In a room full of non vegans everyone insisted there was no way this could be vegan!
Vegan Oreo Cheesecake was my very first attempt at making a baked cheesecake way back in 2017.
I love cheesecake more than any other dessert
So my website is chock full of cheesecake variations!
All stemming from this amazing base recipe!
The thing about getting vegan cheesecakes to taste like real cheesecake is the characteristic tang that we know and love
Adding a bit of vegan lactic acid or apple cider vinegar will do the trick!
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Notes for Success:
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!
TOFU: You may notice that 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, however you can use more vegan cream cheese in place of the tofu
Additionally I do not press the tofu, just squeeze out any excess water
Also in the video you will notice I was using vegan sour cream as well; but I’ve decided to omit that to avoid buying yet another ingredient
Which does very little for the outcome of the cheesecake in comparison to simply using more vegan cream cheese.
You can of course use it in place of the tofu or some of the vegan cream cheese
VEGAN CREAM CHEESE: Tofutti is the only brand I will use for my BAKED recipes *not sponsored
I have not had success with any other brand in BAKED recipes; for some reason some other brands I’ve tried have broken down into an oily mess when baked.
However more recently I tried Violife again and it works! Although I still prefer the Tofutti brand
OREOS: There is much debate as to whether you want to accept Oreos as being vegan
Here in the USA the sugar that Nabisco uses to make these cookies is indeed processed through animal bone char.
If you want to be sure you are being 100% vegan you can make your own Oreo Cookies using my recipe for Copy Cat Vegan Oreos!
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THIS CAKE!
Vegan Oreo Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the Cheesecake Batter
- Vegan Cream Cheese 12oz (336g) *see notes
- Firm Tofu 4ounces (113g) *see notes
- Granulated Sugar ¾ cup (150g)
- Cornstarch 3 Tablespoons (24g)
- All Purpose Flour 2 Tablespoons (15g)
- Salt ¼ teaspoon
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
- Vegan Lactic Acid 1 teaspoon
- OR Apple Cider Vinegar 1 teaspoon
- Vegan Butter 2 Tablespoons (28g) melted
- Plant Milk scant 1 cup (7 fl oz)
- Chocolate Sandwich Cookies 12 crushed
For the Crust
- Chocolate Sandwich Cookies 16 crushed (approx 1½ cups crushed cookies)
- Vegan Butter 4 Tablespoons melted (56g)
Instructions
- Prepare the crust by crushing the cookies in a food processor and then add the melted vegan butter
- Press it into the prepared pan and freeze while you prepare the cheesecake batter
- Place all cheesecake ingredients (except the cookies) into a food processor and process until smooth
- Add the cookies and then pulse a few times to crush of hte cookies throughout the cheesecake batter
- Pour batter into prepared pan with the crust and bake in a water bath in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour, then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake inside for another hour.
- Remove from the oven and refrigerate overnight before un-molding
- Garnish as you wish, I used more Cookies, ganache and whipped cream
Notes
Oreo Cheesecake should be kept refrigerated until serving.
Store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator
I don't love the way vegan cheesecake freezes, I feel the texture changes too much, but if you must, you can freeze it wrapped well for up to 1 month
Hi
Thank you for posting this recipe. It looks so lush!!!
What can I use instead of sour cream please?
You are so welcome! I hope you try it! You can use a vegan yogurt instead
Hi Gretchen,
I made the cheesecake. It was a hit. Thank you 🙂
It was a tad sweet though, lacking the sourness. I didn’t have sour cream. Used yoghurt as suggested. Do you think that’s the reason?
You can add more sugar to this one, I thought the oreos imparted some added sugar so I cut back on the sugar in the recipe, but everyone has different tastes. Yes the sour cream is helpful here, but also next time you can add 1-2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar to add some tartness like a real cream cheese (Or Here i have been using vegan lactic acid)
If I use lactic acid instead of ac vinegar, how Much should I use? Thanks for the recipe.
I use about 1/2 teaspoon per recipe- I find it is stronger than ACV
Dear Gretchen
You made my transition to becoming vegan so much more pleasant. Thank you for sharing all your amazing recipes and knowledge.
Best regards
Astrid (the Netherlands)
I would realy like to make your oreo cheesecake recipe. But vegan sourcream and vegan creamcheese is very expensive in the Netherlands. Could i replace it with home made vegan creamcheese and sourcream?
I know, I have heard that. It’s a shame. The vegan ingredients are much more expensive even here, for me.
Give it a try and let me know how it works out!
Is the pan 2″ or 3″ deep?
2″
Is The water bath necessary or can I bake without it?
its better to use the water bath, but I have done it without, no real giant issues
You’ve just schooled me on spring form pans ? i can’t wait to make this yummy treat!
LOL! Alright! Let’s see if you agree!
The cheesecake is in the oven. I didn’t get a chance to test out the 7″ cake pan since I already have springform in that size. I tasted the cheesecake batter and I can’t tell that it’s vegan! Tofu? I couldn’t taste it at all. Thanks for the recipe. Thanks for your website, Gretchen!!
It didn’t quite set in the center, but it tastes unbelievable!
