Serves 8 to 10
This Pumpkin Cheesecake was among our favorites in Vegan Pie In The Sky! All those autumnal spices with lots of pumpkin flavor and an irresistible pecan crunch topping. It’s so delicious, it makes you feel a little funny. And don’t worry about serving this to even the biggest tofuphobe, they will not complain one bit.
While there are perfectly adequate vegan cream cheeses available in supermarkets, we wanted to come up with a cheesecake formula made with pantry-friendly ingredients, for a few reasons.
One is consistency: different brands will produce different results.
For another, some vegan cream cheeses contain hydrogenated oils. We want to bake with accessible real foods.
Also: the cost. For one recipe, if you’re talking 3 tubs of cream cheese, when all is said and done you’ve just spent a good 25 bucks on a single cheesecake. Ouch! This way, even if you do spend 25 bucks, you have ingredients that will last you awhile and make lots and lots of cheesecakes.
And lastly, well, we just think it tastes better! We worked for months and months to develop the smoothest, creamiest and richest vegan cheesecake base possible. The ingredients we landed on were soaked cashews, coconut oil, banana and silken tofu. The end result is firm but creamy, easy to work with and a dessert that’s a little difficult to not steal bites of. That’s only a bad thing if you care that by the time the guests arrive there’s already a sliver missing.
A few recipe notes before embarking on your vegan cheesecake adventure!
~For the crust, vegan graham crackers can be hard to find. If you can’t find them, you can either make your own, or use gingersnaps. We baked a few of these with gingersnaps and they were amazing!
~Soak the cashews overnight to make quick work of the recipe. You can cover them with plastic wrap if you’re afraid that your kitty will get to them.
~Although this recipe is for a fancy marbled cheesecake, you can skip that step if you’re pressed for time or would just rather not do it. Just mix everything in the filling together instead of dividing the batter and swirling.
~You can use either water packed silken tofu or the vacuum packed kind (like Mori-Nu.) If using Mori-Nu, extra firm silken works best.
For the crust:
1 1/4 cups of finely ground graham crackers or gingersnaps
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons melted non-hydrogenated margarine, melted coconut oil, or canola oil
1 tablespoon plain soy or almond milk.
Filling:
1/2 cup whole unroasted cashews soaked in water for 2 to 8 hours or until very soft
1/4 cup mashed banana (about half of 1 medium-sized banana)
1 12 to 14 oz package silken tofu, drained
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons coconut oil, at room temperature
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 3/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon nonhydrogenated margarine *or* coconut oil
Pinch of salt
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
Make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray a 9 inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine the crumbs and sugar. Drizzle in the oil or melted margarine.
Use a spoon to blend the mixture thoroughly to moisten the crumbs, then drizzle in the soy milk and stir again to form a crumbly dough.
Pour the crumbs into the pan. Press firmly into the bottom. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until firm. Let the crust cool a bit before filling. Keep oven on 350 to bake the cheesecake.
Make the topping:
In a mixing bowl use a fork to mash together brown sugar, margarine, and salt until crumbly, then fold in the chopped nuts and stir to coat the mixture. Set aside until ready to use.
Make the filling:
Drain the cashews and place in a blender with the banana, tofu, sugar, brown sugar, coconut oil, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla, orange zest, and sea salt. Blend until completely smooth and no bits of cashew remain, a food processor or strong blender should be able to get the job done.
Set aside 1/2 cup of batter. To the remaining batter, add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and blend until smooth, then pour it into the crust. Randomly spoon dollops of the reserved batter onto the cheesecake. Poke the end of a chopstick into a batter blob and gently swirl to create a marble pattern; repeat with the remaining dollops.
Bake the cheesecake for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove cheesecake halfway through baking and sprinkle on the topping. Return to oven to continue baking. Cheesecake will be done when the top is lightly puffed and the edges of the cake are golden. Remove it from the oven and let cool on a rack for about 20 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator to complete cooling, at least 3 hours or even better if overnight. To serve, slice the cake using a thin, sharp knife dipped in cold water.
Question about the amount of pumpkin purée: in the book it says 1 1/4 cup, but in the recipe above it says 1 3/4 cup. I made it using the book instructions and it turned out good, but it did seem a bit smaller (shorter) than I expected. Is the ideal amount 1 3/4 cup?
Brought this for dinner at the home of some
non-vegan friends, and they LOVED it, as did I. We were testing it out as a Thanksgiving dessert candidate, and I think it made the cut. Thanks!
I just found your website through VegNews (thank god!) and I just wanted to say I am SO going to make this! It sounds absolutely delicious. I’m also thinking I may not tell anyone that I’m making this… just to see their reactions at the end of the Big Reveal 😉
I made this recipe after I bought Vegan Pie in the Sky. It was fantastic! I brought it to a small dinner party, normally, I leave left over dessert, but in this case I brought two pieces home. My husband and I had it for breakfast the next day.
So good!! It’s on the menu for Thanksgiving. Also, the Chai Rice Pudding Pie, amazing!
wow! this was a joy to make and eat!!
i made this for some very carnivorous friends (along with a couple of dishes from “appetite for reduction” and it disappeared in record time. i’ve never made a vegan cheesecake before, but this is going to have to go into my kitchen rotation.
thanks for sharing such a gloriously delish recipe 😀
This cheesecake is in the oven right now – it looks and smells great! Wondering if this would freeze well? I made it as a test run before thanksgiving and doubt my hubby and I can eat the whole thing ourselves before tofurkey day. Would be great if we could freeze slices to eat later when cravings strike. Let me know what you think.. Thanks!!
