This Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake is an easy no-bake dessert, with hints of Fall flavor. It’s naturally-sweetened and dairy-free, and you don’t need any special equipment to make it!
What is Vegan Cheesecake made from?
Classic Vegan Cheesecake is made from either cashews or tofu, but this recipe uses cashew butter as the base, so you don’t have to break out the food processor.
Tip: I recommend using raw cashew butter in this recipe, so that your cheesecake doesn’t taste like roasted cashews. You can make homemade cashew butter in just about 10 minutes if you can’t find raw cashew butter at your local grocery store.
No-Bake Almond Flour Crust
In keeping with the no-equipment theme, this crust is made with almond flour, so you can stir it together in just minutes!
I add molasses and ground ginger to give this crust a “gingerbread” flavor, but you can omit those if you’d rather have a more plain, straight-forward crust. Either way, it’s delicious.
I use a 7-inch spring-form pan for this recipe, which keeps the filling and crust thick. If you only have a larger pan, keep in mind that the overall cheesecake will be more flat in appearance.
Tip: To guarantee your dessert will easily come out of the pan, line the pan with a square of parchment paper. Spray the pan lightly with oil first, then press the parchment into the pan. The oil will keep it in place, so it doesn’t move around later.
Why You’ll Love It
This Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake is:
- Naturally sweetened
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
- Ultra-creamy
- and super easy to make!
This recipe is a great way to use up any pumpkin puree that you might have leftover from another recipe. If you need to use up even more pumpkin, try my pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin smoothie, or pumpkin spice latte recipes.
Be sure to serve this vegan pumpkin cheesecake chilled, because it will become soft quickly at room temperature. You’ll need to freeze it initially, until firm, and then you can transfer it to the fridge later if you’d like a softer texture.
Serve with coconut whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon for an extra-pretty presentation.
Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake (No-Bake!)
Ingredients
Gingerbread Crust
- 1.5 cups blanched almond flour (172 grams)
- 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil (31 grams)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (28 grams)
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses (16 grams; optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (2 grams)
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
- 1 cup raw cashew butter (273 grams)
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (136 grams)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup (168 grams)
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil (54 grams)
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (4 grams)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (5 grams)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (2 grams)
Instructions
- Lightly spray a 7-inch springform pan with oil, then press a square of parchment paper into the bottom. To make the crust, stir together the almond flour, coconut oil, maple syrup, molasses, ginger, and salt. Press it firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- In the same bowl to prepare the cheesecake filling. Stir together the cashew butter, pumpkin, maple syrup, coconut oil, pumpkin spice, lemon juice, and salt. Mix until totally smooth, then pour it into the pan, over the crust.
- Smooth the top with a spatula, then place the cheesecake on a flat surface in the freezer to chill until firm, about 2 to 3 hours.
- When the cheesecake feels totally firm to the touch, remove it from the pan and slice. Serve chilled for the best texture; it will melt if you leave it at room temperature for too long, but after it's firm you can store it in the fridge if you'd prefer a softer texture. Leftovers can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months when tightly covered.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecake, please leave a comment below and let me know how you like it! And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too. We can all benefit from your experience!
–
Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite Fall dessert? Baked Apples, French Silk Pie, and Sweet Potato Pie are my family’s favorites!
I think I’m in love with Yasha.
And for what it’s worth I LIKE those creases in the cheesecake! Looks like it melted into that form 🙂
Anything that I healthify? Or make lower in calories? Um, yeah. EVERYTHING. GO back if you dare and check my ancient blog posts. I actually can NOT make a recipe without tweaking it unless it’s for someone else or a party. Sad but true, I never let myself have the ‘real deal’. I have issues, what can I say 😀
Stay cool…gonna be another scorcher!!
Omg that looks soooo good! Cheesecake is my favorite, but I have never tried it raw! I must make this recipe! Although I have a feeling I will use pumpkin, because well, I am crazy obsessed with it lol Please no more heat today!! I hear it is supposed to get cooler?
How crazy that it still tastes like pumpkin. It looks so decadent too. Yum!
I’ve heard of people making “pumpkin pie” with carrots (instead of pumpkin) but I’d much rather try your spin on it! I really enjoy reading about how you change recipes and why (the food combining part especially).
yummy! please “bake” for me.
Hi There, I am putting together an LA HLB bloggies meet-up for a 1:00 p.m. lunch on Saturday, October 23.
If you are interested in joining us please email me at yellowbrickbeauty@gmail.com and let me know.
Thanks!
I’m so excited to try this cheesecake recipe! It looks delicious! 🙂 This past weekend, I veganized my mother’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe….aaaawesome! Tasted just like the original! No one knew the difference (bwahaha).
On another note, I recently started doing P90x as well, and I just had a question for you. It looks as though a lot of people do additional cardio on top of the P90x schedule. Are you doing additional cardio? I barely have enough time in the day to fit in the P90x workouts without burning myself out, but I’m thinking that it might be worth setting a little more time aside for cardio.
Megan that looks so good! And I like that it doesn’t seem as complicated as I thought it would be! My favorite dessert is banana cream pie and I’d love to see a healthy/raw version of that!
