These fudgy vegan cherry cheesecake swirl brownies are easy to make gluten-free and incredibly delicious! They combine amazing swirls of creamy, moist and rich cheesecake with a juicy fruit layer topping between a simple classic chocolate brownie batter, making these bars to your new favorite dessert, whether you’re vegan or not!
Unquestionably, I’m a girl that craves chocolate all the time and in all possible variations! So clearly working on chocolaty recipes is one of my favorite things to do and if they’re combined with an incredibly tasty and moist cheesecake layer it can’t get any better! You’ll love this recipe just like I do because it’s super simple and made fast with only a few simple ingredients.
Vegan Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
If you love brownies and cheesecake like I do, you’ve maybe already tried my Vegan Brownie Cheesecake. These vegan cherry cheesecake brownies are just as delicious and easy to make while being so good that you can’t even tell they are vegan! They are loaded with chocolate flavor and at the same time creamy, fudgy and gooey in texture so that you won’t get enough of them for sure! I topped mine with a very simple cherry compote, that can be made in no time! Sharing them with your family and friends, assuredly they’ll be loved by children and adults, vegans and non-vegans alike!
Easy Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie Bars
For this recipe, you’ll only need a few simple ingredients such as flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, dark chocolate and vanilla extract. If you’re a gluten-free eater, feel free to substitute a gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour blend. The brownie batter is made vegan, meaning it contains no eggs, but uses two flaxseed eggs as a binder as written in the recipe box below. And you’ll love that the completely vegan cheesecake layer is just as silky as an original cheesecake, or even better! The batters come together in no time and don’t require any kneading or fancy ingredients. So as you see, these brownie bars are the perfect easy dessert for every day and definitely a vegan showstopper for any occasion!
Which fruits can I use?
I topped my vegan cheesecake brownies with the juicy and fruity cherry filling that I used in my classic Cherry Pie recipe. What I love about it is that whether using canned cherries or frozen or even fresh pitted cherries, you’ll end up with a healthy and delicious topping any way! Overall, I think cherries go especially well with any chocolate or cheesecake recipes. However, you can use basically any fruit you prefer or even a combination of multiple fruits. Simply use your favorite fresh, frozen or canned fruits/ berries and prepare them just like the cherry compote. Some of my favorite alternatives are:
- Blueberries
- Mandarins (Tangerines)
- Nectarines
- Peaches
- Blackberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Apples
- or pears
Which baking pan can I use?
I recommend using an 11×7-inch or a 9×9-inch baking pan, to get perfectly sized brownies. But as you see in my Brownie Cheesecake recipe, the batter can be also turned into other pans, depending on the shape, thickness, and handiness you want to achieve. I’m sure you could even make cheesecake brownie muffins or cupcakes with them! But please consider that depending on the depth of your chosen pan, the baking time may vary.
How to make vegan cherry cheesecake brownies
Step 1: Preparing the baking pan
Start by preheating the oven to 347°F (175°C). Secondly, lightly grease your desired baking pan and line it with parchment paper, leaving extra hanging over the sides. I suggest cutting the parchment paper to fit into your pan like I did (see photo below). This step will help you to remove the finished brownies out of the pan easier.
Step 2: Prepare the flax-eggs and cherry pie filling
Next, prepare the flaxseed eggs by stirring 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds in 5 tablespoons of hot water. Set it aside for 5 to 10 minutes to thicken up. Optionally, you can substitute the flax-eggs with applesauce or mashed banana as mentioned in the recipe notes below. Lastly, prepare the cherry pie filling according to this recipe. Alternatively, substitute another kind of fruit to make the compote with.
Step 2: Mixing the cheesecake layer
To make the cheesecake batter, place the vegan cream cheese, silken tofu (or soya quark or coconut yogurt), sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Then mix everything with an electric hand mixer until smooth and creamy.
Step 3: Making the brownie batter
For the ultimate chocolate brownie batter, melt the vegan butter together with the chocolate and vanilla in a saucepan. After that, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar in a bowl. Add the previously prepared flaxseed eggs and the melted chocolate mixture and stir to create a smooth batter.
