Kawaii Vegan Cheesecake

Jump to Recipe

---

This mini-tiered cheesecake is vegan, gluten-free, naturally sweetened, and naturally colored. I started getting into creating cakes when my regular cake lady couldn’t make my daughters’ birthday cake a few years back. My two daughters’ birthdays are just a few days apart, a win for parents on making one big birthday party. Their party happened to fall on Easter weekend and she was swamped with orders. We were throwing a superhero-themed party for both of them and I really wanted a fun-themed cake. So I took matters into my own hands and made my first tiered fondant cake. I envisioned a bat girl and spider girl-themed cake to match their costumes. I wanted to surprise my family with a hidden surprise of rainbow layers when you cut into it. Because of course, I wanted to make this harder for myself on top of planning a kid’s birthday party. It was the first time working with fondant but it came naturally to me after playing with play-doh or clay with my daughters a hundred times. Plus those art classes back in college came in handy.

I used a boxed cake mix just so I can take the pressure off of making a rainbow-tiered fondant cake. I followed a recipe that would help a boxed cake taste more homemade. I even bought a Wilton 6 tiered baking pan set to get those rainbow layers. So I was totally set! Looking back I’m so thankful that my cake lady was unavailable cause it helped me find a deeper passion for baking.

Being a professional graphic and web designer helped in the design aspect of things. I’ve always been a visual learner so all those baking shows that I binge-watched like those episodes of the Great British Bake Off really helped. I absolutely love the creative aspect of baking. After that birthday I continued making themed cakes for my whole family.

---

---

This year my daughter wanted a Gacha Life-themed cheesecake. I love a challenge and I was determined to make this vegan, gluten-free, naturally sweetened, and naturally colored. Now I’m experienced in making traditional cakes but I’m still experimenting with vegan, gluten-free, and naturally sweetened baking. It’s such a tall order when you can’t use powdered sugar or refined sugar. Some natural sugars have a tendency to change the color of the cake cause they are naturally brown. Liquid sugars can also change the consistency of the cake. It’s a balancing act with baking so anything can easily go completely wrong with these restrictions.

For the different colors, I was able to use natural food coloring from Suncore Foods. They make an amazing array of natural food dyes that are from natural sources and come in large packs. Back in the day, I was using Wilton’s natural food coloring in these small tiny packets that did not do so well. There were such few options for this, so I was actually crushing freeze-dried fruit to make my own natural food coloring. Thankful for companies that are recognizing the need for more wholesome ingredients in baking.

Vegan cheesecakes are typically made with soaked cashews, which I think gives it the best consistency. But my husband is allergic to them so this recipe will be using vegan cream cheese by Kite Hill. I like that their cream cheese is made out of almonds and uses simpler ingredients than other brands.

I wanted to make my own vegan fondant. This one uses a bean-based fondant that is popular in Asian baking. I made my own white bean paste for this. I soaked and cooked my own beans but to save time you can also use any canned white bean, preferably unsalted. It is quite time-consuming to make so I recommend making this ahead of time. It can also dry out in the fridge so I recommend decorating right before serving. I’ll have the canned version on here. 1

Here’s a recipe for white bean paste.

• 1 can of white beans drained and rinsed (lima, cannellini or navy beans)
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup, add more to your liking
• 1/8 tsp salt

Press the beans through a sifter to remove all the skins and smooth out the texture.

Add beans to a saucepan and place on medium heat. Add the maple syrup and salt and mix well. Continue to mix and fold the mixture to prevent it from burning. Mix for about 5 – 10 minutes or until it turns into a thick paste and you can run a clear line with a spoon through it.

What Makes This Vegan Cheescake Healthier

• This recipe uses almonds and oat flour to make the crust gluten-free instead of the typical store-bought
• graham crackers
• The cream cheese is Kite Hill brand that uses almonds and simpler ingredients.
• I use natural food coloring to create my rainbow colors.
• It is naturally sweetened with date sugar and maple sugar.
• It uses homemade vegan fondant that is naturally sweetened and without preservatives of regular fondant.

