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Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake has the creamy texture you love, with a rich chocolate flavor. It’s the perfect no-bake dessert to make for any chocolate fans in your life.
Why You’ll Love It
This healthier chocolate recipe is naturally sweetened with maple syrup, and even has a veggie hiding inside the creamy filling. But you’d never know just by tasting it!
Since the filling is made with cashews instead of cream cheese, it’s also dairy-free, vegan and Paleo friendly.
Ingredients You’ll Need 
What’s in vegan chocolate cheesecake?
- Cashews
- Maple syrup
- Cacao powder
- Zucchini (yes, a veggie!)
- Coconut oil
- Vanilla extract
- Sea salt
That’s all you need for the filling, and I like to pour it over the same no-bake chocolate crust I use for my vegan cheesecake bars. A simple blend of pecans (or walnuts), cacao powder, maple syrup, and coconut oil brings that together in no time.
Pro Tip: If you don’t care for the flavor of coconut oil, look for a refined or “expeller pressed” version at your local grocery store. Refined coconut oil has zero coconut flavor, so you won’t taste it at all in the final dessert. I use this trick for making vegan cream cheese and homemade magic shell, when I don’t want coconut flavor.
How to Make Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake
1. Prepare the crust. Place the pecans and cacao powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, and process briefly, until the texture is crumbly.
Add in the maple syrup, coconut oil, and salt, and process again until the crust sticks together.
Transfer the crust to an 8-inch springform pan that has been greased and lined with parchment paper, if you want the cheesecake to be very easy to remove later.
Press the crust evenly into the bottom of the pan, and then place it in the freezer to firm up while you prepare the filling.
2. Make the filling. Add the cashews, zucchini, cacao powder, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, and salt into a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
This will work best if your ingredients are NOT cold from the fridge, so the coconut oil doesn’t thicken up from the cold.
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I typically do not soak my cashews ahead of time (because I don’t plan ahead very well) so I also add in a 1/4 cup of water to help with blending. If you would prefer to soak the cashews, cover them with 2 inches of water in a large bowl and let them soak for 2 hours.
Then drain and rinse well, before adding them to the blender. Soaked cashews will blend easier, and may not require any additional water for blending, but you can add water 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to make everything blend smoothly.
Be prepared to stop and scrape down the sides of the blender, or use a tamper if your blender comes with one, because this chocolate filling is pretty thick!
3. Chill. Remove the crust from the freezer and use a spatula to add the chocolate filling from the blender container.
Smooth the top, and then place the pan back in the freezer to chill until the top of the cheesecake feels firm to the touch, about 3 to 4 hours.
When the cheesecake is firm, you can slice and serve it chilled. It pairs nicely with fresh fruit on top, like raspberries or strawberries.
Keep in mind that the coconut oil is what holds this vegan cheesecake together, so it will melt if you leave it out at room temperature for too long. I recommend storing it in the freezer until just before serving. It can sit out for up to 30 minutes when frozen, but no longer than that!
Storage Tips
Since this cake needs to be served from the freezer, you can store it in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
If you would rather make this in an 8-inch square pan, you can also slice it into bars for an easy treat to have on hand.
Ingredients
Chocolate Pecan Crust
- 1 1/2 cups pecans
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
Chocolate Cheesecake Filling
- 2 cups raw cashews (no need to soak)
- 1 cup diced zucchini , peeled
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- To make the crust, add the pecans and cacao powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with an "S" blade and pulse briefly, until the mixture looks crumbly. Add in the maple syrup, coconut oil, and salt and process again until the mixture sticks together.
- Prepare an 8-inch springform pan by lightly spraying it with oil and pressing a piece of parchment paper into the bottom of the pan. This guarantees the cheesecake will be easy to remove later. Transfer the crust to the prepared pan and press it evenly into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the freezer to set while you prepare the filling.
- To make the filling, add the cashews, zucchini, cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, coconut oil, and water to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides of the blender, as needed, to make sure everything is blended well. It will be very thick.
- Remove the pan from the freezer and add the chocolate filling on top, smoothing it with a spatula. Return the pan to the freezer and chill until the cheesecake feels firm to the touch in the center, about 3 to 4 hours.
- When the cheesecake is totally firm, it's ready to slice and serve. Be sure to serve it directly from the freezer for the best texture, as it will soften up if you leave it at room temperature for too longer. Serve with sliced berries on top, or with coconut whipped cream.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in 2013, and was updated in 2022. I increased the maple syrup and cacao powder in the filling by a 1/4 cup each to boost the chocolate flavor, but you can omit that addition if you prefer. I think it greatly improves the flavor, though!
If you try this Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like it.
Is there a way to do this without coconut oil or hydrogenated oil?
You would need to use some sort of fat that is solid when chilled, so perhaps coconut butter would work, or real butter if you’re not vegan.
Wow…this looks so good and so easy! I can’t wait to try it. As someone that is trying to find my food freedom post Whole 30 this looks like a great option!
Can I use Splenda instead of the maple syrup?
It was a hit! we have weekly dinners with our son and future daughter in law, she said it was her favorite of all the desserts i have made. we eat predominantly paleo and try new things often. this goes into the favorites folder. The texture was perfect. sometime in the future i may let them know it has ZUCCHINI in it. I would have never thought that cashews and ZUCCHINI could make an amazing dessert.
Hi Megan,
I’m really excited to try this recipe!
I love your recipes and practically make desserts only from your site! I have gotten my friends hooked too…
How much date syrup or honey would you put instead of maple syrup?
It’s pretty expensive here in Israel so I’d ratger replace it… Date syrup would be the best but otherwise honey would do… Just how much please?
Thanks!
Great recipe, I used half coconut nectar half maple syrup and used about 2/3 total amount sugar. It’s sweet!
I have to agree with the previous reviewer that this tastes more like chocolate mousse. Which is fine with me, because I haven’t have French silk pie since my milk allergy was diagnosed over 2 years ago.
I stored this in the freezer overnight, but it came out with ice crystals on the top and impossible to cut. I’m not sure why it would be that way, but I have put it in the fridge to hopefully be able to cut it better later.
Could I use Swerve Sweetener instead of Maple syrup?
Is there a way to pin this? I would like to have it easily accessible later. I forgot I had even saved it until I was searching through my bookmarks for a totally unrelated site. Pinterest I can access it from any device and type “zucchini cheesecake” into the search bar to find it.
You can hover your mouse over any image on my site and a “Pin it” button should appear for easy pinning!
This is sooooo delicious!!!