Indulge in this layered Gluten Free Chocolate SunButter Cheesecake, it’s allergy friendly, vegan, peanut free, and easy to make!
I hope you guys aren’t tired of our allergy friendly cheesecakes, because we have more! Our newest dairy free cheesecake recipe is an incredible Chocolate SunButter Cheesecake, which is completely gluten free and vegan.
This cheesecake recipe is our 7th vegan cheesecake recipe (some of them are gluten free and some aren’t), so we have a bunch of cheesecake variations on The Fit Cookie!
But we plan on making more 😉 It’s become one of my blog projects to create a big variety of dairy free and allergy friendly cheesecakes made without cashews, so I’m going to keep making them until I run out of great flavor ideas (which is, hopefully, never).
Since my daughter has tree nut allergies (but not an allergy to coconut since it’s not a true tree nut), we’ve been making all of our cheesecakes without nuts like a lot of vegan and raw recipes call for. That means these aren’t quite as healthy and less processed, but they will fit more diets for people allergic to nuts.
How to make SunButter cheesecake
I used the Kinnikinnick gluten free sandwich cookies for the crust on this allergy friendly cheesecake since their cookies are nut free, dairy free, and soy free and fit our food allergies. You can use other gluten free sandwich cookies if you prefer a different brand.
When you go to make the crust for the SunButter no bake cheesecake, it will look crumbly at first, but once you press it into the pie plate and chill it, the crust will firm up and be a perfect gluten free cookie crust.
I found that a big food processor is the fastest way to make a cookie crust like this, but if you don’t have a big food processor, you can do this by hand by putting the gluten free sandwich cookies in a ziploc bag and crushing them with a rolling pin until they are all crumbs.
Since my kids have peanut allergies, I used SunButter in this recipe (and it tastes amazing!), but if you can have peanuts, you can use peanut butter or some other nut/seed butter in this recipe in place of SunButter if you like.
You can cut our SunButter cheesecake into 8-10 pieces, but it is quite rich, so you can cut these into even smaller pieces (like 12 pieces) if you want smaller portions. The nutrient estimations in the recipe card are for pieces that are 1/10th size (so the cheesecake is split into 10 pieces).
Once you’ve made the cheesecake, you can chill this until set for a couple hours or overnight if you like. This keeps well in the fridge, and must be stored in the fridge to keep it fresh. We haven’t tried freezing our full-size cheesecakes yet (we’ve frozen some of our mini cheesecakes), so we’re not sure how this would do in the freezer.
Ingredient notes for vegan no-bake cheesecake
We use Daiya cream cheese for all of our no-bake cheesecakes because we can get it locally and it fits all of our allergies, but you can use another brand of non-dairy cream cheese that fits your diet.
Most other brands of dairy free cream cheese should work great in this recipe, it might change the taste or texture slightly, but it won’t be noticeable. You can see some tips on replacing cream cheese in our article about how to replace dairy in recipes!
So Delicious CocoWhip is a coconut-based whipped topping alternative that is allergy friendly. If you can’t find CocoWhip in any stores, you can try ordering it online, or use a different brand of dairy free whipped cream.
Since I haven’t made this cheesecake with other brands of ingredients aside from the ones I listed, I’m not sure how other brands of whipped cream will turn out in this recipe.
Check out our other no-bake cheesecake recipes made without cashews:
- Gluten Free and Vegan Vanilla Cheesecake
- Gluten Free Dairy Free Key Lime Cheesecake
- Easy Vegan Oreo Cheesecake
- Dairy Free Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes with Granola Crust
- Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake
- Triple Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake
- No Bake Dairy Free Lemon Cheesecake
- Chocolate SunButter Cheesecake
- Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake
Tools you’ll need for this recipe:
Vegan Chocolate SunButter Cheesecake (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
Cookie Crust
- 18 Kinnitoo gluten free sandwich cookies (1 box of Kinnitoos)* (or other brand of gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies)
- ¼ cup coconut oil
Cheesecake Filling
- 8 ounces Daiya non-dairy cream cheese (or other brand of non-dairy cream cheese)
- ⅓ cup + 2 Tablespoons creamy SunButter
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 9 ounces So Delicious CocoWhip** (or other non-dairy whipped cream)
- 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
Chocolate ganache drizzle
- ⅓ cup allergy friendly chocolate chips
- 2 Tablespoons canned full-fat coconut milk
Instructions
Cookie Crust
- Add the gluten free sandwich cookies to a large food processor and process the cookies until fine crumbs.