This page contains affiliate links that helps support this website, thank you.

How-to Video

Let’s Make This Kawaii Vegan Cheesecake

What You’ll Need

Crust

• 1/3 cup raw almonds
• 1/3 cup gluten-free oatmeal
• 1/8 tsp pink Himalayan salt or your choice of salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp date sugar or sugar of choice
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil

Filling

• 16 oz vegan cream cheese I used Kite Hill Brand
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp arrowroot starch or tapioca starch, corn starch
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp purple sweet potato powder for coloring, add more to enhance the color
• 1 tsp blue butterfly pea powder for coloring, add more to enhance the color
• 1 tsp matcha powder, add more to enhance the color
• 1 tsp pink pitaya powder for coloring, add more to enhance the color

Vegan Fondant (Optional)

• 250 g white bean paste, this is a sweetened bean paste
• 7 1/2 g gluten-free flour
• 15 g rice flour 
• 3 1/2 g glutinous rice flour 
• 1 tsp purple sweet potato powder for coloring, add more to enhance the color
• 1 tsp blue butterfly pea powder  for coloring, add more to enhance the color
• 1 tsp matcha powder for coloring, add more to enhance the color
• 1 tsp pink pitaya powderfor coloring, add more to enhance the color
• 1 tsp black cocoa powder, for black coloring. Add more to enhance color

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• If using baking rings, wrap the bottom with foil to prevent spilling. Grease baking rings with preferred oil. Then place parchment paper around the baking ring to prevent sticking.
• Place almonds, oats, sugar, and salt in a food processor or high-speed blender. Mix until it has turned into a finer consistency.
• Add in the melted coconut oil, if too dry add a little more coconut oil. Turn on the food processor and mix till the oil has been incorporated into the mixture, about 1 -2 minutes

• Place crust mixture to the bottom of baking rings and evenly smooth the top of the crust. Place in oven for 15 minutes or until it’s golden in color. Once cooked let cool and set aside.
• Place vegan cream cheese and maple syrup in a large bowl. Add more to your taste.

• Mix well with a hand-mixer or stand mixer, about 1-2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix till all ingredients are incorporated, 2 -3 minutes

• Divide the mixture evenly into 6 bowls, you can use a kitchen scale to make this an easier process.

• Place the powdered food colors into 4 different bowls. You’ll have more white mixture. Mix well until you get the desired color intensity. Then place each color in separate piping bags.
• Pipe mixture into baking rings alternating colors with each layer.

• Once each ring is filled with cream cheese mixture place in the oven for 30 -35 minutes or until there is slight jiggle when you shake it.
• Cool cheesecakes completely. Once cooled place in refrigerator for 4 hours.

• Optional homemade vegan fondant. To save time you can also purchase premade vegan fondant. Satin Ice is a brand that makes vegan fondant. Decorate with hearts and characters using vegan fondant and natural food coloring. Serve cold and enjoy!

Optional homemade vegan fondant

• Mix the gluten-free flour, rice flour, and glutinous rice flour in a bowl. Place the white bean paste in a separate large bowl.
• Sift the mixed flours over the bean paste. Mix the paste and flours together until it’s all incorpated.
• Boil water in a large pot with a steam basket and place parchment paper on top of the basket. Make fondant dough into small flat round lumps, like thick pancake shape, about 3 inches in diameter. You’ll make about 5-6 pieces.
• Place each fondant dough into the steam basket and steam for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for another 5 minutes.
• Once slightly cooled knead the fondant dough. You can now add natural food coloring to this dough in your choice of colors. Make sure to cover this fondant dough with plastic wrap or wet cloth as it will dry easily in the air. It will also harden if placed in the fridge so I recommend placing these decorations right before serving.

---

Trending Recipes

---