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This no-bake Layered Blueberry Vegan Cheesecake is simple to make, Paleo and gluten-free, and a total stunner! Made with soaked cashews and full-fat canned coconut milk, the cheesecake layers are lusciously smooth and creamy with a tart, fruity topping. The date-based cheesecake crust is also gluten-free.
Looking at the pictures of this no-bake layered blueberry cheesecake makes me seriously giddy inside! Isn’t she a beauty?!
I’m pretty sure no-bake, raw vegan cheesecake recipes are my new favorite thing. While I’ve always loved a good no-bake dessert recipe, the love affair with cheesecakes *specifically* began when I realized how beautiful and photogenic they can be after photographing this raspberry cheesecake for my friend Monica, and then this citrus-topped lemon cheesecake stunner. I think this blueberry version is my latest favorite, though. Not only is it so pretty with those layers, but it tastes ridiculously good.
I also have some fabulous no-bake vegan cheesecakes in my best-selling cookbook, Bakerita! Mocha chip cheesecake or salted caramel cheesecake, anyone?! Both recipes are in the book :D
How do you make a vegan cheesecake?
If you’ve had a vegan, cashew-based cheesecake – you know how good they are. If not, let me initiate you!
Like my other raw cheesecakes, this one is made with CASHEWS as the base! If you’re skeptical about cashews’ ability to replace luxuriously creamy cream cheese, you wouldn’t be the first. I was skeptical for a while…until I tried it. The raw cashews are soaked in water, which helps them blend into a luxuriously creamy cheesecake base that is so delicious!
For the crust
We use a simple pecan & date-based crust for this recipe. It’s lightly sweetened with the dates and flavored with cinnamon, which pairs so well with the blueberry flavors in the filling. The crust is lightly sweet, chewy, and crunchy!
If you don’t have or don’t like pecans, any other nut or seed will work here too.
How to make vegan blueberry cheesecake filling:
To start, soak the cashews for 8 hours. They’ll become incredibly soft and creamy, and the soaking will help them blend easily into the most luxurious, creamy filling you can imagine.
- Raw Cashews: These are the stars, and they’re what give us an ultra-luxurious creamy cheesecake filling.
- Full-fat Canned Coconut Milk: for extra creaminess and to help our cashews blend smoothly.
- Coconut Oil: I like using refined coconut oil for no coconut flavor. Don’t substitute this with another oil—the solidifying properties of coconut oil help the cheesecake hold its shape.
- Maple Syrup: our sweetener of choice! Any liquid sweetener you love will work.
- Lemon Juice: adds a cheesecake-y tang.
- Vanilla Extract
- Freeze-Dried Blueberries: for that vibrant blue color and flavor!
All together, these make a pretty damn close replica of the cheesecake you know and love.
This one removes all those refined sugars and dairy, though, and makes a “cheesecake” that will actually fill you up and give you some nutrients. Such a win! This vegan and paleo cheesecake will certainly satisfy that cheesecake craving.
What gives the blueberry flavor?
Half of the filling has freeze-dried blueberries blended right into it! That’s what gives the top layer that gorgeous blue color and a mellow blueberry flavor.
Freeze-dried blueberries are different from dried or frozen blueberries. They’ve had the moisture removed from them, so they add flavor and color but no extra moisture. It’s important you use freeze-dried blueberries; otherwise, the flavor won’t be as strong, and the texture will be off.
How to assemble blueberry vegan cheesecake
The freeze-dried blueberry cheesecake layer is spread over the first creamy vanilla layer. Then, it all goes into the freezer to harden up while you make the final layer.
We add a final burst of blueberry layer with a quick blueberry jam-like topping. It helps brighten up the richness of the cashew-based layers. There’s no sweetener! To make it, blend blueberries with a touch of lemon juice and chia seeds to help thicken it up.
This no-bake layered blueberry cheesecake is definitely going to be a new favorite around here. The rich and creamy cheesecake layers are hard to resist —especially once you add the tangy, jammy blueberry topping!
How to store no-bake vegan blueberry cheesecake:
You can store this vegan cheesecake in the refrigerator or freezer. It will keep in the refrigerator for one week or in the freezer for at least six months!
