This is the Best Vegan Baked Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe with tips for the perfect cheesecake & a step-by-step guide! It’s super creamy, ultra-rich, so fudgy, and topped with a simple Chocolate Ganache! The Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake is dairy-free, egg-free, easy to make, and the perfect dessert for all chocolate lovers!
Best Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe
I’m SO excited about today’s recipe. Because this is really the best Vegan Baked Chocolate Cheesecake I have ever made! It’s ultra-creamy, rich in chocolate flavor and so delicious! Honestly, I can’t find enough words to describe its incredible taste! The texture is just amazingly smooth and it melts in your mouth with every single bite. And when you try it, you will know what I mean for sure.
Freezer Friendly Cheesecake Recipe
If you’ve followed me for a while, you may have noticed that I am one of the biggest cheesecake lovers ever! That’s why I share vegan cheesecake recipes so often and can never get enough of them. The great thing about cheesecakes is that you can easily freeze leftovers! So I don’t mind when I bake too much, haha!
Baked Chocolate Cheesecake with Oreo crust
Since my No-Bake Blackberry Mousse Tart was so delicious with the simple no-bake Oreo crust, I decided to make the same Oreo crust for this chocolate cheesecake. It only requires two ingredients – Oreo cookies and melted vegan butter. However, you could also use other cookies with cream filling or chocolate graham crackers. Alternatively, you can choose to make another crust if you want.
How to make the perfect chocolate cheesecake
Start to grease your springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. That way the crust won’t stick to the pan so you will be able to remove the cake easily.
How to make Oreo crust for chocolate cheesecake
Add the Oreo cookies with filling into a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, you could also put them into a freezer bag, push out the air, seal it, and crush them using a rolling pin. Then combine the crumbs with melted butter and stir until evenly moistened. Transfer to the prepared springform pan and press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and halfway up the sides. Place it in the freezer or fridge to firm it up while you make the filling.
Vegan Baked Chocolate Cheesecake Filling
The filling is also very easy to make. But before you start, make sure the ingredients are room temperature or the batter won’t come together smoothly and you’ll end up with lumps. So I recommend removing the cream cheese 30 minutes before you start.
Start with slowly melting the chocolate over a water bath. In the meantime, beat the cream cheese with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until smooth, and creamy. Then mix in sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and vanilla until combined, followed by the non-dairy cream and melted chocolate. Please also be sure to not overmix the filling to avoid creating any air bubbles. Mix every step just until combined.
Water bath Cheesecake
If you have never heard of baking a cheesecake in a water bath, I can assure you that it is not as scary as it sounds! I know anything that is unfamiliar sounds a bit weird at first, but the water bath method is very easy and necessary if you want a gently baked cheesecake. Actually, the water bath insulates the sides of your pan which often bake too fast and lower the temperature. So your cheesecake won’t curdle, or crack or get dry on the sides. rather, it will develop a silky smooth melt in your mouth texture. And that’s what we want, right?
How to bake a cheesecake in a water bath
Wrap the outside of your pan from every angle in a double layer of aluminum foil to prevent the water from getting into the cheesecake. Then place the wrapped pan in another baking pan that is a bit larger than the wrapped pan. Pour about 1.5-inch of hot water into the baking pan, place it in your preheated oven, and bake according to the recipe.
How to cool Chocolate Cheesecake
It is important not to open the oven too early because cheesecakes don’t do well with abrupt temperature changes. So I recommend leaving the oven closed during the baking. After the baking time, turn off the oven and let it sit in there for another 30 minutes or one hour with the oven door cracked a bit. And do not worry if your cheesecake is still wobbly because it will firm up when it cools. So please don’t forget to refrigerate your cheesecake overnight before serving. Otherwise, it’ll be too soft.
