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It’s my birthday week! To celebrate, I’m sharing my keto-fied version of my family’s favorite birthday dessert. My mom would make this for all of us on our birthdays growing up, and it’s still a tradition. But now that my mom, my sister, and I are all eating a ketogenic diet, this keto marble cheesecake had to be created!
Keto Marble Cheesecake
By far the trickiest part of converting our cheesecake recipe into a keto version is the crust. We’ve gone through multiple versions before settling on this one as the best.
The original recipe calls for chocolate wafer cookies crushed up and mixed with melted butter. I thought about baking up some cookies and trying it that way but ultimately decided that 1.) it’s too much work to have to bake cookies in order to make a cheesecake and 2.) almond flour burns easily and I didn’t want burnt crust flavors.
Ultimately, I modified a crust from Gnom-gnom to create this crust using almond flour
, cocoa powder, sweetener, espresso powder
(to give more depth to the chocolate flavor), cinnamon, butter, and melted chocolate
.
I found it easiest to press into the pan using a piece of plastic wrap because it’s a bit sticky. For best results, use a 9″ springform pan
for this.
So I have tried six ways from Sunday to figure out the perfect way to get the perfect swirly marble effect and honestly, none of them are perfect.
The original recipe called for adding the melted chocolate straight into the bowl of cheesecake filling, and stirring with a fork until marbled, then pouring into the crust.
But I’m kind of a control freak and this gives really variable results.
This time I did half the cheesecake, then half the chocolate, marbling with a fork, and then I repeated with the other half. Except the second half of the chocolate was more than the first and after it was baked it mostly just looked like chocolate on top.
Even still, the inside has this gorgeous marbled effect and the taste is phenomenal.
I recommend cutting this into 16 pieces as it’s quite rich. It also helps keep the carbs down.
🎉Happy Birthday to meeeeee!🎉
Keto Marble Cheesecake
A rich, chocolate swirled cheesecake that won't break your diet!
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp espresso powder (optional)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp low carb sweetener
- pinch salt
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 Tbsp dark or sugar free chocolate chips
Filling
- 12 oz. cream cheese, room temp
- 1/4-1/2 cup low carb sweetener (to taste)
- zest of one lemon
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream, room temperature
- 6 oz. dark chocolate or sugar free chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Sift together almond flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, cinnamon, sweetener, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Melt butter and chocolate chips together and stir into dry ingredients.
- Press crust mixture into the bottom of a 9" springform pan, coming up the sides about an inch.
- Chill in the freezer while preparing filling
- Beat together cream cheese, sweetener, and lemon zest with an electric mixer, scraping down sides of the bowl frequently.
- Add eggs and beat well.
- Add sour cream, and beat until incorporated
- Melt chocolate, then layer filling with melted chocolate into chilled crust, swirling with a fork as you go to create a marbled effect
- Bake for 45-55 minutes or until cheesecake is set, but still jiggles a bit.
- Allow to cool, then chill completely before serving.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Amount Per Serving: Calories: 218Total Fat: 20.5gSaturated Fat: 10.5gSodium: 90mgCarbohydrates: 9.3gNet Carbohydrates: 4.6gFiber: 4.6gSugar: 2.1gProtein: 5.3g
Can the leftovers be frozen?
Yes! It freezes well.