You know, I don’t share desserts often here but when I do, I go all out. This vegan chocolate orange cheesecake is a total celebration of one of my favourite flavour combinations. The filling is tangy and rich like a truffle and the cacao oat crust holds it all in like a toasty hug. A beautiful ring of sliced Cara Cara, navel, and blood oranges brings the sunshine.
I used Raaka Chocolate’s Oat Milk Baking Chocolate and Cacao Powder in this dessert. I love the fruity and bright flavours of their unroasted chocolate—it perfectly compliments the zesty orange and the cozy toasted oats. All of Raaka’s chocolate is single origin and procured through a process called “transparent trade” where farmers and co-ops are paid higher rates than the fair trade minimum. More information on that here.
Every product I’ve had from Raaka is also just so delicious. The seasonal flavours that they come up with for their bars honestly blow my mind. I also love that every item on their website offers a rundown on the sourcing, what farmers were paid for the cacao, and tasting notes.
In this cheesecake, we used the melted, dairy-free Oat Milk Baking Chocolate and their Cacao Powder. The Oat Milk Baking Chocolate is slightly mellow and perfectly sweetened with maple sugar. We use maple syrup as a sweetener in this cake, so the flavour pairing just works! I combine the melted chocolate and maple syrup is combined with soaked cashews, coconut milk, vanilla, and plenty of orange zest and juice. Sticky dates, cacao powder, and toasted oats form a sturdy but still tender crust. The whole vibe of this chocolate orange cheesecake is super lush, but also wholesome. My partner definitely ate slices of it for breakfast!
Hope you’ll give this recipe a try if you feel like you need to spoil yourself a bit. This chocolate would also be incredible in these chocolate orange bundt cakes.
Vegan Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
Ingredients
Toasted Oat Crust
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup soft Medjool Dates
- ¼ cup Cacao Powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼-⅓ cup non-dairy milk or water
Cheesecake Filling
- 2 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours and drained
- ¾ cup full fat coconut milk
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons Cacao Powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 5 oz (140 grams) Oat Milk Baking Chocolate, melted
Equipment
Notes
- I topped this cheesecake with a vanilla cashew cream and some additional melted oat milk baking chocolate, and just swirled the two together with a paring knife. This step is optional because the cheesecake alone is so rich. If you’d like to make the cashew cream topping yourself, you’ll need to blend the following in a high speed blender: ½ cup raw cashews (soaked for 4 hours and drained), 1/3 cup filtered water (plus extra of necessary), 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Blend those ingredients on high until silky smooth. Let the cream set up in the fridge to firm up for about 30 minutes before spreading on top of the fully set cheesecake, and then drizzling with melted chocolate.
- I finished this cheesecake with peeled slices of a regular orange, a cara cara orange, and a blood orange. Makes the final dessert look so beautiful, but isn’t 100% absolutely necessary. I also sprinkled a little pinch of cacao nibs as well.
Instructions
- Lightly grease an 8-inch springform pan with coconut oil and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, toast the rolled oats until very fragrant, about 5 minutes. Set the oats aside to cool.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the cooled toasted oats, Medjool dates, cacao powder, and sea salt. Pulse the mixture until finely chopped. Then, with the motor running, drizzle in ¼ cup of the non-dairy milk into the food processor through the feed tube. The mixture should start sticking together and balling up. If it isn’t doing this, keep adding more non-dairy milk by the tablespoon until it forms a slightly sticky “dough.”
- Press the toasted oat crust into the prepared springform pan evenly. I like to use the bottom and sides of a dry measuring cup to press the crust up the sides of the pan. Once adequately pressed in, set the crust aside.
- Make the cheesecake filling. In an upright, high speed blender, combine the drained cashews, coconut milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, orange zest, orange juice, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cacao powder, sea salt, and the melted oat milk chocolate. Blend this mixture on high until completely smooth and fully incorporated, at least 1 full minute. If the ingredients aren’t blending easily, stop the motor of the blender periodically and push the ingredients down with a spatula. Then, resume blending on high.
- Once you have the filling completely smooth, Pour it into the prepared toasted oat crust. Spread the filling out evenly with a spatula. Place the cheesecake in the fridge until the filling is completely set, at least 4 hours.
- Garnish the chocolate orange cheesecake with the the suggested cashew cream in the recipe notes or simply with a drizzle of melted oat milk chocolate. I like to take the cheesecake out of the fridge about 10 minutes before I intend to slice and serve it.
- This cheesecake keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days.
This post was created in partnership with Raaka Chocolate. All opinions are my own.
I’m not vegan, but I’m making this for vegan family members. I just finished pouring the filling into the crust and licked the spatula and all I can say is WOW! I don’t think it tastes exactly like cheesecake but it might be better—I don’t miss the heaviness and density of dairy. I used TCHO brand chocolate and made a biscoff/vegan butter press in crust. So delicious!
Wow wow wow! This recipe is just hands down incredible. I have made this cake twice and I can’t get over how perfect it is. Beautiful flavors, texture and consistency. It’s also very structurally sound and holds up like actual cheesecake. I have made this for friends and shared it with those who turn their nose up to vegan foods. They can’t get enough. Thank you for helping me feed my friends and family and delicious and thoughtful dessert!
Can’t wait to make this! I don’t bake with oil so would greatly appreciate if you have any suggestions to keep this oil-free. Thank you!
Hi Jules,
I haven’t made this particular recipe without oil, so cannot guarantee anything. The coconut oil in the filling helps to really firm up everything once refrigerated. You could probably replace it with an equal amount of additional coconut milk. The end result may be a slightly softer filling. If this is the case, I’d recommend freezing the cheesecake for 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Again, I haven’t tried any of these adjustments, so cannot guarantee an outcome unfortunately. This would just be my strategy if I was testing an oil-free version.
-L
I made this cake for my friend’s birthday. I omitted the orange slices for ease of slicing. Everyone who tasted this cake was in heaven! It was delicious! Such a wonderful recipe…
I need to thank you, Laura. Your recipes have helped me through the pandemic. Early March last year I asked a couple of friends whether they would be interested in doing weekly virtual cooking sessions. They were keen to join me and we have been going ever since. We have cooked our way through your book and website. It has been wonderful and we look forward to continuing our sessions in post-pandemic times.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Another winner. It was simple to put together the basics. The texture is more like mouse. The additions on the top of the cream, chocolate, nibs, and orange simply make every bite a dream to savor
Another winner recipe. I made this for a dinner party and everyone was so impressed how it looked and tasted. Thanks
This looks really good. Is there a way to substitute cashews with something else? We have nut allergies in the family. Thanks!
Hi Vidhya!
I think you could substitute an equal amount of silken tofu or soaked raw sunflower seeds. If you’re going for the sunflower seeds, you may need to run the blender a bit longer to get everything silky smooth.
-L
This looks so incredible! I may need to invent a celebration for it!
Would it be possible to use some other type of chocolate? Perhaps dark chocolate or bittersweet?
Hi Beth,
Yes! This chocolate is about 58% cacao, so as long as you use something similar, you’ll be good :)
-L
I used bittersweet, and it is delicious! Strongly recommend!
Hi Laura Do you think this would freeze? Looks absolutely delicious and I fear there is a LOT of cheesecake for 2!!
Hi Anne!
I think this cake would freeze just fine. I would leave the optional cashew cream topping out of the recipe if I was intending to freeze it though because it will go off in colour and it may separate upon thawing.
-L
Hate to ask this, but would this still be good without the orange? It looks lovely and moist!
Hi Justine! I think it would be fine without the orange juice and zest. I would still keep the lemon to get that tangy flavour though! :)
-L