Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Chocolate Cupcakes (gluten-free with vegan options)
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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes that are both gluten-free and vegan? Yes, please!
These Vegan Cheesecake Cupcakes are a super special treat for anyone on a special diet.
Though I don’t do as much gluten-free baking as I used to, I still love making healthier special treats for my family on occasion.
These Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Keto Snowball Cookies, and Low-carb Almond Crescents are great, but this recipe for vegan cheesecake cupcakes, well, it really takes the cake (see what I did there?)
I used to make homemade low fat cheesecakes as a special treat for holidays. They were amazing. But our diets have changed.
Now we eat a sugar-free diet, plus we’re dairy free (due to my son’s life-threatening food allergies), and mostly we eat whole grain only. So I tried to make this recipe to fit what we needed.
I saw cheesecake cupcakes made by another blogger, Ricki Heller, and I knew that I had to make them into a version that we could have.
So I went in the kitchen and got to work.
I tweaked her filling and used my Homemade Chocolate Chips with a few other alterations and they worked out great.
Creamy dairy-free cheesecake filling with crunchy chunky chocolate (or carob) chips, surrounded by a “just right” chocolate cake.
This is a “healthy” recipe, so if you use whole grains they won’t be super light and fluffy, but we like our desserts to be more hearty.
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How to Use the Extra Filling
You will have extra filling using the proportions in this recipe. I thought about reducing the proportions, but we like having the extra.
My husband likes to add it to his cupcakes by putting a big dollop on top kind of like frosting. He’s not at all a fan of frosting, but since these cupcakes are not super sweet it’s just right for him.
Our oldest just eats the filling by the spoonful for a snack.
You could, alternatively, use it as a healthy frosting or even a healthy dip.
More On these Vegan Cheesecake Cupcakes
- Please use Soaked and Dehydrated Nuts or Seeds.
- If you use a stronger-tasting nut or seed like pumpkin seeds, you will need more sweetener. Macadamias and cashews are a good mild choice for this filling.
- I used a minimal amount of starch because I try to bake with whole grain flours only. The cupcakes sink “a tad” using this recipe. If you’d like, you can swap out a little of the whole grain flour for a white flour or starch but likely they’ll still sink.
Recipe Notes
- My basic “go to” gluten-free flour blend is typically 4 parts sweet brown rice, 4 parts mixed whole grain gluten-free flours, consisting of millet, buckwheat, amaranth, and long grain brown rice. I pretty much use whatever I have on hand.
- Macadamias will work just as well as cashews, and if needed, you can substitute any nut or seed.
- See my Homemade Chocolate Chips if you would like to make your own chocolate chips.
- Vegans could use a gum like xanthan gum or organic guar gum instead of gelatin.
- Read this recipe for making your own baking powder.
- Any healthy sweetener can be substituted for the xylitol. I use xylitol since it is a low-glycemic sweetener, but there are lots of other sweeteners that are low glycemic. See this post for help with substituting sweeteners.
- You can use other milk alternatives, including almond milk, instead of coconut milk. See these recipes for coconut milk and almond milk. Of course, dairy milk can be used as well.
- Any other healthy oil should work in place of coconut oil, but I haven’t tried it. I would recommend only substituting with another oil that’s solid at room temperature.
- Grain-free Option: This recipe should work with a grain-free / low-carb flour like almond flour by increasing the baking powder by 50% and reducing the coconut oil by half. I haven’t tried it yet but I think it should work.
How to Store
I recommend storing these cupcakes in the fridge where they should keep for at least a week. You can also freeze them in a freezer-friendly container to have healthy treats at the ready anytime.
More Yummy Allergy-Free Treats
These allergy-friendly treats are great recipes to have on hand for those who are on special diets, but even those who aren’t can enjoy!