Easy Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Once the chocolate cheesecake is chilled, you can make the simple but delicious chocolate ganache. Simply heat the non-dairy cream in a small saucepan until it just starts boiling. Place the chopped chocolate into a bowl and pour over the hot cream. Stir until chocolate is melted and ganache is well combined and smooth. Then pour it over your chilled cake. I also like to spoon a bit of the ganache around the sides and let it drip off. But this is just an optional step, and totally optional.
How to serve Chocolate Cheesecake
If you don’t want to make the chocolate ganache, you can serve it as it is. Alternatively, you can also add whipped coconut cream or a scoop of ice cream on top of your slice. However, this chocolate cheesecake is so rich, creamy, and chocolatey that you won’t need anything to serve it with.
This Best Chocolate Cheesecake is:
- Vegan (dairy-free, eggless)
- Rich
- Fudgy
- Smooth
- Creamy
- Chocolatey
- Easy to make
- Made with Oreo Crust
- Topped with chocolate ganache
- So delicious!
- The Best Chocolate Cheesecake
Looking for more Vegan Cheesecake or Chocolate Recipes? Then you may also like my:
- Best Chocolate Banana Bread
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Snickers Cake
- Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
- Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Brownie Swirl Cheesecake
- Best Vegan Brownies
- Best Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake
- Vegan Cheesecake with Cherries
- Or one of my favorite Vegan Crumble Cheesecake Recipes
How to Freeze Cheesecake
As I mentioned before, this chocolate cheesecake is freezer friendly! Simply wrap single slices in foil tightly twice. Then place in a freezer ziplock bag. To thaw, simply place the unwrapped cheesecake in an airtight container in the fridge overnight. And please do not heat it in the microwave or oven, or it will melt.
If you try this Best Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe, please leave me a comment below letting me know how it goes! And if you take a picture of your recreation and share it on Instagram, please make sure to tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka, so I won’t miss your post! Happy baking!
Vegan Baked Chocolate Cheesecake
Author:You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!
Ingredients
Oreo Crust:
- 16 (180 g) Oreo Cookies
- ¼ cup (60 g) vegan butter melted
Chocolate Cheesecake
- 9 oz (250 g) bittersweet vegan chocolate chopped
- 21 oz (600 g) vegan cream cheese at room temperature
- ⅔ cup (135 g) sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder unsweetened
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (180 ml) non-dairy cream or coconut cream, at room temperature
Chocolate Ganache
- 5.6 oz (160 g) vegan chocolate chopped
- ¾ cup (200 ml) + 2 tbsp non-dairy cream
Instructions
*Note: I recommend watching the recipe video and checking out the step-by-step photos above!
Oreo Crust
- Preheat your oven to 340°F (170°C). Grease an 8-inch (20cm) springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the pan from every angle in a double layer of aluminum foil.
- Add the Oreo cookies with filling into a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. (Or put them into a freezer bag, squeeze the air out, seal the bag, and crush cookies using a rolling pin.)
- Combine the crumbs with melted butter and stir until evenly moistened.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared springform pan and press firmly into the bottom of the pan and a bit less than halfway up the sides. Place in the freezer or fridge to firm up while you make the filling.
Chocolate Cheesecake
- Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt over a water bath, stirring occasionally.
- In the meantime, beat the cream cheese with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until smooth and creamy. Then mix in sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and vanilla until combined. Add the cream and melted chocolate lastly and stir until smooth and creamy. Please make sure to mix just until combined.
- Place the prepared wrapped pan in a larger baking pan. Fill in the cheesecake filling. Then pour about 1,5 inch of hot water into the baking pan. Place it in your preheated oven and bake in the water bath for 1 hour.
- Turn off the oven and let the cake sit in the oven for further 30-60 minutes with the oven door cracked. Don’t worry if the cheesecake is still wobbly because it will set as it cools.
- Then, remove the cake from the water bath and place on a wire rack. Carefully, remove the foil, run the tip of a knife around the sides of the pan. Cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge overnight before removing from the pan.
Chocolate Ganache
- Heat the non-dairy cream in a small saucepan just until it starts boiling. Place the chopped chocolate into a bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth.
