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–a great dessert to make ahead and have on hand for special occasions throughout the year!
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, Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Macaroons are some of our favorites, but this recipe for vegan cheesecake cupcakes, well–it really takes the cake :).
That’s a cupcake funny there, in cased you missed it.
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 whole grain only. Could I make something fabulous with those restrictions?
I typically love a culinary challenge, but this one seemed a little steep.
I saw these fabulous cupcakes by Ricki Heller (one of my favorite bloggers) and knew I had to have them.
The vegan cheesecake inside reminded me of the lovely cheesecakes I used to make and I just knew my family would love them.
So I went in the kitchen and got to work. Ricki’s recipe is already great, of course (like so many of her recipes are) but I wanted to get a way around the fruit juices in the cake part to make them less of a glycemic issue for us.
And I ended up tweaking her cheesecake filler a bit.
Well, we have a real winner here, folks.
These Chocolate Chip Vegan Cheesecake Cupcakes are amazing. The 24 cupcakes I made were gone in a flash and I have 3 men (2 of them are pretty young) begging for more.
(By the way–not a follower of Ricki’s? Hop on over there and check out her wonderful blog now :-).)
Anyway, I paired the tweaked “cheesecake” filling with my Homemade Chocolate Chips and a recipe from a site called Copycat Cook (that no longer exists) with a few minor alterations.
The result?
Wonderful.
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. (Pumpkin seeds are a great zinc source, by the way.) 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 want a completely “non sinking” cupcake, trade a little of the whole grain flour for some starch.
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.
- Here is a great brand of stevia scoops. Also see this post for more help with stevia. 1/2 cup any healthy sweetener of your choice can be used instead of stevia.
- 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 can be used in place of 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. I haven’t tried it yet but I think it should work.
- AIP: This would be a tough recipe to make AIP but you could try it by making an AIP cream cheese and using a cassava flour blend and of course using carob instead of cocoa. I haven’t tried this but I think it would be doable.
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 Tbsp water
- 3/8 cup lemon juice
- 7 Tbsp low carb sweetener
- 3/16 tsp stevia extract (or 6 scoops)
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/16 tsp 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 tsp gelatin
- 1 Tbsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 2 2/3 cups xylitol
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 cups coconut milk
- 1/8 tsp stevia extract (or 4 scoops)
- 2 tsp 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 tsp 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.
Creamy dairy-free cheesecake filling with crunchy chunky chocolate (or carob) chips, surrounded by a “just right” chocolate cake.
Honestly, I’ve made a number of cakes over the years (well, I do make more cookies and such than cakes), but these vegan cheesecake cupcakes were a clear favorite.
Gobbled up lickety-split.
By the way, you will have extra filling with these proportions. I thought about reducing the proportions, but we really liked having the extra.
My husband likes to add it to his cupcakes by putting a big dollop on top when he ate them. He’s not at all a fan of frosting, but the sweetness in this filling is just right.
My oldest just eats the filling by the spoonful for a snack :-).
Just plop some of that filling from the yummy vegan cheesecake cupcakes onto your already stuffed cupcakes and you’ve got a double layer of goodness.
You’re welcome.
You could, alternatively, use it as a frosting of sorts. Or even a fruit dip.
Whatever way you choose to eat is, it’s just great.
More Yummy Allergy-Free Treats!
– Homemade Almond Joy
– Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
– No Bake Coconut Delights
– Luscious Lemon Bars
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!
https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/01/the-homeacre-hop-4.html
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!