– Homemade Almond Joy
– Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
– No-Bake Coconut Delights
– Luscious Lemon Bars
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake-Filled Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes (gluten, egg, & sugar-free w/ dairy-free option)
Ingredients
Filling
- 3 cups cashews (sunflower seeds work as well)
- 9 tablespoons water
- 3/8 cup lemon juice
- 7 tablespoons low carb sweetener
- 3/16 teaspoon stevia extract (or 6 scoops)
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/16 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar-free chocolate chips
Cake
- 4 cups gluten-free flour mix (see Recipe Notes)
- 1/2 cup arrowroot starch (or other light starch)
- 1 1/2 cups cocoa (or carob for AIP)
- 1 teaspoon gelatin (see Recipe Notes for vegan option)
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 2/3 cups low-carb sweetener
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 1/2 cups coconut milk
- 1/8 teaspoon stevia extract (or 4 scoops)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
Instructions
- Make the filling first so it has time to cool. (If you make my Homemade Chocolate Chips with coconut oil you will want it cool or it might melt the chips :-(.)
- Place all filling ingredients other than the chocolate chips in a high-powered blender (like a Vitamix) and blend ’til smooth.
- Fold chocolate chips into the cheesecake mixture.
- Make the cake batter.
- Fill prepared muffin tins about 1/2 full with cake batter.
- Spoon about 2 teaspoon of the cheesecake mixture on top of the cake batter.
- Top each cupcake with remaining cake batter.
- Bake in 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until a tester comes clean out of the cupcake part.
Notes
- My basic “go to” gluten-free flour blend is typically 4 parts sweet brown rice, 4 parts mixed whole grain gluten-free flours, consisting of millet, buckwheat, amaranth, and long grain brown rice. I pretty much use whatever I have on hand :-).
- Macadamias will work just as well as cashews, and if needed, you can substitute any nut or seed.
- Use 1/2 cup any healthy sweetener of your choice can be used instead of stevia.
- Vegans could use a gum like xanthan gum or organic guar gum instead of gelatin.
- Any healthy sweetener can be substituted for the xylitol. I use xylitol since it is a low-glycemic sweetener, but there are lots of other sweeteners that are low glycemic.
- You can use other milk alternatives, including almond milk, instead of coconut milk.
- You can likely substitute any other fat that’s solid at room temperature for the coconut oil.
- Grain-free Option: This recipe should work with a grain-free / low-carb flour like almond flour by increasing the baking powder by 50% and reducing the coconut oil by half.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
What’s your favorite cupcake recipe?
Wow, these blow my mind. They look fantastic, it’s hard to believe that they meet so many dietary restrictions!
Thanks Carolyn. My son has life threatening food allergies so I have no choice. Take care!
Hi Adrienne, I will be making these today but wanted to ask about the “egg-free option” you suggested in the title. There are no eggs listed in the ingredients, or egg-free options; was this a mistake? Maybe the title should be “egg -free” also? We are egg-free so I really appreciate these recipes – all of your recipes. It’s nice to not be in this alone. It’s pretty tough to please three teenaged boys who were recently told they need to avoid eggs, gluten, dairy, and sugar. I’m so glad I bake or we would be in trouble! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, it’s just so generous!
Oh my. I really have no idea and I can’t believe you are the first person to bring that up. Maybe it was a habit since almost all baked goods have that option. I so hope you like them! I’m thinking it might have been “dairy free option” and I missed it. Thanks!
Hi, First thanks for all your wonderful recipes and information. I was wondering if there was a way to print the picture with the recipe….. perhaps there could be a “print” button for “print recipe with picture”? Thanks for the consideration.
Hi and thank you. I am sure there is a way – but I would have to find another way to print the recipes. I’ll work on it as I have time :).
I am sooo loving your recipes. I love your on my facebook so I get new ones daily 🙂 , I do have a couple questions, what is xylitol, isn’t it a chemical? also I did see where you say 1/32 tsp is great for stevia, did you mean 6 scoops of 1/32 tsp? I am still new all this. thank you for all your time and effort 🙂
Hi. I’m not finding my “1/32 tsp is great for stevia” in the post -can you help please?
Adrienne, this is stupendous! I wanted to feature it, but no link back 🙁 gorgeous tho. xo
Thanks! My apologies once again. We’ve had such chaos here..broken bathroom mirrors, car battery twice, son’s sprained ankle and leaky kitchen sink. You can imagine Val Day wasn’t that much fun :(. My son just took care of it. He remembered me saying I linked to you but he forgot the link back. Hugs.
