“Are You Cereal, Cheesecake?” – Fruity Pebble Cheesecake with Strawberry Krispy Treat Crust (vegan, no-bake, gluten-free)

As you can tell, the vegan junk food saga continues with our most nostalgic creation to date: Cereal Cheesecake. The idea was sparked by a treat we saw while passing through popular LA joint, The Pie Hole, who had an epic cheesecake made with a cornflake crust and Fruity Pebble-infused custard. We. Were. Hooked. 

We sat on the idea for a month or two, knocking out other recipes in the meantime, but when it finally came time to take on this grand idea, a quick internet search showed us that Buzzfeed has also made a cereal cheesecake, only they converted their Fruity Pebbles into a rice krispy treat crust. Once again, we were hooked.

Why does everyone take the good ideas before we get to them? Whatever, at least we’re the first people to make it vegan (hopefully), which is enough to soothe our egos.

Thankfully, most highly processed cereals are vegan by default, because let’s face it, animal products are too expensive for manufactures to make a big profit off of, which makes this a win-win! Oh, “what about red food dye and bleached sugar” you say? It’s true, some red food dyes are made using cochineal, an intensely pigmented insect native to a few tropical regions across the globe, including Peru and the Canary Islands. The bugs are harvested, sun-dried, dipped into an acidic solution, and crushed into a fine powder, which is then used to make things ridiculously red. That may weird you out, but if you knew how they extracted red coloring from coal and petroleum products, aka the vegan way, you’d probably be even more terrified. Personally, we’d take the bugs over artificial dye, but regardless of what we think, Fruity Pebbles are made using Red 40, an artificial or “plant-based” food dye.

Don’t look at me weird. You already knew you were gonna take the L on health when you clicked on a post titled Fruity Pebble Cheesecake with Strawberry Krispy Treat Crust. Anyways, about that whole “bleached sugar” thing—it turns out that most popular companies are no longer using bone char (in the States at least) to filter their sugar, because… well, probably because it upsets vegans, which are quickly becoming a “large market.” (I don’t like the term anymore than you do, but it’s how they view us, okay?) On top of that, there’s other ways to process sugar that are cheaper and don’t require any bones, so that’s what most companies are aiming for these days. Alright, can we talk about the cheesecake now? While this recipe is pretty straightforward, there’s a few important points to cover to ensure you get the best possible cheesecake! They go a ‘lil like this:

1. Miyoko’s Vegan Cream Cheese is the only alternative we’ve found that works perfectly in place of real cream cheese, because it’s thick, tangy, and simply perfect. Every other brand we’ve tried tastes like chemicals, has the consistency of jello, or is just straight up weird. The only other brand we can recommend with good conscious would be VioLife, however we’ve never tasted it ourselves, so we can’t give a 100% on it.
2. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, we prefer pre-made or stabilized whipped cream as opposed to fresh coconut whip. Reason being is fresh coconut whipped cream tends to melt in a millisecond, whereas pre-made whipped cream maintains its shape almost no matter what.
3. If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a regular ‘ole cake pan! You just have to make sure every inch of that pan is covered in parchment. The best way to do this is to create a parchment sling for easy removal, a parchment round for the bottom, and thick strips of parchment for the sides. If you’re unsure on how to do that, we link to a helpful video down in the recipe notes!

We hope you guys enjoy this cheesecake, it’s:

• Packed with 90’s nostalgia
• Sweet, tangy, and bright
• Crispy, creamy, and rich
• Vegan, no-bake, and gluten-free!

If you like what your eyes are tasting, then share this recipe with your friends on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest at @noeggsorham! For more flame-emoji photos, geeky food talk, and mouth-watering dishes, subscribe to our email list. Tag us in a photo when you create one of our recipes at home so we can share it!

This is cereal-sly the best vegan cheesecake you’ve never had.