Once upon a time, I used to say that I didn’t really like cake. And by cake, I meant the traditional sort of sponge cake with piles of frosting. I’d simply had too many of those out-of-a-box-with-canned-icing type cakes and they were virtually flavourless, except for being so sweet as to make my teeth ache. My husband caught on to this fact early on and proceeded to buy me a succession of ice cream cakes to celebrate birthdays and other major milestones. Since that time, I’ve discovered the joys of a good, moist homemade spongecake with rich homemade buttercream frosting. But I still have a strong penchant for other kinds of cake…cheesecake in particular. Cheesecake is never too dry, never too crumbly. It can be a little too sweet sometimes, but with care, cheesecake can be just the right amount of sweet while still maintaining that delightful tang of the cream cheese. And the choices of flavours and flavour combinations are virtually limiteless. You can see why it’s a beloved kind of cake for me.
And thankfully, cheesecake is easily made low carb. Obviously the traditional graham cracker or cookie crust has to go, but that’s easily replaced with a little nut flour, sweetener and butter. In fact, I daresay that you would have a hard time knowing the difference, if I didn’t tell you. The filling part is very much the same as with any cheesecake – cream cheese, eggs and your sweetener of choice. The toughest part is deciding what flavour of cheesecake you want to make!
I found myself in the mood for something rich and gooey over the weekend. I declared to my husband that I was going to make some sort of cheesecake, I just didn’t know what yet. But I knew I wanted it to have a drizzly chocolate sauce, the sort that makes you want to run each bite around your plate to get every little drop. But not plain chocolate, not this time. And not chocolate peanut butter either, because I am saving that heavenly combo for my birthday (oh yes, stay tuned for that. I haven’t even made it yet and I know it’s going to be good). Coffee is always a good bet when it comes to chocolate. So is alcohol. Better yet, coffee AND alcohol! So coffee liqueur was the next logical step.
The Results: There is simply no way this could NOT be good. Cheesecake? Good. Kahlua? Good. Gooey chocolate sauce? Goooooooood! So yes, it was good. Very good. My only very minor issue as follows: unsweetened chocolate is finicky to work with and doesn’t blend well with other ingredients. I know this, and that’s why I added it to the filling last, very slowly while my stand-mixer was running, in an attempt to beat it in smoothly. I still ended up with a somewhat flecked appearance to my cheesecake, but that hardly made a difference to the taste. However, I might consider leaving the chocolate out of the batter next time altogether, as I really did want a coffee/Kahlua flavour to the cake, and have the chocolate contained in the sauce. Either way, however, it’s still really good.
Kahlua Cheesecake with Chocolate Kahlua Sauce
Crust:
1 cup almond flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp granulated erythritol
3 tbsp butter, melted
Filling:
2 tsp instant coffee
1 tbsp hot water
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp butter
1 lb cream cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 cup granulated erythritol
2 tbsp Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
25 drops stevia extract
2 tsp melted butter for brushing sides of pan
Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
1 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 tbsp powdered erythritol
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
For the crust, preheat oven to 350F.
In a 9-inch spring-form pan, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, and erythritol. Stir in melted butter until dough begins to clump together. Press evenly into the bottom of the pan and bake 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together instant coffee and hot water until coffee dissolves. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, melt butter and unsweetened chocolate together over low heat, stirring until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined, then beat in erythritol, Kahlua, vanilla and stevia extract, scraping down beaters and sides of bowl as needed. Beat in coffee/water mixture.
Slowly add melted chocolate while continuing to beat, until fully combined. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is fully mixed.
Preheat oven to 300F
Taking care not to disturb cooled crust, brush sides of spring-form pan with melted butter. Pour filling over cooled crust and bake until set, about 40 minutes. Remove and let cool, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours.
Serves 10. Each serving has a total of 10.5 g of carbs and 3.4 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 7.1 g
Jen says
Your cheesecake recipes are so delicious! I make them when I have company, but most of the time it’s just me. Do you think I could make any of them as mini cheesecakes in a muffin pan and freeze some? I love them so much but having a whole cheesecake is more than I can handle by myself! Thanks, Carolyn.
Carolyn says
All of them would be great as mini cheesecake. Search for my “cinnamon roll cheesecakes” and you can see how to make something like that.
Barbara says
Love this cheesecake but instructions for making the sauce would be useful for newbies.
Toina says
This cheesecake is awesome! I tried it earlier this year with the erythriol in the crust and splenda in the filling. I’m glad I did it that because the crust left the cool sensation on our tongues, but the cheesecake part was awesome. I’m making 2 tomorrow for a party and one for the house this time just using splenda. Thanks for the awesome recipes and Happy holidays to you and your family.
Donna says
Where is the recipe to make the sauce? Help!!
Carolyn says
It’s right there, with everything else.
Donna says
Im sorry. I only see the ingredients, not the steps to make it. I tried to wing it, but it didnt come out too good…lol. So I ended up making your low carb chocolate sauce…and put in some kahlua. It worked! Came out delicious!!
Donna says
My stevia just pours out! How much does 25 drops equal to? A teaspoon? Let me know. Thanks!
Carolyn says
16 drops is about 1/4 tsp so I’d say about 1/2 tsp.
Abigale Marcus says
Can you use ground coffee instead of instant coffee? (We don’t have the instant in the house right now. We would only use it for this and making low carb kahlua.)
Carolyn says
No, it would not dissolve well enough. You could try the Starbucks Via packets if you wanted to just have a little instant coffee around.
Debbie says
Oh I see it you! Making another now from the rest of the hemp cheese…just tell me how to post a picture or several and I will.
Carolyn says
Just come post it to my Facebook page and I will share it there. Or email it to me at alldayidreamaboutfood@gmail.com.
https://www.facebook.com/AllDayIDreamAboutFood
Debbie says
I emailed them to you. I have a second one I made last night. Now my hemp cheese is all used up. I would go through the trouble to make the cheese again for more of these cheesecakes. Debbie
Carolyn says
You are so impressive! Got the emails.
Debbie says
I love cheese cakes, the whole recipe looks easy and tasty. My dr reciently took me off dairy. Ive been dairy free before and didiwell but missed all the cheeses. Im going to try this and for the cream cheese use the fat frpm the can coconut milk and some hemp cheese I made by first making hemp milk, making yogurt from it then straining it in a nut bag for 24 hr. Planning on mixing the two for the cream cheese. I’m hoping it will at least be close. Ill let you lnow. Im hopeful. Deb
Carolyn says
Wow, be sure to let me know how it turns out. Good luck!
Debbie says
Well i did it! I made hemp milk ( did not strain the milk) made yogurt from that then strained the yogurt in a nut bag for 24 hrs. On its own the hemp was strong! So i made this recipe adding more coffee flavor in the form extract and coconut milk powder, coconut butter and cocoa butter. It was very creamy and set up beautifully. I used swerve only for the sweetness. It was really amazing. I wish i could post a picture.
Carolyn says
Do you have a picture? Share it with me on Facebook and I will post it!
Debbie says
I dont know how to post a picture onto this site, and would that be ok with the designer of the original recipe?
Barbara says
I have made this twice!! We love it!! I made it for my Birthday cake.. Thank you ❤❤❤
Suzanne says
It would be very helpful to have the nutritional data, as I have diabetes and I must count carbs. Thank you.
Carolyn says
The carb count is right down at the bottom of the post. I have diabetes too. I did not do the full calculation for this recipe way back when but you can enter the ingredients into a software like MyFitnessPal and get the info.
charlotte says
what could i use to sub. coffee liquer?
Carolyn says
Any liquid, I suppose.