Store it in an airtight container to ensure it lasts and doesn’t absorb other odors from the refrigerator or freezer.
To serve from frozen, let it thaw at room temperature for about an hour or overnight in the refrigerator. This will help it soften to a delicious, creamy consistency you’ll love.
Want more vegan paleo cheesecake recipes?!
- No-Bake Vanilla Bean Cheesecake
- Vegan No-Bake Mint Chip Cheesecake
- No-Bake Chai Cheesecake Bars
- Strawberry Shortcake Bars
Layered Blueberry Vegan Cheesecake (Paleo)
Ingredients
For the crust
- ½ cup (65g) raw pecans
- ½ cup (48g) almond flour
- 2 pitted dates
- 2 tablespoons (25g) coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the cheesecake
- 2 cups (240g) raw cashews, soaked in cold water for at least four hours or preferably overnight (see Notes)
- ½ cup (114g) canned coconut milk, shaken
- ¼ cup (50g) coconut oil, melted and cooled (use refined coconut oil if you want no coconut flavor)
- ⅓ cup (111g) pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, or ½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder
- ¼ cup (10g) freeze-dried blueberries
For the blueberry layer
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed, if frozen
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
Instructions
- Grease a 6” springform pan with coconut oil, or line an 6-inch cake pan with strips of parchment paper for easy removal, and grease well with coconut oil. Set aside.
- Add the pecans, almond flour, pitted dates, coconut oil, cinnamon and salt to a food processor or high-powered blender and pulverize until it comes together into a sort of sticky dough, with small pecan bits remaining. Don’t over process, or it’ll turn into nut butter! Press the pecan date dough evenly along the bottom of the prepared pan.½ cup (65g) raw pecans, ½ cup (48g) almond flour, 2 pitted dates, 2 tablespoons (25g) coconut oil, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- In the same food processor or high-powered blender (no need to wash between – I used my Vitamix, but most powerful blenders should do the job), combine all of the filling ingredients except for the freeze dried blueberries and blend for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture is silky smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides as necessary. You may need to add a bit more coconut milk or lemon juice to get it to blend smoothly if your blender isn’t super high-powered.2 cups (240g) raw cashews, ½ cup (114g) canned coconut milk, ¼ cup (50g) coconut oil, ⅓ cup (111g) pure maple syrup, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Once it’s smooth, taste the mixture and adjust the sweetness/tartness levels by adding more maple syrup, vanilla, or lemon juice, if desired.
- Pour 2/3 of the filling into the prepared pan over the pecan crust. Smooth out the top and tap the pan hard against the counter a few times to release any air bubbles. Place in the freezer. If you want super clean layers, let it freeze for about an hour or until firm before adding the blue layer on top.
- Add the freeze-dried blueberries to the remaining batter and blend to incorporate. Spread over the plain layer. Return to the freezer.¼ cup (10g) freeze-dried blueberries
- Rinse out the blender, and add the fresh blueberries, lemon juice and chia seeds to it. Blend until smooth, and then pour over the other layers.1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- Place in the freezer to set for at least 3 hours or until completely firm before slicing and serving. I recommend running your knife under hot water to warm it up before cutting the cheesecake with the still-hot (dried) knife.
- You can let thaw for about 20 minutes from frozen at room temperature, or for the best texture, transfer to the refrigerator at least an hour before serving. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Tips & FAQs
- You can also cover the cashews in very hot/boiling water and let them sit for about an hour if you want to speed up the process – it won’t be quite as creamy and may need to blend for longer, but it will do the trick!
- If you want to use an 8″ springform pan, you’ll want to double the recipe.
Thanks for the speedy response. One more thing I forgot to ask. soaking the cashews… is that done using water? Hot/cold? Sorry for all the questions, but I just want to make sure I do it right.
I totally understand, Julie! Thanks for asking – I just updated the recipe to be more helpful. I soak in cold water overnight, but you can also use hot and soak for less time. That won’t be quite as creamy as the longer soak, but it will still work. Hope this helps!!
