If you haven't had the pleasure of eating a vegan cheesecake you are missing out. Worse yet, if you haven't had the pleasure of having a vegan lemon cheesecake with raspberry swirl, you haven't lived!
This vegan cheesecake is so great to make all year around but in the summer it's out-of-this-world good! If you don't have to bake when it's in the 90's out, it's an automatic win.
I tried to keep this vegan raspberry lemon cheesecake simple. Even the delicious hazelnut crust only has 2 ingredients plus a pinch of salt. Just pulse the dates and hazelnuts until you get this nice sticky mixture. I then pressed the hazelnut crust mixture into a 7 inch springform. The great thing is, you don't need a 7 inch springform. The smaller the form, the deeper the cheesecake will be. The deeper the vegan cheesecake, the longer it will take for the filling to firm up in the fridge. 
Next, I made the lemon filling. Again, I used the food processor to blend the lemon mixture until it was smooth. You can soak your cashews for 15 minutes before hand to make the filling extra smooth but if your food processor is powerful enough, it's really not necessary.
Next up: Raspberries and powdered sugar. Yum! Blend and then swirl into the filling using a fork. Don't pour all the raspberry mixture into the filling at once. You don't want a big blob of raspberries in the middle that will have your pie falling apart. Add a few tablespoons to the center and use a fork to swirl outwards. 
Perfect. Raspberry lemon pie all done!Well, almost.... Now in the fridge and forget it for a few hours. I know, it's nearly impossible! I had to calmly remove myself from the house so this no bake pie would be safe from my fingers. You can speed up the process of having to wait by putting it in the freezer as well. Allow it to thaw for a few minutes though before you try to eat it. 
Vegan Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Hazelnuts
- 1 cup pitted Dates about 20
- pinch of Salt
- 2 cups Coconut Cream
- ⅔ cup Cashews
- ½ teaspoon fresh Lemon Zest
- 4 tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons pure Maple Syrup
- ½ cup Raspberries
- 2 tablespoons Powdered Sugar
Instructions
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Line a 7 inch springform with parchment paper.
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Place hazelnuts, dates and pinch of salt in food processor and pulse until a sticky mass forms.
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Press hazelnut crust into bottom of springform and half way up the sides using fingers.
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Zest a lemon until you have ½ teaspoon lemon zest.
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Clean out food processor and place coconut cream, cashews, lemon zest, lemon juice, and maple syrup in it. Pulse and process until mixture is smooth.
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Pour lemon filling mixture into the springform.
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Clean out food processor again and add Raspberries and powdered sugar to it. Pulse again until smooth (raspberry seeds will remain whole and this is OK).
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Drop 2 tablespoons of raspberry mixture into center of lemon filling. Use a fork to swirl mixture through the lemon filling. Repeat this step until you have used up all the raspberry filling.
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Place cheesecake in refrigerator for at least 4 hours until filling is firm.
Recipe Notes
1) Cashews can be soaked in water for 10-15 minutes first to make filling extra smooth. Make sure to dry off excess water from them before placing them in food processor. 2) The recipe calls for 2 cups Coconut cream. This can be store bought coconut cream. Alternatively, you can place 2 cans of coconut milk in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, then scoop the thick creamy part out of the can. Depending on the coconut milk brand, either 1 or 2 cans of coconut milk will yield 2 cups coconut cream.3) Pie can also be placed in the freezer to help firm the filling up quickly. 4) Raspberry Lemon pie will keep in refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Please note that not all powdered sugar is vegan. Since often sugar is processed through bone char (yuck!). Here are some of the ingredients I used:
Hain Organic Powdered Sugar
SunMaid Pitted Dates
dina says
it looks delicious!
Vanessa says
Thanks Dina!
Marcie says
Hi Vanessa,
Would you be able to sub more maple instead of the powdered sugar?
Vanessa says
Hi Marcie,
Replace the powdered sugar by pureeing the raspberries with 1 medjool date. This should thicken up the raspberries the way the powdered sugar does. Hope this helps!
Lucy says
Oh wow I had no idea that it was possible to have NON-vegan powdered sugar. I would have never known about that bone char processing, I thank you for that tip and will look out for that in the future. Cant wait to try this recipe.
Darly says
I'VE GOT THIS RECIPE IN MY FREEZER AS WE SPEAK!! SO EXCITED! I used a sunflower seed crust instead however because of possibly allergies to nuts at a party I'm going to and also because I prefer buying sunflower seeds as its cheaper! The filling was sooo creamy, I can't believe my rusty old 100W (100!) blender was able to conjure something so amazingly smooth! :) Thank you! Fingers crossed!
