This No Bake Keto Dirt Cake recipe will blow your mind! It’s a decadent no-bake dessert with chocolate pudding, peanut butter cheesecake, and a chocolate cookie crust!
Dirt cake isn’t exactly the most attractive name for a dessert, is it? It sounds like something you might have made in the sandbox in kindergarten, or something the school bully might make you eat on the playground after school.
Thankfully, it is neither of those things. Instead, it consists of a creamy, no bake layered dessert made to look as if it contains dirt. Which surely appeals to the kid in all of us.
I first made this Keto Peanut Butter Dirt Cake back in 2014 and it became an instant hit. I decided to update it after not making it in years. The only question is, why did I wait so long? This dessert is amazing!
If you love creamy layered desserts, be sure to check out Keto Sex in a Pan and Keto Lemon Lush too!
You will love this low carb no bake dessert!
I have to admit, I had never even heard of dirt cake until a reader asked me to make a low carb version. She sent me a link to a high-carb recipe she wanted me to re-create.
I took one look and I knew I had to try it. Chocolate cookies, peanut butter AND chocolate pudding? Well that just jumped to the head of the to-make list!
This recipe brings together a few of my most popular keto desserts. It takes a batch of my Keto Peanut Butter Mousse and one recipe for Keto Chocolate Pudding. The crust is the same one I use for x. And the crumbly dirt topping can be made from scratch or you can just crumble up some keto brownie bites!
Reader Reviews
“This is one of the best desserts I’ve ever made! It’s so rich and creamy and feels naughty! ha ha I LOVE it! Thanks for sharing it!!!” — Holly
“This is my 3rd time making this dessert and I just want to say, it is superb! I honestly would never know that it was sugar free had I not prepared it myself!” — Tara
“Made this last night and here twenty four hours later and only two small pieces remain! This is one incredible recipe! Turned out just perfect!!” — Chris
Ingredients you need
- Almond flour: The base of the crust is made with almond flour. For a nut-free option, you can use sunflower seed flour.
- Cocoa powder: For a rich chocolate flavor, use Dutch process cocoa powder.
- Sweetener: Use powdered sweetener for both fillings, as it will provide a smoother consistency without any grittiness. I like to use a little allulose in the pudding to keep it glossy and soft.
- Whipping cream: You need this for both the peanut butter layer and the chocolate pudding layer.
- Cream cheese: Soften the cream cheese properly before beating it. You should be able to poke it lightly with a finger and leave a good dent in it.
- Peanut butter: Choose a sugar-free peanut butter to keep the carb count low. Natural peanut butter has a tendency to separate, so mix well well before mixing it with the cream cheese. Some of my readers have used almond butter instead.
- Low carb milk: I usually use unsweetened almond milk but any low carb milk will be fine. This helps give the pudding layer a lighter consistency.
- Egg yolks: You need one egg and two egg yolks for the chocolate pudding layer. Save the egg whites to make recipes like Keto Coconut Cake.
- Glucomannan: This helps thicken the chocolate pudding and helps it set. You can also use xanthan gum.
- Unsweetened chocolate: Make sure to choose chocolate that is 100% cacao, with no sweeteners at all. It is lower in carbs and also helps the fudge thicken and set properly.
- Chocolate cookie crumbs: I used some crumbled HighKey brownie bites for the topping. If you don’t have that, you can make a little extra of the crust mixture.
- Pantry staples: Butter, vanilla extract, salt
Step by Step Directions
1. Prepare the crust: In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, sweetener, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until well combined. Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
2. Prepare the peanut butter cheesecake: In a large bowl, whip half a cup of the whipping cream until it holds stiff peaks. In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese for a minute or two, until extra creamy. Add the peanut butter, sweetener, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Add the remaining two tablespoons of heavy cream and beat in to thin out the mixture.
3. Fold together: Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until no streaks remains. Spread carefully over crust. Refrigerate while preparing pudding layer.
