These whimsical unicorn cheesecake bars are like something straight from a fairytale.
Looking for that perfect Easter dessert?
The sweet & creamy pastel cheesecake bars, based on the popular Rainbow Unicorn Dip, would be right at home on any Easter menu!
They’re also a great choice for a fancy tea party or fairytale-themed birthday, or for no reason at all other than that rainbow food is so much more exciting than non-rainbow food… not to mention it is more Instagrammable!
Is “instagrammable” a word?
Merriam Webster’s is telling me it is not.
Anyways… the most magical thing about these rainbow cheesecake bars is that they need ZERO food coloring.
Who needs food coloring when nature supplies you with all of the ingredients necessary for the brilliant blue, green, yellow, and pink hues of these brightly colored cheesecake squares?
More Cheesecake Bar Recipes:
Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake Bars – (Reader Favorite)
The bars are much easier to make than it might appear!
You simply whip up the cheesecake filling as you would for any normal cheesecake, then separate it into four dishes, making each dish a different color. Swirl all of the colors together in a pan, and place it in the oven.
So easy a caveman unicorn could do it.
Rainbow Unicorn Cheesecake Bars
*Want to make a full rainbow cheesecake? Use this recipe: Healthy Cheesecake Of Dreams
Rainbow Unicorn Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
- 12 oz cream cheese, such as Trader Joes nondairy
- 1 cup plain yogurt of choice, such as coconutmilk yogurt
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla
- 1/4 cup sugar or maple syrup, honey, or xylitol for sugar-free
- pinch uncut stevia OR 1 additional tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot, optional for firmer bars
- natural food coloring (see below)
- crust of choice, optional (I list one option in the instructions below)
Instructions
*You can either use a few drops of your favorite food coloring or use a tiny pinch turmeric for yellow, beet or acai powder for pink, and blue and green spirulina.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Fill any large baking pan around halfway with water, and place on oven’s lower rack. Line an 8-inch pan with parchment. Bring cream cheese to room temp, then beat all ingredients except colorings in a blender or with a hand blender, just until smooth – don’t overbeat, which would introduce air bubbles that might burst in the oven and cause cracking. If a crust is desired, use your favorite OR finely crush 6 full graham cracker sheets with a little oil and spread the crumbs into the lined pan. Divide the filling among 4 little bowls, dye each a different color, then drop spoonfuls of alternating colors into the pan (see step-by-step photos). Gently swirl the spoonfuls in the pan together with a spoon. Bake 25 minutes, then don’t open the oven but turn the heat off and let sit in the closed oven an additional 8 minutes – this helps the bars cool slowly so they’re less likely to crack. Take out the still-undercooked bars and let cool at room temp 1 hour (this also helps the bars cool gradually), then cover and refrigerate overnight, during which time they firm up considerably. Slice into bars, wiping the knife between cuts. Store leftovers in the fridge, or they can even be frozen.
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What great options for natural food coloring! Thanks for sharing 🙂
So glad you asked this Aimee! Dye is a trigger for my family and we’re always looking for natural food coloring. My girls and I appreciate it. We have healthy conversation and love Katie. She keeps our family’s sweet tooth healthy. http://www.wetalkhealthy.com
SO excited to make these! Who doesn’t love unicorns AND vegan cheesecake?!
I’ve always baked cheesecake in a water bath, but are the directions saying that the pan with water just needs to be in the same oven, rather than having one pan inside the other? If having both pans in the oven on different racks works just as well, I’m all for it!
You only need to put it on the bottom rack of the oven. Put the cheesecake on the center rack. Here is more information on why it works this way: https://lett-trim.today/2016/05/16/cheesecake-bars-vegan-chocolate-chip/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Yum! Making this for a party this weekend. Also, last weekend I made your healthy carrot cake (two batches) which I had a layer of vegan coconut pecan frosting as a filling and decorated with your greek yogurt frosting. It was the best!
Oh my God, these are gorgeous! I recently made Rainbow Poptarts, and now I like want rainbow/unicorn/funfetti everything. These look perfect given my technicolor food kick!
I can’t wait to make these. I’m sure the kids will love them. What a great springtime treat.
1 million heart eyed emojis inserted here!!!!!!!! These are so cute!
That marble rainbow effect is just perfect Katie! I’m all about color and LOVE this!! Definitely going to try this ?
What a stunning idea! I am so bringing these to the next “girl party” I go to!
Thank you for your post 🙂 Where can I get blue spirulina? I love the beautiful colors 🙂 and can’t wait to try this.
I have seen green spirulina powder at marshalls. But blue should probably be bought at a herb store or Trader Joe’s!