Make this versatile no bake gluten free and dairy free Vanilla Cheesecake for any party or gathering! It’s vegan, easy to make, and made without cashews
Hey friends! I’ve created another addition to our collection of no-bake dairy free cheesecakes: our gluten free and dairy free Vanilla Cheesecake!
Since the 4th of July is just around the corner, I decorated this cheesecake with red, white, and blue to make it fun for 4th of July. But you can make and decorate this cheesecake however you’d like and for any season, holiday, or party!
Just decorate this versatile cheesecake to fit your needs with either fresh fruit, fruit sauce, chocolate sauce, or whatever you love! The choices for decorating and serving this easy vanilla cheesecake are unlimited.
How to make a vegan vanilla cheesecake
Making a no-bake vegan vanilla cheesecake without cashews is super easy! For the filling, we used Daiya cream cheese since it’s readily available here and it fits our food allergies, but you can use any non-dairy cream cheese you like for this recipe.
Normally this wouldn’t be the case if it was a baked cheesecake since a lot of dairy free cream cheeses don’t bake well at all, but since this is a no-bake cheesecake, any dairy free cream cheese should work just fine.
The gluten free and dairy free cookie crust for this vanilla cheesecake is super simple and easy to make, plus it’s delicious! We used the Kinnitoos vanilla sandwich cookies from Kinnikinnick, but if you can have wheat, vanilla Oreos will work fine as well for this crust.
Please note: regular plain chocolate and vanilla Oreos are dairy free. I’ve had some comments on Pinterest from people saying that Oreos aren’t dairy free, but they are, please check package labels. Not all of the Oreo flavors are dairy free, but the regular chocolate and vanilla ones are and many of their specialty flavors are. But always check the label before buying and eating them though!
Notes on dairy free whipped cream for cheesecake
I’ve had some questions about the So Delicious CocoWhip before since some people haven’t seen this product and don’t know what it is. So Delicious CocoWhip is a coconut based whipped topping, so it’s completely non-dairy.
Regular Cool Whip has sodium caseinate in it (a dairy derivative), so it’s not completely dairy free. If you are not sensitive to sodium caseinate and wanted to use Cool Whip in this recipe you could, it just wouldn’t be 100% dairy free (keep that in mind if you plan on serving this to people with severe dairy allergies).
I wouldn’t recommend using the non-dairy Reddi Whip in this recipe. First off, this recipe calls for quite a bit of whipped cream (a full 8 ounce container) and I’m not certain that a full can of Reddi Whip will be enough for this filling, plus the Reddi Whip tends to “deflate” or go flat not too long after you dispense it (unlike the CocoWhip), so your cheesecake might go flat or watery. I haven’t making my cheesecakes with dairy free Reddi Whip, so I can’t guarantee whether it would work well or not.
Tools you’ll need for this cheesecake:
Check out our other great dairy free cheesecakes 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
No-Bake Dairy Free Vanilla Cheesecake
Ingredients
Vanilla cookie crust:
- 18 plain vanilla Kinnitoos gluten free sandwich cookies (if you're not gluten free, you can use regular vanilla Oreos here)
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 Tablespoons melted dairy free butter
Dairy free cheesecake filling:
- 8 ounces dairy free cream cheese (Violife and Daiya both work well)
- 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 9 ounce container So Delicious Cocowhip* coconut whipped cream
- Fresh fruit, fruit sauce, or chocolate sauce for topping
Instructions
Gluten free cookie crust:
- Add the entire box (18 count) of Kinnitoos vanilla sandwich cookies into a large food processor and process until it is processed into crumbs.
- Move the cookie crumbs into a bowl, add the melted coconut oil, melted dairy free butter, and stir until combined.
- Press the cookie crumb mixture into the bottom and sides of a 8-inch or 9-inch pie pan and set it in the fridge to chill while you prepare the filling. The crust may seem crumbly at first, but will set up once it chills.
Dairy free cheesecake filling:
- In a medium bowl, beat the Daiya non-dairy cream cheese until it is softened.
- Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat in half the container of CocoWhip until blended.
- Fold in the other half the of the So Delicious CocoWhip and spread evenly into the prepared cookie crust. Top with fresh fruit if you like, or leave plain and top with chocolate sauce or fruit sauce when serving.
- Cover, and refrigerate for several hours until firm (we let our cheesecakes chill overnight).
- Allow to rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes to soften the cookie crust slightly then slice and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie which she founded in 2011. Sarah is based in Wyoming and has been managing food allergies for herself and her 2 children for over 20 years. Sarah was also a certified personal trainer for 12 years, as well as a group fitness instructor, health coach, running coach, and fitness nutrition specialist.
Delicious recipe. My crust stuck to my pie plate and was terribly hard to remove but it wasnt hard when eating. Any idea what went wrong?
Hi Summer! The crust can be hard when it’s cold, so I’d try to warm this up at room temp for 15 minutes before cutting to see if that helps. Adding some oil to the bottom of the pan before pressing the crust in may help as well.
cococool is not available in my area. I can make coconut whipped cream very easily. Do you think that might work as well?
Hi Sarah, you can make your own homemade whipped cream, although I’m not sure how well it will hold up in this recipe depending on the ingredients you use for it. If your homemade whipped cream is watery, try using less of it mixed with the cream cheese to ensure it still holds up.
This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I always love coming across dairy free and gluten free recipes together (pleases a lot of friends and family). Great recipe!
Thank you Jules! This one turned out so good, my family ate it up within the day 🙂