vegan cheesecakes use coconut milk and cashews to give the cake a creamy texture, but here I’ve used vegan cream cheese instead to make the cake feel lighter and fluffier, but also provide a bit more tang with lemon juice as well. I find coconut milk gives too much of a flavour in vegan cheesecakes. Unless coconut is a flavour you want in your cheesecake then of course it’s absolutely delicious! But in this cake I wanted the pecan, cinnamon, and caramel flavours to really shine through so I used vegan cream cheese and oat cream along with cashews.

This Healthier Vegan Pecan Caramel Cheesecake is absolutely bursting with flavour, and has a lovely contrasting creaminess and crunch to it. This recipe is super easy to make as well and doesn’t take long to make. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser at any special holiday gathering! I hope you’ll give this recipe a try, I truly think it’s absolutely delicious!!

Healthier Vegan Pecan Caramel Cheesecake – No Bake

by Baking Me Healthy

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Chilling Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Vegan

Ingredients

  

Easy Cheesecake Crust*

• 15 vegan cinnamon cookies or gingerbread cookies
• 35 g vegan unsalted butter
• pinch of sea salt

Healthy Cheesecake Crust*

• 1 batch of my Healthy Raw Vegan Gingerbread Bites **

Cheesecake Filling

• 1 ½ cup soaked and rinsed cashews soaked in water for approx 4-6 hours
• 150 g vegan cream cheese
• ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup oat milk or gluten free alternative
• 1 ½ – 2 tbsps freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• pinch of sea salt

Caramel

• 5 medjool dates
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4-5 tbsp oat cream add only until creamy
• 1 tbsp maple syrup

Toppings

• roasted pecans

Instructions

 

• Start by making the base. Add all of the ingredients together in a food processor and mix until it's the consistency of coarse, wet sand (for the cookie alternative). For the healthy crust alternative, mix all the ingredients together until the mixture is coarse sand and if you pinch the mixture together it holds together. Then it's ready to be pressed into a pie form.
• Take a small pie form and butter or oil the inside of it. You could also use parchment paper on the inside so it's easy to lift the cheesecake out when it's ready to be served. Then distribute the cake base out evenly over the bottom of the whole pie form and up the sides. Press the crust down evenly and smoothly using a spatula or the bottom of a glass, etc. Once that step is complete, place the pie form in the freezer to set while you make the filling.
• Clean the food processor.
• Add all of the cheesecake filling ingredients to a food processor or high speed blender. Mix until it's completely smooth and creamy. Taste test and adjust to your desire.
• Pour the cheesecake filling into the pie form and smooth the top. Cover the cheesecake to protect it from ice, and then place it back in the freezer to set for about 30 minutes.
• Make the caramel while you wait for the cheesecake to set.
• Starting with 4 tbsp of the oat cream, add all of the caramel ingredients to a food processor or high speed blender and mix until smooth. If the caramel isn't mixing properly add another tablespoon of the oat cream to make it creamier. If that still doesn't work, you can try adding a teaspoon or so of water. Taste test and adjust if necessary.
• When the cheesecake is a bit firm, then you can spread the caramel over the cake. Spread out an even layer of the caramel. If the cheesecake filling is too soft it will be hard to spread out the caramel on top.
• Then decorate the cheesecake with roasted pecans (unsalted!).
• This cake stores wonderfully in the freezer. Before serving, make sure the cake has softened a bit so it will have maximum flavour.
• Enjoy!!

Notes

*There are two options for the crust for this cheesecake. One is a quick and easy version made simply with your favourite vegan cinnamon flavoured cookies or gingerbread cookies. The second version is a healthy one made only with healthy and wholesome ingredients. 

** The healthy variety of the crust can be made with this Healthy Raw Vegan Gingerbread Bites recipe of mine, and it’s delicious if you sub part of the nuts in the recipe with pecans to match this cake! 

Keyword cheesecake, dairy free, dessert, gluten free, medjool dates, no bake, pecan, plant based, vegan, vegansk