Could I use all vegan sour cream and omit the cream cheese? I’ve made this recipe before and it was delicious but at the moment my grocery store is out of vegan cream cheese :/
Cream Cheese is much more stable than sour cream, so if you do it, I would definitely increase the cornstarch by a couple tablespoons
I have already made this recipe more than 5 times. I have brought this to 2 different vegan potlucks. I don’t know if anyone ever told you or not but you are amazing. Even my non vegan uncle loves this cake and finds better than actual cheese cake. It’s in the oven for the sixth time the moment I am typing this message.
Love
Harry Singh (Winnipeg)
WOW! thanks Harry! I appreciate this comment so much! I helps others who are not so sure if it is a good recipe or not, so this is great validation!
Hi i want to know if I can use soft tofu insted of firm tofu, thanks 🙂
yes totally
Hi! Going to make this today, but I realised my pan is 9” instead of 7”, so I’m going to make the recipe x1,65. The question is, how will the temperature and time in the oven change? Should I lower the temp and up the time somewhat? Unfortunately I can’t use a water bath.
/Kim
Hi Kim, If you can go slightly lower than 350 (335?) that would be good, bake time will be slightly longer, but maybe another 30 minutes. But you will be able to poke the center gently and it should jiggle like Jell-O, not liquid, turn oven off then leave it in there to cool another 30 minutes then refrigerate to set to firm
I’ve made this recipe so many times and it’s a consistent winner ?I don’t have a 7 inch pan so I use an 8 inch and it still turns out great
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. What could be a good substitute for the tofu?
Hi Isa, you can use all vegan cream cheese instead
Um, Oreos are technically NOT vegan. The company themselves commented on their FAQ site about it. http://www.oreo.co.uk/faq While some don’t care about cross contamination others very much do and you need to include a note about that if you’re going to use them in recipes.
I have a friend who is allergic to sugar. What can I use instead?
you can use a natural sugar like maple syrup or agave, while these are sugars too, I am assuming you mean WHITE sugar?
Hi!
Do you have any recommendations for using something other than tofu for this recipe? I have some friends allergic to soy.
Thank you
yes you can use all vegan cream cheese (Daiya brand is soy free)
Made this cake for mother’s day. I doubled the recipe and used and 8 in pan that was about 4 in deep. I baked it for about 40 mins longer and set the temp to 320 and it came out perfectly! It was a hit with vegans and non vegans. Great recipe and very easy to do! Thank you!!
YAY! awesome! thanks for the comment!
I know that an acidic ingredient is essential for creating that sharp, cream cheese tang. Could lemon juice be used in place of the apple cider vinegar?
Myforts attempt at baking…Awesome cake, simple recipe to follow, my nom-vegan friends could not believe it had tofu in it. Used a 9” pan as that is what I had.
Will definitely be making this more often.
YAY! thanks for the comment!
love all your recipes. I was wondering if the Oreo is vegan. Thanks
Technically it is, however here in the US they use bone char processed white sugar, so there’s the caveat 🙁
Hey. I am making your cheesecake now in a 10 inch cakeform instead of a 7, so i dubbled the recepie. Just put it into the oven. Do you know what the oven time will be then?😬
I would say bake it for 1hour 20 min on 350F then turn the oven off but leave it inside for another hour. Then take it out and cool-refrigerate overnight
Ohmygosh! I made this today! Used yogurt instead of sour cream and it was so so delicious. Haven’t eaten such a great, creamy and smooth cheesecake since I went vegan! I love how its possible to veganise everything and make it so close to dairy.
Lovely recipe. Thank you Gretchen. Will definitely make this again. It was wiped out within minutes in my family!!
yay! AWESOME THANK YOU FOR THE FEEDBACK!!
Hi Gretchen,
If I were to use sour cream, how do I adjust the recipe?
Thanks so much!
I actually use Tofutti brand SOUR CREAM almost 100% of the time because I cannot get Tofutti Cream Cheese near me anymore! The ingredients list is exactly the same on both items so the sub is 1:1 no changes
Thanks Gretchen! I guess my question wasn’t clear. I meant if I were to add sour cream to the recipe just like how you had it in your tutorial video, how much should I add? I have cream cheese and tofu but wanted.to add sour cream as well?
I made it without the sour cream ( followed the recipe to a “T”, weighed everything but the whole top cracked. Not sure what went wrong. Any advise you can pass AloNg is truly appreciated
Oh I see! Yes sure I had 1/4 cup of the sour cream because originally 1 package of vegan cream cheese was only 8 ounces.
As you know I have since changed the recipe which includes more vegan cream cheese instead of the sour cream #1 since so many people have a hard enough time finding vegan cream cheese & then I was asking them to also purchase sour cream too which made this a more difficult recipe for most
But #2 Vegan Cream Cheese & Vegan Sour Cream have an identical ingredients list (at least the Tofutti brand does) which is why I now use ALL Tofutti SOUR CREAM as a 1:1 replacement for the cream cheese since no store near me carries the cream cheese but they do sell the sour cream LOL **sigh
At any rate~ re: Cracking top~ I’m sorry that happened! Mine also did crack very slightly ~ If you skip forward to 3:16 in the video and then pause it- you can see that my top was slightly cracked as well.
OMG thanks Gretchen! I just added chocolate ganache to my cracked top Oreo cheesecake and let me tell you, it tastes amazing! Even without the ganache it was sooo delicious! It’s more of aesthetic if anything else! I wish I can upload the picture here, my husband couldn’t even tell it’s vegan. I had to take numerous pictures because I’m so in love with it! Thank you soooooo much! You’re a godsend!