These cupcakes look sooo good. I love the filling idea, and of course, the fact that it is dairy free. Thanks for sharing this at GF Wednesdays. It looks like your forgot to link back. 🙂
Oops – we’ll take care of that. My son, my assistant, hasn’t been as on top of things this week :). Sorry!
These look absolutely amazing. I’ve been looking for a new idea for my daughter’s birthday… I think I’ve found it!
🙂 I hope she likes them!
Oh my, these look scrumptious! What a wonderful allergy friendly recipe!
Thank you. Yes I saw the link to amazon after my comments. Duh! sorry about that. I will purchase this item. Nunaturals have so many stevia products — I did not know which one this was. But you already had it linked. My kindle makes the worst autocorrections 🙂 Sorry about that and thank you.
No worries!!
The comment above is about the nunatural sweetener you used sorry about this autocorrect mechanism
Funny :).
Can you link to the unnatural product you used in this recipe does it come w a scoop? Thx
I’ll do it soon – thanks!
Hi – I did link to it in the ingredients. It does not come w/ a scoop. If you like I can put a scoop link at the bottom of the recipe.
how much is in a “scoop” of stevia?
1/32 of a tsp :). I have linked to the scoops I use at times in certain posts. If you need it, let me know.
Wow, those look good! I’m going to pin them so I don’t lose the recipe and share it with my baking daughter.
Thanks!
Yummy! These look delicious.
These cupcakes look amazing!! Thanks for sharing! :*)
~Brenda @ChattingOverChocolate.blogspot.com
You’re welcome. They are gone gone gone at our home :).
YUM, these look amazing and I love Ricki! I’d love for you to link this up at our Gluten Free Fridays party this week! Its live now! I hope you make it this week! 🙂 Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
These look pretty wonderful, I can’t lie. As a special treat these would definitely hit the spot.
Thanks, France!
These look so wonderful! I’d love to have you share them on The HomeAcre Hop!
Thanks, Lisa. I’ll see if I can :).
Just thought I’d point out that dairy-free and vegan aren’t the same thing. Vegans don’t eat animal products or those produced by animals: the recipe contains gelatin which is a protein substance derived from collagen taken from the tendons, ligaments and tissues of mammals.
I knew that but was typing so fast I forgot! There’s a vegan option now and I changed the wording. Thanks!
Your cupcakes look fabulous!! And so funny–I used to gorge on jelly beans in my 30s because they were “low fat” (even though I didn’t really like them!). Ah, how times have changed, eh? Thanks so much for the cupcake mention, and glad they inspired these! xo
They are soo good! Thanks to you! The only problem is…this time they really stuck to the paper cupcake liners. We didn’t have that issue last time. I recall reading something about that years ago but I don’t recall what it was. Do you typically use the liners?
The jelly bean thing is so funny. Do you have Jelly Bellys in Canada? They are truly amazing and there was a store about 45 minutes north of where I lived when I was a “bean” addict. It was an outlet for the Jelly Bellys. Bad news, right? Anyway, they even had bags of the “rejects” and they were called “Belly Flops”. We even bought those a few times. Hubby and I shared that horrid addiction. We ate whole grains, vegan chilis, etc., but would regularly indulge in those. How funny! I don’t like the regular ones, but those Jelly Bellies were something else.
Times sure have changed. Now we indulge in sugar free, dairy & gluten free cupcakes. Thanks again!
Yes, we have jelly bellys! I had my favorite flavors “back in the day”. And I’d buy the rejects, too (sometimes huge ones where two stuck together, mis-colored ones, weirdo flavors, etc). So funny!
Re: the liners, yes, I do use them. I’ve found things stick sometimes if underbaked or if I let them cool too long in the pans. . .but sometimes, they just stick no matter what. 😉
Well, the first time I made these — no sticking. I did change the recipe a tad so maybe I need to go back to the original. Thanks!