- Pour ganache over your chilled cake. Place in the fridge until ganache is set.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- Instead of cream cheese, you could use 520g non-dairy quark (it's drained non-dairy yogurt) + 80g vegan butter or margarine. Make sure to check out this blog post about how to drain yogurt.
- If you don't find non-dairy cream, you can chill 1 can full-fat coconut milk overnight, then scrape the solid cream off the top, discarding the liquid.
- Keep the cake loosely covered in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. Please read my text about how to freeze cheesecake and more tips for cheesecake success!
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Great recipe, my family loved it. Thanks
That’s great! Thank you so much! 🙂
Hey 🙂 this recipe looks absolutely delicious! Which cream cheese brands do you recommend? I’ve had some pretty icky ones in the past and the the recipe probably stands or falls with a good cream cheese.
Thanks!
Hi Elli,
I’m based in Germany but some readers already suggested a few US Brands in the comments. You can also check the comments in my New York Cheesecake Recipe for more recommendations.
Greetings,
Bianca 🙂
I made this yesterday and refrigerated overnight. It turned out brilliant!!! I 2/3 the recipe and it worked beautifully. I used gluten free Oreos for the base to make it vegan and gluten-free as my loved ones have these dietary requirements. I used violife cream cheese. It’s quite expensive to make but worth it as so tasty and rich. You really can’t tell it is vegan. I will make this again. Thank you!!
Awesome! I am happy to hear that it turned out amazing. Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
Hello, I haven’t tried making this yet, but I am wondering which vegan cream cheese you use? Do you use one that is nut based? Or tofu-based? The link in the recipe isn’t working anymore. Thank you.
I use nut based from a German brand but you can use your favorite one! 🙂
Great recipe! Will be making again! Instead of using lots of foil, someone has come up with a genius silicone wrap that fits around a 9″ or 10′ springform pan! Can’t wait to try it out 🙂
Yay, that makes me happy. Thank you for the excellent feedback! ☺️
Thanks for this fantastic recipe.
I have recently been diagnosed with food allergies and my extended has allergies as well. We are a foodie family and Halloween was our 1st big gathering since being diagnosed. I love cheesecakes and needed one that was dairy, egg, gluten and nut free. Unfortunately being in NZ we have very limited choices for dairy alternatives. But I did find one (albeit expensive $24 for the amount i needed), so made this, with a small conversion with the base to make gluten free.
Everyone loved it and I will definitely make again. Next time I will try with yogurt, as this will be a cheaper option. Would I use Greek or vanilla coconut yogurt?
Thanks again for sharing thus recipe.
Thanks for your feedback! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
You can use greek or coconut yogurt or combine both! 😉
First I want to say is Thank You for sharing such a great recipe.
This was my first time making it, it was also my first time eating.
It definitely didn’t disappoint.
I even gave some to my coworkers at work. And they all loved it.
I had one coworker who said he took one bite of it at 2 in the morning, and he’s like
“Oh, it’s gone”
I would like ya to realize, that this is a vegan/non dairy recipe,
I didn’t tell anyone at work, I used non-dairy cream cheese, they didn’t know the difference. In their minds it’s the real thing.
So now my like, should I tell them?? Lol
I probably won’t. Some things just better off, not saying anything.
I will definitely be making this again very soon.
Great! That makes me very happy! Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
This came out fantastically! I added some raspberries to the chocolate ganache before it hardened and it was absolutely delicious. Will definitely make this again.
I’m glad you liked it! 🙂 Thank you.
Have a great new week! ♡
Thank you Bianca for sharing this recipe!
Easy to make, great taste, and beautiful presentation.
I made it this week for the first time, but I m sure I ll make it again very soon.
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
One more quick comment – your plating and presentation is stunning. I love your website and I am going to try at a lot more of your recipes because you are so creative and everything is just a pleasure to look at.
Thank you so much for your lovely words. <3