Step 4: Layering the cheesecake cherry brownies
For the last step, start with pouring 2/3 of the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan. The bottom should be covered completely. Next, spread the cheesecake batter on top, followed by the freshly made cherry compote. Lastly, dollop the remaining 1/3 of the brownie batter with a tablespoon over the other layers. Carefully, shake the pan so the batter spreads evenly, then use a wooden skewer to create as many swirls and marble designs as you like – Get creative! Finish the brownies by sprinkling vegan chocolate chips over the top, if you like. Then, bake the brownies for about 50 to 60 minutes or until they look perfect!
A little note on the baking time:
Please take note, the longer you bake the vegan cherry cheesecake brownies, the drier and more crumblier they become. So, if you want moist, fudgy and gooey brownies, please do NOT leave them in the oven for too long. However, if you prefer a rather cake-like consistency feel free to increase the baking time.
Once done baking, allow the chocolate brownie cake to cool completely and refrigerate overnight. Then, you can carefully lift the whole brownie out of the pan using the overhanging parchment paper.
Tipp: Before serving the brownie bars, it is best to reheat your individual bar in the microwave for a few seconds. This makes them softer, juicier, more fudgy, ultra chocolatey and just incredibly tasty! Enjoy, guys!
These Vegan Cherry Cheesecake Brownies are:
- Egg-less
- Dairy-free
- Juicy & Moist
- Creamy
- Soft
- Fudgy & Gooey
- Rich in Chocolate flavor
- The perfect dessert
- Easy to make
- Great for any occasion
- Can be made gluten-free
- So delicious!
If you love cheesecake, chocolate cake and brownies, make sure to check out the following vegan recipes:
- Best Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread
- Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Snickers Cake
- Best Vegan Brownies
- Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
- Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Brownie Swirl Cheesecake
- Vegan New York Cheesecake
- Best Vegan Cheesecake with Strawberries
- Russian Chocolate Cake Cheesecake
If you try these vegan cherry cheesecake swirl brownies, please leave me a comment and rating how you liked this recipe! Your feedback is always very helpful for me and other readers. And if you take a photo of your delicious chocolate brownie bars, please make sure to tag me on Instagram @biancazapatka and #biancazapatka because I love seeing your remakes! Happy baking!
Vegan Cherry Cheesecake Brownies
Author:You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!
Ingredients
Vegan Brownies:
- 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour or sub gluten-free flour (*see notes)
- a pinch of salt
- ½ tsp (½ tsp) baking powder
- ¼ tsp (¼ tsp) baking soda
- 4,2 oz (120 g) dark chocolate chopped
- ½ cup (120 g) vegan butter or margarine or coconut oil
- ¾ cup (150 g) brown sugar or other sugar
- ½ tsp (½ tsp) vanilla extract optional
- 2 (2 ) flaxseed eggs or ½ cup unsweetened applesauce or 1 banana (*see notes)
- approx. ¼ cup (60 ml) non-dairy milk warm
Vegan Cheesecake:
- 1 cup (250 g) non-dairy cream cheese *see notes for options
- 1 cup (250 g) silken tofu or soya quark or thick coconut yogurt
- ¼ cup (60 g) sugar
- 2 tbsp (2 tbsp) cornstarch
- ½ tsp (½ tsp) vanilla extract
Topping:
- 1 recipe (1 recipe) cherry pie filling or sub 1 14-oz can store-bought cherry pie filling
- ⅓ cup (85 g) vegan chocolate chips optional
Instructions
For exatct measurements, click on the word "metric" right above the ingredient list!
* See step-by-step photos & the recipe video in the post above!
- Preheat the oven to 347°F (175 °C). Lightly grease an 11x7-inch or 9x9-inch square pan (or similar size) and line it with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides (this helps to remove the brownies easily later).
- Prepare the flaxseed eggs by mixing 2 tbsp of ground flaxseed with 5 tbsp of hot water. Then set aside for 5-10 minutes until it gels.
- Prepare the cherry pie filling according to this recipe (or sub store-bought).
Cheesecake:
- Blend all ingredients for the cheesecake layer until smooth and creamy.
Brownies:
- Melt the vegan butter with the chopped chocolate and vanilla extract in a saucepan until smooth.
- Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar in a bowl. Add the flaxseed eggs, non-dairy milk and the melted chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
Layer the cheesecake brownies:
- Add 2/3 of the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth it out evenly. Then spread the cheesecake filling over the brownie batter, followed by the cherry compote. Use a tablespoon to dollop the remaining 1/3 brownie batter over the top. Carefully, shake the pan so the batter spreads evenly, then use a wooden skewer to create swirls as shown in the step-by-step photos above.