I made this today (albeit with a couple of changes) and I’m blown away with how tasty it was. Bravo! Ms. Bakerita, you deserve one hell of a pat on the back for this recipe. The texture was so reminiscent of a cheesecake, and I will admit that I was skeptical of the cashews up until i took my first bite. I decided to add a couple tsp of gelatin to the cheesecake batter (I’m sorry for perverting your vegan recipe) to make it more stable. It worked like a charm and it was delicious! thank you so much. I can’t wait to make it again, but next time I’ll top it with lime curd (the flavor would go wonderfully with the coconut).
Hi Julie, I’m SO glad you enjoyed it!! Adding gelatin is definitely a good way to help it keep it’s shape at lower textures if you’re not vegan :) adding lime curd on top sounds like it would be fantastic – wonderful idea. Thanks so much for your feedback Julie!
The colors in this cheesecake are just so amazing I’m sure it tastes as good as it looks!
Thank you so much Pamela!!
For some reason, I feel like cashew cheesecakes are way more creamy and tastier than regular cheesecake! Love this triple-layered beauty! I can’t wait until blueberry season hits so I can make this gem! My mom would love this for mother’s day :)
That is such a perfect-looking slice, Rachel! I’m SWOONING over all those gorgeous layers! The most perfect spring cheesecake EVER!
How did I miss this?!?! It’s so pretty. I need to make myself some raw cheesecakes….only I’m afraid I won’t have the self control to stop at just one slice.
These are so pretty!!! Love the colors!!
Thanks so much, Zainab!
Wow…what a creative and beautiful dessert, Rachel! It sounds amazing, and it would be such a showstopper for a holiday!
Thank you so very much, Blair!
Hi, is there another dairy free milk that would work without cake tasting like coconut? Also, what kind of pan did u use?
Hi Shayla – you could probably use any kind of non-dairy milk, but I’ve only tried it with canned coconut milk which is thicker than most others so I’m not 100% sure on how it would turn out. It doesn’t have a strong coconut flavor at all though. I used a 6″ pan, I’ve linked to it below the recipe.
Thank you, I’m going to try this once I purchase some cashews.
If you want to boil t he cashews, do you let them boil for the full hour or just put them in boiling water and let sit on counter
You don’t boil the cashews (that would make them mushy), just place the cashews in a bowl and pour the water over them, then let them sit in the hot water for an hour. Hope this helps!
Thank you for this amazing recipe!! I made this today, very first time ever making something vegan but wow was it a success! Yes I will admit that I was a bit skeptical when it came to the cashews, I wasn’t sure what I was walking into, and I was caught off guard a bit as I had to double the ingredients last minute as I realized my springform pan was twice the size of your 6″ cake, therefore I soaked 2 cups overnight and it turned out very creamy (wow) , now since I had to double all of the ingredients as I have a 12″ springform pan I did end up using a the hot/boiling water over one hour method for a second batch of cashews, you are right it does the job but it’s definitely not as good as soaking them over night, I found it was much more nuttier than the overnight version and I added a little more sweetener (maple syrup) to mask the nutty flavour. I will also admit it is very hard to find freeze dried blueberries in Ontario, Canada so I used 2 cups of frozen blueberries (slightly thawed), and it still gave the cake a beautiful purple Color, not to mention that nice kick of blueberry, I also didn’t have chia seeds so I simply puree’d 2 cups of blueberries with 2 tablespoons of honey, this gave the cake a perfect sweet and tart flavour. My family is not much for change, and definitely were skeptical about having a vegan dessert but with there being 9 people at my Easter dinner and every single person having seconds I think it was a success (haha) everyone very much enjoyed the cashews creaminess and it turns out that the second layer of cashew that was nutty was a blessing as they enjoyed the kick of nuttiness that they tasted (though I would still prefer to soak overnight and I recommend to anyone else who makes the recipe-it just makes for a much creamier dessert which is heavenly) . I was pleasantly surprised by how perfect this dessert was and how well it turned out because of my lack of proper ingredients, you have designed a perfect cake and thank you! This was the life of my Easter dinner!
Hi Jessica, I’m SO thrilled to hear that you loved it! Sounds like you did a great job adapting it, and I’m so happy that it was a hit during Easter! I appreciate all of your feedback and kind words. Good to know it works with frozen blueberries, too. Thanks so much!