I made some of your raw cheesecake for my girls’ night on Friday (since I have a vegan and a vegetarian friend who almost never get to have desserts) and everyone LOVED it. Though it’s spring here and getting warmer, I adore pumpkin pie, so will definitely be trying this recipe. Plus carrots are far cheaper than zucchini here, so that’s a bonus, too. 🙂
As for healthy/raw alternatives to traditional foods… Apple pie/apple crumble and lemon tarts are two of the things I miss most and I think they should be relatively easy to convert into raw/gluten-free/healthier versions (by someone who knows far more about raw foods than I do, of course!)
Hey I just found your blog and omgee that cheesecake looks AMAZING!! I can’t wait to make this!
Oh and I LOVE your cheerleader! SO SWEET 🙂 xx
That looks absolutely delicious. I would have never thought to use the carrot pure but I cannot wait to make this. Your dog is adorable as well. 🙂
Holy cow this looks good! Just found your site thru OSG and looking forward to trying out your recipes! 🙂
I’m obsessed! What books to you recommend for a raw – detox diet, and why cashews?
I use cashews because they are very soft (making a smooth cheesecake-texture when you blend them) and have a very neutral-flavor. I tried using almonds before, and it just wasn’t the same! If you are avoiding cashews, you might try brazil or macadamia nuts instead? (and then let me know how it works!!) 😉
I highly recommend reading The Raw Food Detox Diet, by Natalia Rose. It’s a life-changing book!!
Wow!!! This is the best “cheesecake” ever. Plus I found it right on time too, my family brought home real cheesecake and I really felt deprived by not having any. Luckily there was some raw pumpkin cheesecake in my freezer! Thanks for the delicious recipe(:
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Hi Megan! I was wondering if I could substitute the cashew butter with any other nut butter for example hazelnut butter? Thanks!
Cashews do help with the cheesecake flavor, but I’ve heard that macadamia nuts may work okay, too. Hazelnuts would probably make for a hazelnut-flavored cheesecake, so maybe you could add some chocolate to make it a nutella-style cheesecake. 😉
That’s sounds like a really cool idea Megan!! I can’t wait to try it! I’ll tell you how it goes once I made it! Thank you soo much! <3
This looks really good!
I wanted to try it out real soon, so I wondered if I could use peanut butter instead of the cashew butter? I love the taste of peanut butter, but I was wondering if you think it wouldn’t be a good replacer in this recipe? Thanks!
I doubt it will taste much like cheesecake with the peanut butter, but a creamy peanut butter pie would probably be tasty! (I’d omit the lemon juice, too)
I guess I’ll have to get some cashews then! 🙂
Thanks for your help.
Amazing, tanks so much. I had to try this right away and didn’t have all he ingredients so I used butternut squash for the carrots and used a mix of cashew butter almond butter and coconut oil about 1/3 of each I also doubled the recipe but did not double the honey and it was very sweet for me. Can’t thank you enough 🙂
What is in the pumpkin pie spice mix? We dont have it here where i am in Australia?
Move over chocolate cake! This recipe was divine. Definitely my new favorite on your website. The only thing I would have changed is using Saran Wrap instead of greasing the springform pan. I will be making this again.
Hi Megan, This is such a treat! I am a huge cheesecake person; I could always find space after meal to have a slice. I never tried raw deserts as it always appeared to me that they must be much less ‘real’ and yummy than the ones we have been accustomed to have since childhood. But this looks too good to skip. I am so going to give this a try! Please tell me where can I get the cashew butter? I think I will leave making my own to the next time. I don’t want to experiment too much at first not to get discouraged by the difficulties that may arise. I loved the side notes of yours, you convinced me straight away in favor of carrots and cashews combo. I am thinking that maybe if not a crust I might try to prepare some sauce to go with it. Have you any recommendations? Would chocolate sauce be too boring?
Just did it!!! I can’t find pumpkin spice in Germany (oh well, you can import online for sure but…), so Garam Masala did the trick. AWSOME. Thank you so much for this recipe, I am a total cheesecake fanatic.
Would you recommend soaking the cashews before blending?
yummm, this is so easy and delicious!
If i wanted to start with raw cashews instead of butter, how much would you suggest using?
I would use 2 cups of cashews to make 1 cup of cashew butter. Grind the cashews until really smooth before mixing in everything else!
Very delicious vegan pumpkin cheesecake!! That’s a comment from my husband who is a former cheesecake lover who is now lactose intolerant.
I am officially calling this my favorite pumpkin dessert! I substituted raw honey instead of the maple syrup and it was PERFECT. Even my very picky father who loves super sweet things said he really liked it!
Made this Thanksgiving morning and included the molasses and ginger. What a crowd pleaser!! So tasty and easy to make – will be trying your other cheesecake recipes soon.
Hi Megan! I would LOVE to try this as I am allergic to dairy and obsessed with cheesecake (A travesty, I know) but I am allergic to almonds, so almond flour is out. What do you recommend in place of that for the crust? Thank you <3
Awesome recipe! I even made my own cashew butter. I used banana squash instead of pumpkin because I had some from the farmers market that I processed and froze and it turned out delicious!! I like a recipe that is so good that you can plug in ingredients on hand.
Can I replace the coconut oil with more cashews? Or leave it out all together? This recipe looks delicious!
Is it possible to use this crust for your baked pumpkin pie recipe? Id rather have a crust like this that has the gingerbread cookie appeal but on your baked pumpkin pie recipe. Is it possible to bake?