Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake (Vegan GF)

A date and nut cacao base with a simple 3-ingredient chocolate filling and a salted caramel topping. Add on some more melted chocolate and homemade salted caramel chocolate truffles for a delicious, rich and indulgent vegan, gluten-free and simple dessert.

This Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake is a real winner throughout Veganuary and beyond – no-one would tell it’s vegan. Cheesecake is always a great dessert to impress friends and family as you can make it up ahead of time and leave it chilling in the fridge until you need to serve it; I tend to make mine the night before so it is ready to go.

This recipe requires no cashews to soak overnight and relies on a 3-ingredient cheesecake filling:

• Silken tofu: you may be surprised but this makes the smoothest cheesecake mousse-like filling. You won’t even tell that there is tofu in there – for this recipe you do need silken tofu as it has the silkiest smooth texture.
• Melted chocolate: I like to use dark chocolate the best flavour with the salt and the caramel contrast. Make sure you use dairy-free chocolate, too.
• Sea salt: just a dash of sea salt in the filling makes a really yummy mix.

This filling makes a delicious mousse in its own right, just keep it in jars or pots ready to spoon – allow it to set for a couple of hours until firm. If you can resist this rich and chocolatey mousse from the blender enough to make this Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake, you need a few more ingredients for the base:

• Medjool dates: these are always the jammiest and stickiest, but you can use any dried dates and just re-hydrate them in boiling water for 10 minutes to soften them.
• Mixed nuts: any nuts will do. I used a mix of cashews and hazelnuts for this one, but pecans, walnuts and almonds would also work.
• Cacao powder: this adds the chocolate element into the base.
• Sea salt: this really adds to the flavour of the base!
• Vanilla essence: just a splash for flavour. If you don’t have any, you can leave this out.
• Coconut oil: just a little to help bind the base together and keep it sticky but firm.

Blend all together the base ingredients and press into a loose-bottomed dish for this Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake. Once you’ve topped the base with the simple filling, make the caramel. This is really a cheat’s caramel as it requires no boiling down; simply whisk together melted coconut oil with almond butter, maple syrup and sea salt for the salted element. It is super creamy and smooth and makes a delicious sauce on top of this cheesecake or save some for drizzling over breakfast bowls and other desserts.

You may notice that sea salt features in all elements of this Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake and for good reason as I took part in the Cornish Sea Salt “Pass the Salt” campaign which was really fun! You can see the full video here.

The final part of this Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake are the salted caramel chocolate truffles which only take 5 minutes to make in one bowl with a few simple ingredients. The resulting cheesecake is soft and smooth in texture with a chewy sticky base and crunchy chocolate coated truffles on top. The rich and indulgent chocolate contrasts with the flaky salt and the sweet, luscious caramel. 

I hope you will love this Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake as much as we do at home. It is naturally vegan and gluten-free, soya-free and dairy-free. It is rich and indulgent, made form wholefoods and simple ingredients. It makes a really impressive show-stopper dessert to serve to friends and family or make it up for yourself and store leftovers in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

If you are looking for more cheesecakes and desserts, how about my:

• No-Bake Gingerbread Cheesecake
• Chocolate Orange Mousse Tart
• Raw Cherry Chocolate Cheesecake
• Chocolate Coconut Raspberry Cheesecake Slices
• Raw Lemon and Pistachio Cheesecake

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake (Vegan GF)

• Servings: 10-12
• Time: 30 minutes plus 2-4 hours chilling
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A date and nut cacao base with a simple 3-ingredient chocolate filling and a salted caramel topping. Add on some more melted chocolate and homemade salted caramel chocolate truffles for a delicious, rich and indulgent vegan, gluten-free and simple dessert.

Ingredients

Cheesecake Base:
• 200g medjool dates (pitted weight)
• 160g mixed nuts (e.g. cashews, hazelnuts, almonds)
• 2 tbsp cacao powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, softened
Cheesecake Filling:
• 340g silken tofu
• 180g dark chocolate
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
Salted Caramel:
• 30g coconut oil, melted
• 45g almond butter
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
Salted Caramel Chocolate Truffles:
• 60g almond butter
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 25g coconut flour
• 5g cacao powder
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 pinch of sea salt
• Toppings: 40g melted chocolate, chocolate buttons, sprinkles, pomegranate

Directions

1. Make the cheesecake base: soak the pitted dates in boiling water for 10 minutes and then drain. Meanwhile, add the nuts to a food processor to a fine crumb. Remove the nuts from the blender and add in the dates, vanilla and coconut oil. Blend until really jammy and sticky. Now add in the nuts, cacao powder and sea salt and blend again to a sticky mix.
2. Grease and line a 20-22cm loose-bottomed tin with parchment and transfer the base mixture. Press down firmly to form an even layer.
3. Make the cheesecake filling: melt the chocolate and then add to a food processor/blender with the silken tofu and sea salt and blend thoroughly until smooth – this will take a few minutes. Pour onto the base and smooth over the top.
4. Make the salted caramel: whisk together all the ingredients until smooth. Spoon or swirl over the cheesecake (you may not need it all). Place in the fridge for 2-4 hours until set.
5. Make the truffles: stir together all the ingredients to a thick sticky dough. Divide into 8-10 pieces and roll into balls. Set in the fridge for 1 hour. Dip in melted chocolate, if desired.
6. When ready to assemble, top the cheesecake with the melted chocolate, chocolate buttons, sprinkles, pomegranate and a sprinkle of sea salt. This will keep in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for 1 month.

I really look forward to hearing what you think of this Salted Caramel Chocolate Cheesecake so please let me know in the comments below and tag me in your creations – I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With salted caramel chocolate cheesecake love x