- Top with chocolate chips as desired and bake the brownies for about 50-60 minutes or until your desired consistency. (The longer you bake the brownies, the drier they become. If you want moist brownies, please do not overbake.)
- Once done baking, allow to cool completely and refridgerate overnight to set. Then, carefully lift out the brownie using the parchment overhang and cut into bars.
- Enjoy at room temperature or reheat in the microwave for a few seconds for the ultimate chocolate fudginess!
Notes
- Gluten-free: This recipe works equally well with gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour.
- Flax-eggs: Instead of flaxseed eggs, you can use 1/2 cup of applesauce or 1 mashed ripe banana. I then recommend adding a little less sugar to the brownie batter as the fruit contains natural sweetness. If you are not vegan, you could also use regular eggs.
- Vegan Cream Cheese: You can substitute the 1 cup of cream cheese with 2/3 cup of silken tofu + 1/3 cup of vegan buttery spread or nut butter (e.g. cashew, almond or peanut butter).
- Cherries: Feel free to use other fruits or simply omit the fruit layer. See recommendations in the blog post above.
- Storage: You can store the brownies covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze them in portions for longer.
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Amazing recipe. I love it and everyone who’s taste it love it too 🥰🥰. I’m so happy for your veggie blog. Your food and food photography is a big inspiration for me.
I had to try the brownies when it was hot because o can’t wait for cooled down 🤣🤣(it’s perfect, when the chocolate flows) but it is easier eat when it’s cool.❤️ The best cake ever for me 😊😊
Thank you so much for your feedback! 🙂
I’m very happy that you love my food and these brownies!
Greetings,
Bianca ♡
I love this recipe!!
Ich habe schon öfters versucht, einen veganen Cheesecake zu machen, aber dieses Rezept toppt alle anderen, die ich bisher ausprobiert habe. In Kombination mit den Kirschen und dem super schokoladigen Brownie-Teig wirklich ein Traum! Ich habe einen Teil des Öls (habe Kokosöl benutzt) durch Apfelmark ersetzt, um sie etwas kalorienärmer zu machen, das hat auch wunderbar funktioniert.
Diese Teile werden bald wieder gebacken, große Empfehlung!!
Das freut mich so sehr! 🙂
Vielen Dank für das tolle Feedback!
Liebe Grüße, Bianca <3
Amazing!!! I made this over the weekend and all my housemates really loved it! Such a pick me up for someone who loves both cheesecake and brownies!! 🥰
I did make it with real eggs, as I’m not quite confident on the flaxseed eggs yet… 🙈 but one of the comments above did the banana option instead and said that was also great, so I’ll probably try that next time!! (Just really needed a win this weekend, so stuck as close to the OG recipe as I could this time! 😅)
So glad you love these brownies!
Hope you’ll love the banana version, too! 😃
Thank you so much for your feedback! ❤️
Bianca, what a delicious recipe you created! Made it today and it was so good! Thank you!
So glad it turned out great!
Thank you so much for your feedback! ❤️
Hi Bianca,
Which silken Tofu would you recommend I use: firm or soft?
Thanks in advance, Lisa
We have only one type of silken tofu available here in Germany. The consistency reminds of very thick yogurt, but not as firm as cream cheese.
I tried this recipe and it’s absolutely delicious!
I used banana instead of flaxseed eggs, which worked fantastic! I also made the cherry pie filling using fresh cherries, but I used sour cherry juice instead of cherry juice, since we enjoy the bitter sweet effect it has!! It is very easy to make, simple ingredients and looks amazing!!! Highly recommend it 🍒🌺
Thank you so much for your great feedback!
So glad your cheesecake turned out amazing! 🙂
Have fun trying more recipes!
Lots of love,
Bianca <3
I’ve done this recipe twice now. Once with cranberries and the second one with cherries. Both variations are extremely yummy 🙂
I always use Tofu for the cream cheese and everyone who is having a piece of the cake is always surprised that it is Tofu. 😀
I’ll do them again very soon 🙂 😀
So glad love this recipe so much!
Thank you so much for your feedback!
Much love,
Bianca 😊
This recipe is incredible! I also made the cherry composte following the recipe on this blog, and I really loved making this! Super easy to make, very tasty, sweet enough and very light which was surprising! I love the chocolate and cherry combination, definitely reccomend these brownies! The hardest part was waiting for them to chill overnight haha, I had to try a corner before going in the fridge but worth the wait!!
