If you’re trying to keep those carbs to a minimum, but you’re still getting a craving for desserts, here’s a great option to keep the blood sugar low, but have something tasty after dinner. This keto version of lemon cheesecake is yummy. It’s made in the pressure cooker using the 7-inch springform pan we have here for you. The crust is almond flour, so this is also a gluten-free cheesecake. I have used sugar, but I used Swerve (sugar alcohol) that does not spike your blood sugar and is considered to be keto-friendly as well. For those that need to track their carbs, one-eighth of this lemon cheesecake is equal to 6 net carbs once you subtract the erythritol, 29g of fat, 7g of protein, and less than a single gram of fiber.
Let’s Make Some Lemon Cheesecake!
The ingredients are pretty simple, really.
FOR THE CRUST:
- almond flour
- melted butter
- powdered erythritol sweetener (I used swerve brand)
- salt
FOR THE FILLING:
- cream cheese, softened
- eggs
- lemon juice
- zest of lemon
- lemon extract
- heavy whipping cream
- powdered erythritol sweetener such as swerve
Making The Crust
You can see how I placed parchment paper before I closed my springform pan around the paper in the photo below. Then I cut the paper loose from the roll. Grease the parchment paper with butter or a cooking spray. In a medium-size bowl, you want to mix the almond flour, sweetener, and salt. Melt your butter in the microwave before adding it to the dry mix. You may feel like you do not have enough moisture, but trust me, you do. If you really really believe it needs to be a little wetter, add an eighth of a cup of water. You do NOT want your crust to be too wet… remember almond flour is different than regular flour. It’s going to pack together well without as much moisture as normal flour needs.
The photos below show what it looked like as I poured it into the springform, started to pack it down, and worked it towards the edges. The tighter you can pack it, the better. Just take care not to bend your springform pan bottom. Get the crust as evenly spread around the bottom of the pan as you can. Now you can set this aside.
Making The Lemon cheesecake Filling
I softened my cream cheese in the microwave. Hit the 30 seconds, then cut it into cubes. Put it in for another 30 seconds and started to stir it with a fork. Another 30 seconds and it started to stir and not being in blocks. In the final 30 seconds, I was able to get it to move around easily enough that I felt I could use a whisk. I do not own a stand mixer, so this is how I had to do it by hand.
Once it’s soft and you can blend things into it, add sweetener, lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract. Do NOT skip the lemon extract… the cream cheese will overtake the lemon flavor if you leave out the extract, I promise. The juice and zest really give it that extra oomph, but the extract is very necessary. Take care to get lumps from the sides of the bowl. The last thing you want is for a slice of cake to have an un-flavored ball of cream cheese in it.
Now add your eggs and heavy whipping cream. Make sure these get well combined. You can now pour this mixture over your crust and spread it as evenly as you can manage.
Foil, For The Win
As an extra precaution, wrap the bottom of your springform pan with foil. My mixture was thick enough that I did not have any leaking, but this will make the cake come out better and prevent moisture from getting to the cake during the pressure cooking. Cover the top of your springform pan with foil as well. Sealing it in tightly.
Place a cup of water in the bottom of your pressure cooker and use a trivet with handles to lower your pan down into the cooker. Once you secure the lid, set the slow cooker to Manual, High-Pressure for 35 min. Allow it to naturally release the pressure. Carefully remove the cake from the pressure cooker and allow it to cool. After cooling, move it to the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours or longer. You can garnish with whipped cream or lemon slices. I added blueberries to mine.
You can make your own whipped cream by literally whisking more heavy whipping cream, without adding anything to it. You can, however, add the powdered swerve to your heavy whipping cream, to make it more like store-bought whipped cream.
Keto Lemon Cheesecake in the Pressure Cooker
Keto Lemon Cheesecake in the Instant Pot
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
Crust
- ¼ cup Almond Flour
- 2 tbsp swerve powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- Salt
Filling
- 16 oz cream cheese softened
- ⅔ cup Swerve powdered sugar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 2 lg eggs
- 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Crust
- Line your 7-inch springform pan with parchment paper and cut the extra away from the roll. Grease parchment paper with butter or your favorite cooking spray.
- Combine almond flour, sweetener, and salt. Add melted butter and stir well to combine. Start with a pile near the middle of the springform pan, press the mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan until you have a flat evenly thick curst. Then set the pan aside.
Filling
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. If you do not have a stand mixer, heat for 30 seconds, cut into smaller chunks of cheese, heat for another 30 seconds, and then it should start to smooth out. Once it is smooth enough, you should be able to use a whisk to then beat in sweetener, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure you get all the lumps.
- Beat or whisk in your eggs, scraping down bowl and beaters. Beat or whisk in the heavy whipping cream until smooth. Pour mixture onto the crust and spread to the edges of the pan.
- Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with a large piece of foil. Then wrap foil around the top. Your whole pan should be mostly covered in foil to keep the steam from adding moisture to our cheesecake.
- Pour a cup of water into the bottom of your pressure cooker. Place the cake carefully onto your rack that came with your Instant Pot or pressure cooker and carefully using the handles lower it into the cooker.
- Close the lid and set your pressure cooker to manual mode, High Pressure for 35 minutes. Once cooking time is complete, let the pressure release naturally.
- Lift your cheesecake out of the pressure cooker and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 3 or 4 hours or overnight.
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Gluten-free Cookies
Check out our Flourless S’mores Peanut Butter Cookies.
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Is it Really a pound of cheese?
Yes, I used two 8 ounce blocks of cream cheese (16oz in a lb).