Kaitlin says
Does this pie have a strong coconut flavor? And if so is there a substitute for the coconut cream? Also, this looks awesome!!
Vanessa says
Hi Kaitlin,
Thanks! As for the coconut cream, it really depends on who you ask. I don't think there is an overwhelming coconut flavor in this pie but you will taste it a bit. The cashews and lemon juice will balance out the coconut flavor so it's not overpowering. I'm afraid there is also no real vegan coconut cream substitute.
Shonalika says
Oooh wow, this is beautiful. Every time I go home I tend to make a "special event," raw chessecake/pie type thing, I think this one may have to be made next! Looks perfect for spring/summer :D
eveline says
This is my first time working with coconut cream. I got two cans and barely one cup. Is there a brand you'd recommend and is the cream the thick consistency, like whipping cream or rather like thick milk? My cake doesn't look anything like in the pictures. Bohoo.
Vanessa says
Hi Eveline, It sounds like you might not have let your cans of coconut milk chill long enough. When you leave a can of coconut milk in the fridge it will separate into coconut water (clear, looks like slightly thicker water) and a thick, like butter, coconut cream layer on top. I like using Native Forest Coconut Milk but I've used other brands before as well and they usually never yield less than 1 1/2 cups coconut cream. Some brands may take longer to separate so try leaving them in the fridge, near the back, for 24hrs first. Coconut cream is an amazing ingredient to work with so don't give up! Let me know if you have any other questions ;)
Maya says
Hi,
Thank you for these wonderful recipes. Vegan, dairy-free and delicious is not so easy in a desert, but you make it happen! I am really glad I found your blog. I just made this recipe and hope it turns out delicious (need to wait for it to set up before I can check, right?). My question is about the dates in the crust. Do you soak them prior to using? It was not mentioned, so i did not soak mine and the crust was quite crumbly. I used walnuts, because that's what I had. To avoid the crumbliness, I added about 2 tsp of maple syrup, which made it stick together and it lined nicely. So, soak or no soak for the dates? Thanks in advance.
Vanessa says
Hi Maya,
I never soak my dates so you were right not to do that. Walnuts work well in crust. The trick with the crust is to pulse long enough for the oils from the nuts to come out but not long enough that you get sweetened nut butter :) Dates will always vary in sizes so if it end ups being too crumbly just add another date or two. On the other hand, adding maple syrup to the crust sounds somewhat delicious. I'll have to give that a try :) Also, definitely wait until it sets. The biggest mistake people make with no bake pies is that they are too impatient and try to cut into it way before they should. Best to always keep it in the fridge a couple hours longer than one hour less. If it's still very jiggly then place it in the freezer for 10 minutes before serving and cutting.
Maya says
Thank you so much for the timely response. The desert turned out fantastic!
Nicole says
Could I use cashew butter instead of whole cashews? Also I found some agave powder, would that work well as a powdered sugar substitute? No hazelnuts available where I live, so I'm subbing those with almonds.
Nicole says
I ended up finding hazelnuts after all, but not cashews. I see that the cashews add texture, but don't deter from the lemony flavor. i didn't get ass many swirls when I added the raspberries, I thought about adding more but didn't want to affect the taste. Let's see how it comes out :)
Vanessa says
Hi Nicole, Cashew butter should work in place of the cashews but you'll need to use less than the amount of cashews asked for. I can't give you an exact measurement because I've always only used cashews. As for the hazelnuts, you can subsitute the nuts in the crust for any other nut you want..except cashews. I've made it with almonds, macadamia, walnuts, brazil nuts, and hazelnuts and they always taste great. With the raspberry swirl, it's always tempting to add more but then you risk have your pie fall apart because the raspberry won't set the way the rest of the cake does. Let me know how it went for you. Sorry I didn't get back to you faster on the cashews. :)
Nicole says
It was a hit. What I did for the cashew butter was weigh it. I used another nut to see how much 2/3 of a cup would weigh and then used the same weigh in butter. Perhaps it wasn't a perfect measurement, but I gather that the cashew probably tones down the lemon. Sorry for the multi-post, I recently discovered the raw vegan movement and have been making bites and bars for a few weeks. Love the experimenting and tweaking the flavor profiles depending on one's personal likes.