4. Simmer the cream: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the heavy cream and hemp milk. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and whisk in the sweetener.
5. Temper the eggs: In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and egg yolks together until smooth. Slowly add half a cup of the hot cream mixture into the eggs, whisking continuously. Slowly whisk the tempered eggs back into the saucepan of hot cream mixture.
6. Cook the pudding: Stir in the cocoa powder and return the mixture to medium low heat. Continue to whisk continuously until the mixture is smooth and begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes. Then sprinkle the surface with glucomannan and whisk vigorously to combine. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla extract, whisking until smooth. Let cool about 15 minutes and then spread evenly over peanut butter layer.
7. Chill until set: Sprinkle the top of the cake with crushed brownie bites. Refrigerate until completely set, at least 3 hours. To serve, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan and remove sides. Run the knife under hot water to cut nice even slices.
Tips for Success
Make sure you give the pudding time to set properly, especially if you are using some allulose as the sweetener. It can take longer to set if you do but I think the results are a little better. It’s less likely to re-crystallize.
You can use any powdered sweetener in the peanut butter mousse layer, as it doesn’t rely on it for structure. Even liquid stevia works here. I think the crust works best with Swerve, but it doesn’t need to be crisp so you can use what sweeteners you like best.
If you don’t have the HighKey Brownie Bites, you can make a little bit of extra crust for the dirt topping. Simply whisk 2 tablespoons of almond flour (or sunflower seed flour for nut-free), 1 tablespoon of powdered sweetener, ½ tablespoon of cocoa powder, and ½ tablespoon of melted butter. Once it begins to clump together, sprinkle it over the cake.
This is a really rich dessert and very satisfying. Although it says it serves 16, you could easily cut it into 18 or 20 slices.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dirt cake is a fun layered dessert that includes cookie crumbs, pudding, and no bake cheesecake. This Keto Dirt Cake has a creamy peanut butter layer topped with sugar free chocolate pudding and low carb brownie bites.
This keto chocolate peanut butter dirt cake recipe has 6.5g of carbs and 1.8g of fiber per serving. That comes to 4.7g net carbs per slice. But it’s a really rich dessert so you may want to cut the cake into 18 or 20 slices!
Store the cake in the fridge, covered up, for up to 5 days. It can also be frozen for several months. Wrap it up tightly to avoid freezer burn.
More keto peanut butter recipes
Keto Dirt Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup Swerve Confectioners
- ¼ cup butter melted
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Peanut Butter Layer
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons whipping cream divided
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ⅔ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup Swerve Confectioners
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Pudding Layer
- 1 ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk or any low carb milk
- 3 tablespoons Swerve Confectioners
- 3 tablespoons granular allulose (or more Swerve)
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 6 tablespoon cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon glucomannan
- 3 tablespoon butter in 3 pieces
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- 2.25 ounces HighKey brownie bites, crushed see Tips for alternatives
Instructions
Crust
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, sweetener, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until well combined.
- Press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
Peanut Butter Layer
- In a large bowl, whip half a cup of the whipping cream until it holds stiff peaks.
- In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese for a minute or two, until extra creamy. Add the peanut butter, sweetener, and vanilla extract and beat until well combined. Add the remaining two tablespoons of heavy cream and beat in to lighten.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until no streaks remain. Spread carefully over crust. Refrigerate while preparing pudding layer.
Chocolate Pudding Layer
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the heavy cream and hemp milk. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and whisk in the sweetener.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and egg yolks together until smooth. Slowly add half a cup of the hot cream mixture into the eggs, whisking continuously. Slowly whisk the tempered eggs back into the saucepan of hot cream mixture.
- Stir in the cocoa powder and return the mixture to medium low heat. Continue to whisk continuously until the mixture is smooth and begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes. Then sprinkle the surface with glucomannan and whisk vigorously to combine.
- Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla extract, whisking until smooth. Let cool about 15 minutes and then spread evenly over peanut butter layer.
- Sprinkle the top of the cake with crushed brownie bites. Refrigerate until completely set, at least 3 hours.
- To serve, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan and remove sides. Run the knife under hot water to cut nice even slices.
Amy @ Amy's Healthy Baking says
Oh my, where was this the night of the Swerve party?? I would’ve eaten half the cake by myself — for sure! So much chocolaty and peanut buttery goodness… Pure heaven. 🙂
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
This is one of my favorite of yours! So much goodness going on over here. 🙂
I love how you take reader requests! I’ve asked for requests several times and nobody says a peep. Haha. I guess I need to try harder at the whole FB thing.
Glo says
hands-down the yummiest low-carb dessert I’ve ever eaten! I’ve made it twice!
The ingredients list shows “Swerve Sweetener” for the peanut butter layer but the instructions say “powdered sweetener”. I didn’t catch that bit the first time around and used standard granulated Swerve. Made the peanut butter layer kind of grainy. My mistake!
Is it possible to freeze this successfully? I’m the only one in my house eating low carb and I hate to waste any of this delicious dessert but I don’t need to eat it all at once 😀
Thanks for all your awesome recipes!
Carolyn says
I am not sure it will freeze all that well, but it’s worth a try if you’re okay with the texture changing a bit when it thaws.
Kelly says
Did you happen to freeze yours? How did it turn out. I just made this and want to freeze it, don’t won’t to eat it all at one time. Ha ha
Carolyn says
I don’t think this will freeze very well, to be honest. The consistency will change…but it’s worth a try!
Glo says
I haven’t tried freezing it yet – but I definitely plan on making this again. If you freeze it, let me know how it turns out!
Kelly says
Just wanted to say this was delicious thank-you for the recipe.
Elizabeth O'Keefe says
This freezes very well, just let it thaw for a good bit before eating it. Just as delicious as the day I made it!
Carolyn says
So good to know!
Sheridan says
This is delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Lynn says
I have a strong allergy to artificial sweeteners. Would the amount of sweetener be the same with sugar with this recipe?
Carolyn says
Yes, that would be fine. Just to be clear, erythritol is not in any way artificial, but if you want to use regular sugar, the amounts would be the same.
Rachel says
Maybe coconut sugar?
Andy says
This looks delightful and simple! One question: I don’t like peanut butter or peanut at all, so any suggestions on changing that middle layer? Is there a way to make it a white chocolate layer perhaps? I can’t think of anything else that might work.
Carolyn says
How about almond butter or another nut butter? I haven’t tested anything with white chocolate so I can’t give advice there.
Melanie says
One idea might be to either make a white layer by leaving out the peanut butter and by using vanilla extract (or maybe almond extract or maybe peppermint extract?). I’ve made a low-carb pie filling that is 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, whipped, plus 8 oz of cream cheese (softened). It probably wouldn’t be as stiff as this filling without the peanut butter, but it is possible to make a creamy mousse with cream cheese and heavy cream, plus the sweeteners. Like I said, you’d probably need about a cup of cream, and maybe you’d want to add more cream cheese to compensate for the lack of peanut butter?
GS says
What!? Now I can’t decide whether to make a grasshopper mint pie or peanut butter.
Tina Spoon says
When you use swerve are you using the regular swerve or the confectioners?
Carolyn says
If I say “powdered”, I am referring to the confectioners. Otherwise, it’s just the regular granulated.
Annemarie says
I am making this now and just wanted to mention, you say powedered Swerve in the instructions, but do not call it out in the Peanut Butter layer ingredients list. Not sure if you want to go back and correct that. 😀 Luckily I just found that they are selling it in Whole Foods so I just bought a bag of it instead of cheating and processing regular in a coffee grinder to make it finer LOL 😀
Jessica says
I cannot believe how incredible this looks – I’ll definitely be giving this a go! Thanks for bringing so many brilliant recipes to us! ♥
Carolyn says
Thanks, Jessica!