- Melt the coconut oil and stir the melted oil into the cookie crumbs until well combined. Press the cookie crumb mixture into a pie pan and chill while you mix the filling.
Cheesecake Filling
- In a medium bowl, beat the non-dairy cream cheese with a hand mixer until softened.
- Beat in SunButter, powdered sugar, and vanilla until well blended, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times to make sure it all gets mixed in.
- Slowly beat in the CocoWhip until blended.
- Divide the filling into thirds: set side 2/3 of the filling, and add 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder to the other 1/3 of the filling to make the chocolate layer. Beat with a mixer or hand mixer until blended.
- Scoop the chocolate cheesecake mixture into the bottom of the prepared cookie crust, and spread it out evenly. Spread the SunButter filling on top of that and spread evenly.
- Cover and chill for 2+ hours until well set. Top with chocolate ganache and slice into 8-10 pieces. Enjoy!
Chocolate ganache drizzle
- Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave (30 seconds at a time, stirring after each time), OR in a double boiler.
- Once the chocolate chips are completely melted, stir in the coconut milk. Allow this to cool a bit before drizzling on top of our cheesecake.
- Store this at room temperature for up to 3 days. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and healthy living blogger based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Can this be made with regular peanut butter?
Hi Elizabeth! This recipe should work great with peanut butter 🙂
I recently bought a jar of sunbutter and have been looking for the perfect use for it — this is it! This looks so creamy and luscious, and those beautiful layers and swirling make such a great presentation for a party. Saving this recipe to make so that my guests with allergies can enjoy the same great dessert as the whole party this summer!
Thanks so much Amanda! SunButter is a staple in our house since my kids have peanut allergies. This is a perfect way to use up SunButter!
Oh wow! I love Sunbutter, but I’ve never done much with it aside from slathering it over toast or dropping it into a smoothie. This looks and sounds delicious. Confession: I’ve never actually made cheesecake 😐 BUT. This is a great excuse to get on that 😉
If you haven’t made cheesecakes yet, no-bake cheesecakes are the way to go! They are so easy and tasty, and don’t require eggs 🙂
How could anyone get sick of cheesecake?! I love sunbutter and making cheesecake with it is genius. With that chocolate swirl on top? Oh yes. A must make!
Thanks so much Trish! This recipe is definitely a keeper 🙂
This looks so incredibly creamy and decadent. I love a good cheesecake and struggle with lactose issues, so I love that this one is dairy-free! This would go over very well in my house full of cheesecake lovers!
Thank you Jenni! I bet your family would love this one, it’s so decadent!
What a beautiful and simple recipe. I love how quickly this comes together with ingredients that are easy to find. With so many peanut allergies, this recipe will definitely come in handy.
Thank you Debra! This is definitely a great dessert for multiple food allergies 🙂
What a delicious sounding cheesecake. For all of us cheesecake lovers this is a fantastic addition to our recipe collection. I don’t believe with those quality ingredients you’d even know that it was vegan. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Thanks Marisa! It definitely doesn’t taste like a dairy free cheesecake it’s so good! Even my husband who can have dairy loves this one
Never get tired of cheesecake options, so bring them on! The filling is so deliciously creamy and that ganache is the perfect addition. Two thumbs up! p.s. the bigger the piece the better – ha.
Thank you so much Sandra! This is definitely a crowd pleaser for sure 🙂
I always tend to cashew-based vegan cheesecakes, this is a spectacular option for vegans with nut allergies… and well, anyone, it looks scrumptious.
Thanks so much Dreena! My daughter has tree nut allergies, so we always make ours without cashews for her. I haven’t tried a cashew cheesecake yet!
This cheesecake sounds so good!!! I don’t have nut allergies, but peanuts give me migraines, so I was thrilled to see that you can make it with SunButter. And I love that it’s a no-bake cheesecake. Just perfect for summer!
Thanks so much Daniela 🙂 I can see why you’d want to avoid peanuts, that’s pretty interesting that you have that reaction!
I think ANY cheesecake lover would have a hard time NOT loving this. Honestly, most people would not even know it was vegan and gluten-free. They would love the taste, and then when you told them they would say NO WAY!!
Thank you! My husband who can have dairy and everything even loves my dairy free cheesecakes! They are definitely crowd pleasers 🙂
Gorgeous recipe! I’m always looking for vegan desserts that look and taste amazing and this one’s a winner! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much Traci!
I’ve pinned this already and am figuring out how quickly I can make it! It looks delicious!
Thank you Jules! <3