To the person wondering about the strong coconut taste, I had someone eat it yesterday who isn't a fan of coconut and she had seconds. The lemon overpowers any coconut taste, and the cream doesn't have a strong coconut flavor to begin with; it's very subtle.
Vanessa says
I'm so glad! Yes, weighing them makes perfect sense. It's always fun to experiment on your own. Some like a stronger lemon taste, others crave it to be more coconutty (don't think that's an actual word...). So happy you liked it :)
Tiffany says
I followed the recipe and used coconut cream not coconut milk, but my cheesecake didn't set :( I let it sit in the fridge overnight and awoke to a soupy pie. Is it possible to over mix this concoction? That is the only thing I can think of that may have caused the problem. I also made a chocolate cream pie with the same brand coconut cream and it is beautifully set. I am placing the cheesecake in the freezer and going to try to serve it as a frozen dessert. Not sure what else to do to salvage it. Any thoughts?
Vanessa says
Oh no! That's upsetting to hear. Did you soak your cashews at all and make sure to dry them off? I really don't think it's possible to over mix the filling. It always tends to set again. Weird. I would go the frozen route then so that you can at least eat it. I wish I could have been next to you while you made it so I would be able to exactly pinpoint where the error is :(
Tiffany says
Me too! I did soak the cashews, but took care to assure they were dry. I did use a little bit of agave in addition to the maple because it wasn't quite sweet enough, but usually maple syrup/honey/agave can be used pretty interchangeably..I can't imagine that would have been the recipe killer.
Vanessa says
That's bizarre. I can't imagine it being the agave either. Did swirl the raspberry into the pie or mix it in? Did you add any additonal lemon juice? Sorry for all the questions just hoping to help you out :)
Tiffany says
If I did add additional lemon, it wasn't much. I actually didn't even add the raspberry swirl because I planned to top with strawberries (the recipient doesn't tolerate the raspberry seeds well). If anything, I would think subtracting the raspberry would account for a thicker outcome, wouldn't you?
Vanessa says
Ok well now I'm baffled...Leaving out the raspberry should definitely make it set more. I've made this several times and haven't run into this problem. Did you use full fat coconut cream or low fat? That's the only other thing I can think of. That's such a bummer. I really wish you had a better outcome.
Tiffany says
Yup, full fat, in fact it is the TJ brand. Oh well! I will try again another time. This one didn't survive.
Jessamine says
My boyfriend absolutely LOVES this recipe. He is allergic to dairy, so it isn't always easy to find great desserts for him that aren't the typical dairy-free ones. However, every time I make this, it ends up super grainy! I have tried blending the cashews on their own and with the cream + other ingredients, but it is the same result every time. After you scoop out your coconut cream from the can, do you let it set and "melt" down? I am thinking it might be grainy from chunks of unmelted coconut cream, so it isn't blended fully... I just can't seem to perfect it! :(
Vanessa Croessmann says
Hi Jessamine,
I'm so happy your boyfriend likes this recipe :) There are a couple reasons why the filling may seem grainy. What kind of a food processor are you using? If it's not a high powered one you could soak your cashews for anywhere between 15 min up to 8 hours. This usually will take any grittiness away and make them much smoother when you blend them. If I didn't think about soaking them ahead of them, I usually just let them soak in warm (not hot) water while I make the crust and get the remaining ingredients together. Just make sure you pat the cashews dry with a paper towel so that you don't end up adding too much extra liquid to the filling.
Also, if your fridge is set really cold them it may make it harder for the coconut cream to get really smooth. It shouldn't really get grainy though from the coconut cream though. You could scoop out the coconut cream and just let it sit in a warm water bath for a few minutes. The amazing thing about coconut cream is that it will set again in the fridge or freezer.
Let me know if you try it again and I hope it works out for you the next time! :)
Savita @ChefDeHome says
This cakes look so good. High five for keeping it vegan!
Vanessa Croessmann says
Thanks Savita!
Zaide says
Hi, I tried the recipe just as it is but it didn't set. I left it overnight in the freezer but I don't know what happened. Do you have any ideas on what could go wrong? I had to put it in small cups so I could try, it is absolutely delicious, now I just want to make it again but the right way!
Vanessa Croessmann says
Hi Zaide, usually vegan cheesecakes don't set if you accidentally added too much liquid. Most of the time this will happen when you are scooping out the coconut cream from the coconut milk cans. If you're not careful you'll add too much extra coconut water as well. Sorry it didn't set for you but I'm glad you still found it delicious ;)