Monika says
I just made this cake. It tastes divine. The proportions of the ingredients are right. I had to make a few adjustments, however, because I am allergic to peanuts. I used almond butter instead. This cake is really delicious and wonderful sugar-gree, gluten free alternative to those sinful frozen whipped pies made from hydrogenated oils you can buy at your local grocery store. It’s very satisfying too because it’s quite filling. I am saving this recipe! 🙂
Carolyn says
So glad you liked it! And almond butter would be a great alternative.
Jennifer Stohr says
Yum! I am going to have to make this dairy free! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
I’ve never had dirt cake with a peanut butter layer. Which now means I have been missing out!
Melissa says
The peanut butter is added for your protein so we can call this recipe breakfast, lunch or supper..ha ! It looks wonderful!
tee says
I’d forgotten about this pie. It was a go-to when I was teaching at a girl’s school – the 9th graders had an all-class birthday party, and they were still young enough to think this – with the gummi worms – was AWESOMELY disgusting. Good times.
To make this one truly no-bake, I might even try that “instant” chocolate pudding with chia, just grinding it finely in a coffee grinder so there’s no “crunch” in that layer of dirt…
Carolyn says
The chia pudding sounds like a great idea!
Susan Pelter says
I am SO making this! It looks fantastic! And I bet it could be easily turned into a mocha dirt cake for the choco-coffee-holics among us (my DH comes to mind). One of the many great things about your recipes is their flexibility!
Leslie says
This looks fabulous! Just a couple questions…
Do you prepare the pan first? Also, is there a brand of the liquid stevia that you like best?
Hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day!
crazywoman/Billie says
I wondered about the liquid stevia too. Different brands/types have different sweetness equivalencies. So I’m as interested in knowing the equivalency as the brand.
Olivia Ericson says
Looks Fantastic! I’ll be making this soon. You and IBIH are my favorite places to go for recipes! Thank you for all your hard work. Have you tried to make a lc gf angel food cake?
Carolyn says
Melissa does make great recipes too! Love her. And no, have not yet tried angel food cake…might be good for the summer!
Becca from ItsYummi! says
Oh my WORD, this looks good, Carolyn!
Carolyn says
Thanks, hon. It was amazing!
Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
I have never had dirt cake but that must change. This looks so delicious and those are some beautiful layers.
Sarah G says
The first time I saw a dirt cake was when my older cousin brought a big pot with artificial flowers in it to a party when I was very young. The “dirt” had gummi worms in it. Then at one point she started scooping out the dirt and eating it! I was so grossed out! LOL!
I had some though and it was incredibly good! I can’t wait to make this, especially for my kids. It looks so amazing!
Carolyn says
It would be fun to serve this in little flower pots too! No gummy worms, though.. 😉
Rachel says
My family has a tradition where they make the dirt cake and put it in flower pots. At Christmas or Thanksgiving, anyone who is new to the family, i.e. married someone in the family, has to “eat dirt.” It is completely ridiculous…but I do love dirt cake.
Sarah G says
Hilarious!
Laura says
You could make lemon pucker gummies if you just had a worm candy mold 🙂
Carol Sanders-Sheehan says
You can make “worms” by using a bunch of bendy straw packed into a glass. Google the exact process so they don’t run out the bottom of the straw. I’m not sure if they are wrapped in plastic wrap on the bottom or if the home-made jello is allowed to thicken a bit first. They look like earth worms! Kinda cool!
Ericha M Londos-Cook says
Why not? There are sugar free gummy worms
Christine says
I am definitely making this for my son’s birthday which happens to be today. But, I am also thinking that I might double that pudding recipe and try making “pudding pops” for the freezer.
Carolyn says
Pudding pops sound good too!
charlotte says
I am DEFINETLY making this soon- probably for my mom, i think that she’ll like it