I tried freezing it and it came out beautifully. Couldn’t tell the difference.
Wow. that’s so good to know, thank you!
I can’t find my spring form pan and spent all my T-Day dough on food and drink. Any thoughts? I was thinking maybe large muffins, or just a square brownie pan and doing cheesecake squares. I can’t wait to try this, thank you!
I like the square idea.
Do i have to do this in a springform pan? can i just use a store brought grahm cracker pie crust instead?
You’ll have double the amount of filling but it might work! Let us know.
My husband is allergic to coconut anything. Can I use almond oil instead
Not quite the same. Earth balance would be a better bet!
We are thinking of making this for a dinner tomorrow but trying to use what we have in the house. We are lacking the coconut oil. Totally wrong to use olive oil instead? I note you said Earth Balance above. Which is better? Olive oil or Earth Balance?
This is a great cheesecake! I made it once without the crumble since we had a pie emergency. This year, I put the pecan mix on halfway and the pecans started to burn about 10 minutes into cooking. I double checked myself and didn’t miss any ingredients. Any thoughts? I guess next time I’ll just add the crumble when it’s just about done instead of halfway.
Wow…just wow! I have tried about 45 vegan cheesecakes, and they are never quite right. This one is AMAZING! I even made it a little healthier by using the light Mori-Nu tofu, and stevia in the raw instead of sugar, and, it is still PERFECT! I made three of these bad boys last night, for different family/friend functions! You made my T-day IsaChandra 🙂
I’m so grateful for you! 🙂
Made this today for our feast. Our family members thought it was the bomb saying it was better then anything they had gotten in the fancy shops in the city! Can’t wait to try another recipe from the pie book!
I made this to bring to my family’s thanksgiving feast, but for some reason the lemon juice and orange zest completely overpowered every other ingredient. It wasn’t a bad pie, I just didn’t get that pumpkiny goodness I had hoped for. Any tips for tomorrow’s attempt?
I guess all I can say is that if you didn’t like the zest and juice then leave them out. I am surprised it was overpowering since each ingredient is just a hint.
Fantastic cheesecake! Made it for Thanksgiving yesterday and it was a huge hit. Super simple, too. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this recipe. I served it to my family and they loved it. I made it gluten free, and they could not believe it was vegan too. Though mine was not as photogenic as yours.
Thank you! This was a bit hit at Thanksgiving this year. Next time I will use less orange zest because that tiny little teaspoon overpowered the rest of the flavors.
Thank you for this recipe! It was the shining star of our Thanksgiving feast. I was nervous since the first time making it was for Thanksgiving, but it turned out perfect! My husband says “Don’t bother with the rest of the meal next year. Just make this.”.
I made this for thanksgiving. Except I used a full cup of pumpkin, since I used fresh. It was good, but I would say that 1/3 cup of brown sugar on the pecan topping is a bit much. A little too sweet. Other than that, it was good. Very decadent.
I made this for T-gives. It was a huge hit!!! I am thinking about eliminating the pumpkin and spice and adding more orange zest, a bit of orange juice and creating Cream Sickle cheesecake. This is such an amazing cheesecake base, I am sure it can be altered in so many wonderful ways. Thanks!!
I made this over the weekend and it was delicious! My husband is taking in the leftovers to his friends at work as a fine example of the food you can eat when you’re vegan. I agree with the orange thing- it was too much with the pumpkin for this to be a really pumpkiny cheesecake but it was still tasty! Next time I’ll omit the orange zest. I ran out of ginger snaps (only had about a half a cup) and the store was closed so I ground up some oatmeal for the rest of the crust and it worked really well! The crust probably wasn’t as sweet but it really balanced out the sweetness of the pecan topping. I will be making this again in a few weeks when our family comes out to visit!
If I wanted to substitute the refined sugar in the filling how would I modify? Was thinking of using maple syrup and/or maple sugar or brown rice syrup…would that work and would that greatly affect quantities? Thanks!
Great recipe. I will probably use less brown sugar in the topping next time. I also only used 1 tbsp of sugar in the crust and that was sweet enough for me. I didn’t mind the orange zest, but thought the banana flavor was too noticeable in the non-pumpkin portion of the batter (maybe sub with more pumpkin? or just don’t divide the batter?). Overall, I was very happy with how it turned out. Thanks.
This was the most incredible cheezcake I’ve ever tasted!!!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was absolutely delicious
Hi Isa! Is there anything I could substitute for the soy?
I got your pie book as a Solstice gift and I love it so much!!! (Also, I loved your dedication to Adrienne Shelley.) I can’t wait to try all the recipes. I just pulled the pumpkin cheesecake out of the oven. It smells divine. I can’t wait to try it, but I will have to wait until tomorrow.
I made this last night but I replaced the pumpkin with sweet potato. It was fab!!!!!
In response to earlier commenter Rebecca, I made this for Thanksgiving in a store-bought graham cracker crust and it set fine. It was a bit difficult to get all that filling in there, but it wasn’t a huge issue. At least 3 relatives loved it come dessert time.
Only thing: don’t be a dolt like me and buy a graham cracker crust with honey. When will I learn that I should ALWAYS read the label?!
Who would have thought a cheesecake sans any type of cream cheese (vegan or otherwise) would taste so decadent. Wow! Enjoying every bite. I’d be willing to place a bet that no one would ever believe this is vegan. Once again, AWESOME! I forgot to prep ahead and soak the cashews, so I put my Vitamix to the test (there was no way I was going to put off trying this recipe any longer!). No problems without soaking — the Vitamix came through again — the filling is as smooth as butta (EB butta, that is!)! 🙂