Vegan Strawberry Beet Lemonade Cheesecake

This vegan cheesecake filling is made with cream cheese, raw cashews, coconut cream, coconut oil, strawberries, beetroot powder, lemon juice and sugar then poured into a gluten-free graham cracker crust and topped with a vegan sour cream topping for an easy, delicious gluten-free, vegan dessert!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Love Beets. The opinions and text are all mine. The product mentioned in this post was sent to me as a gift from Love Beets to use in this recipe, thank you so much!

If you would have told me five years ago that I would be putting beets in my cheesecake I would have looked at you like you were bonkers. Now hold the phone, before you start to think that I am the bonkers one, let me tell you just how amazing this gluten-free, vegan cheesecake is… IT’S AMAZING!

When I first decided to ditch the gluten nearly seven years ago I was devistated for many reasons, I mean, an Italian girl not being able to have bread seemed like a sin. But I managed, it was hard- but I’ve grown to love this gluten-free lifestyle! Gluten-free products have come SUCH a long way since then and for that I am grateful. Fast forward a year or two later when I also realized that dairy was a trigger food for my auto-immune issues, now that was just a tradgedy. That meant no more cheesecake and cue sobbing, that is until over the past couple of years when vegan cheese products have also stepped up their game.

Cheesecake used to be my go-to choice for my birthday cake. My grandma’s recipe was my favorite! So for this Strawberry Beet Lemonade Cheesecake I combined some of my favorite parts of that recipe with different ingredients I’ve learned from making other vegan cheesecakes and tarts and here we are!

Ok, so now I am sure you’re like “get to the beets part”… You might be imagining adding whole beets, that have been cooked and then like blended up, that’s not the case. In this recipe I am using my favorite beetroot powder from Love Beets! Aside from adding the gorgeous pink hue you see, this magical powder makes it easy to get an extra boost of nutrients in a small amount. Health benefits of beets include:
-Heart health and healthy blood pressure
-Healthy circulation of blood and oxygen in the body
-Stamina, endurance, and energy

For this gluten-free, vegan Strawberry Beet Lemonade Cheesecake, I combine Love Beets Beet Powder with fresh squeezed lemons and sugar (you can substitite maple syrup) to make a beet lemonade that then gets blended with soaked cashews, vegan cream cheese, coconut cream, raw cacao butter (or coconut oil), almond extract, arrowroot, and smashed strawberries then spread over a graham cracker crust and topped with a beet “sour cream” topping. Basically it’s like summer in your mouth 🙂

This Strawberry Beet Lemonade Cheesecake is surprisingly easy to make, but it does take a bit longer to bake and chill compared to other recipes on my blog, but that being said, it’s really easy to make and soooo worth a little extra time- which by the way can be done in stages! I recommend making it a day in advance to allow it to set up properly.

I’ve been quite obsessed with this “superfood” powder and adding it to all sorts of recipes like my Beet + Blood Orange Macarons, Beet Hummus Pizza, or my Pickled Beet Clementine Tostadas.

So go ahead, give beets a chance and if you’re already a beet lover than you’re sure to love this Strawberry Beet Lemonade Cheesecake recipe! Head on over to the Love Beets website to shop (they have a wide variety of products and fun recipes too!) and locate Love Beets in a store near you. As always if you make this delicious cheesecake, be sure to tag me on  Instagram or Facebook!