So glad you love this recipe! 😊
Thank you so much for your amazing feedback!
Best,
Bianca ❤️
I tried out the recipe today and the brownies are soooo delicious! They were very easy to bake and although they contain only ‘easy’ ingredients, they look really special and extravagant. It’s a nice alternative to classic brownies, especially in summer!
So glad you love these brownies! 😊
Thank you so much for your amazing feedback!
Best,
Bianca ❤️
My new favourite brownie recipe!!
Thank you so much! ❤️
What does 4,2 oz chocolate chopped mean? 8 oz of chocolate? That seems like a lot.
4,2 oz is a bit more than 4 oz but less than 5 oz 😃
Great recipe I used passionfruit as cherries out of season. I look forward to cooking this regularly with different season fruit .., thanks for the wonderful recipe I love cheesecake and have missed it after transitioning to a vegan diet
Thank you! 😊
This was so yummi 😍 The whole house smelled like chocolate 🍫🍒 so we couldn’t wait for the mass to cool and half the tin was empty before the cake set. 😅
Even made it for some non-vegans and they couldn’t believe tofu could taste like this.
Thank you so much for the recipe! 🙏🏼😍
So glad you love this recipe! Thank you so much! ❤️
I doubled the recipe, cause I used round 33 cm-ish cake form. I made my own cream cheese from plain tofu, lemon juice, vanilla sugar. Also I added mix of berries instead of cherries. Still cooling down and waiting until next day to try, but I might try it sooner, cause it’s impossible to wait 😂😍
Yes, it’s always hard to wait until you can enjoy them! 😃 I know what you mean!
Hope you’ll love them! ❤️
We tried this recipe for my birthday 🎂 and it was delicious 😍. Instead of cherries we used fresh blueberries. For the compote we used apple juice and cooked the blueberries in it with the starch… the color will turn the whole compote purple which is really cool. We also used vanilla soy yoghurt as a part of the cream cheese and a bit more starch and it worked fine and gives a smooth taste to it. A little bit of lemon 🍋 in the cheesecake layer also adds a fresh twist.
Your versions sounds amazing! So glad you love this recipe! Thank you for your feedback! 😊
Happy belated birthday! ❤️
Sehr lecker😍 hab den Käsekuchen Teil mit dem Vanille Skyr von Alpro gemacht, kann ich nur empfehlen🙏🏻 Kombi Kirsche, Käsekuchen und Schoko passt so gut zusammen 😋 10/10
Es freut mich sehr, dass du so begeistert bist von diesem Rezept! Vielen Dank für das tolle Feedback! 😊
I tried this recipe and everyone loved it!
Easy to do!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Made your recipe two times, delicious!
Only trouble I have is finding the right ingredients for the cheesefilling. Now I use soy-yogurt that I put in a kitchen towel first to drain the moist. But the mixture becomes a little bit to solid.. If it’s to moist the chocolate-top is to heavy.
Happy that it still tasted great and it looks nice. Maby I used to much cornstarch? How many grams is a tbsp? I’ll try it again 😁
Hi Liza, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch are 14 grams. Maybe you drained too much of the liquid? You could also try it with coconut cream if you prefer! 🙂
Thanks for your help! I will let you know, I’m going to look for silken tofu and try again, also with less cornstarch 😂 😁😘 💪
ok! 😀
Habe die Brownies getestet und sie sind super lecker geworden! Man würde niemals denken, dass sie vegan sind! Am besten schmecken sie, wenn sie gut durchgekühlt sind! Tausend Dank für das Rezept!
Das freut mich sehr, liebe Rieke! Dankeschön 🙂
One of the best cakes that I’ve ever had/made 🙂
Really amazing. Thank You Bianca for this recipe 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂
Very tasty! And Bianca is so sweet! I wrote her for help and she gave me some advice that I will share ^^ (might help!)
-Better to let them in the oven for 55 minutes for a perfect consistency
-Let it cool completely
-Let it chill overnight in the fridge
And you’re done, first try and it was delicious ^^
Hi Melanie, thank you so much for your helpful feedback! So glad you enjoyed these cherry brownies! 🙂
I tried these today, already in the oven! I’m already drooling on how good they look!
So glad you love them! 🙂
Okay, these look incredible. Totally drooling right now!!
Hope you’ll enjoy them! 🙂