Death by chocolate cheesecake is simply the best low carb chocolate cheesecake recipe on the planet! You won’t believe this luscious, velvety cheesecake is keto and sugar-free. Now with a fabulous how-to recipe video!
This rich low carb chocolate cheesecake is a little higher in carbs than some of my dessert recipes, but believe me, it is worth the splurge!
I always feel so sad for people who say they don’t like cheesecake. As far as I am concerned, they are missing out on one of life’s greatest pleasures. Creamy, dense, velvety smooth cheesecake is just this side of heaven, really, and I have a hard time understanding how anyone could dislike it.
And so many wonderful varieties, like blueberry cheesecake, cinnamon roll cheesecake, or classic keto New York cheesecake! The possibilities are endless.
Perhaps these people have had the misfortune of biting into an overdone, eggy, rubbery cheesecake and have written it off because of this. There are a few bad cheesecakes out there, and perhaps they are ruining the cheesecake experience for a small portion of people.
What a tragedy! We should make an effort to round up those nasty cheesecakes and get them off the streets. We need to lock them away where they can no longer be a danger to themselves or to society. Solitary isolation for badly cooked cheesecakes!
Video for Low Carb Chocolate Cheesecake
But I also suspect that some people are caught off guard by tanginess of cheesecake when they expect only sweet. That’s what makes the cheesecake experience so unique and, in my opinion, so utterly delicious. But I can see how that might be a little off-putting for someone whose palate wasn’t ready for anything but sweet.
My kids’ first experiences with cheesecake were not exactly successful and at one point my son declared he didn’t like it at all. However, I refused to let that be the last word, as I did not want my children to go through life without cheesecake. A cheesecake-free existence is no existence at all.
Tips for Low Carb Chocolate Cheesecake Success
Because chocolate can be finicky and prone to seizing, some care must be taken when making low carb chocolate cheesecake.
- Melt the chocolate for the filling with butter or coconut oil. You need to thin it out so that it will combine properly with the cheesecake mixture.
- Be sure to let the melted chocolate cool properly. You don’t want to add it in too hot or it may curdle the eggs in the cheesecake.
- Make sure your cream cheese is properly softened and your eggs are at room temperature. You must do this for every cheesecake but it’s particularly important for a chocolate cheesecake. If your cream cheese or your eggs are cold, you will end up with a lumpy batter. And the chocolate will clump or seize when added to a cold filling.
- Don’t overcook it! Cheesecake should always be taken out before it’s cooked through. It will continue to cook once it’s out of the oven so make sure the center still has a little jiggle to it.
- Be sure to run a knife around it and loosen the sides within the first 10 to 15 minutes. Cheesecake shrinks as it cools and if the sides are stuck to the pan, it will crack badly.
- The topping is a chocolate ganache style topping, so it uses hot cream to melt the chocolate. Make sure your cream comes to a full simmer, then remove from heat before adding the chopped chocolate.
- Sugar-free chocolate and unsweetened chocolate are two very different things, so don’t mix them up. Sugar-free chocolate has been sweetened with something other than sugar. Unsweetened chocolate is 100% cocoa, with no added sweeteners at all. Unsweetened chocolate is best for the glaze, because sugar-free chocolate will make it too thin.
Those are my best tips for making low carb chocolate cheesecake. This recipe is a reader favorite and I think you can see why! I hope you will give it a try and fall head over heals in love.
Click here for more amazing Low Carb Cheesecake Recipes.
And also be sure to check out my rich and delicious low carb Death by Chocolate Ice Cream.
Keto Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 cup almond flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- ¼ cup butter melted
Filling:
- 4 ounces sugar-free dark chocolate chopped
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 24 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream room temperature
Topping:
- ½ cup whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 325F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cocoa powder, and sweetener. Stir in the melted butter until well combined.
- Press mixture firmly into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, and then remove and reduce oven temperature to 300F.
Filling:
- In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the dark chocolate with the butter, stirring until smooth. Set aside to let cool.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the sweetener and vanilla extract, then beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the beaters and sides of bowl as needed.
- Beat in the cocoa powder and heavy cream until well combined, then beat in the melted chocolate until mixture is completely smooth.
- Pour the filling into the pan and gently shake from side to side to even it out. Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until the filling is mostly set but still jiggles just a little in the center.
- Remove and let cool 10 minutes, then run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen. Let cool completely. Once cool, remove the sides, cover tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
Topping
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to just a simmer, then remove from heat and add the sweetener, chopped chocolate, and vanilla. Let sit 5 minutes and then whisk until smooth.
- Pour over the top of the chilled cheesecake, allowing some to drip down the sides. Chill until set.
Jill Franks says
I have both organic cocoa powder, and organic cacao powder. Does it matter which one I use?
* update… I just pulled out my ultimate guide to keto baking and read what you said about cocoa powder and the difference between it and cacao powder. You said in there that cacao powder does not have the rich, chocolate flavor of cocoa powder, and it will clump more in batters, so it tends to leave bits of cacao powder in the dessert. So, I will be using the cocoa powder! Thank you for explaining things so well!