A creamy and silky low carb pumpkin cheesecake featuring delicious autumn flavours. The perfect dessert for your Thanksgiving feast – and just as irresistible the rest of the year! Sugar free, gluten free and diabetic-friendly recipe.
Cheesecake is one of those desserts liked by around 99.9% of the population. I think it’s that exceptional combination of rich creaminess and cooling, light freshness. Whether it’s fruity, chocolatey or, in this case, featuring the mellow flavours of pumpkin and warming spices, cheesecake is just SO SATISFYING!
Even better, it’s one of those desserts that are PERFECT for a sugar free and low carb makeover. All you need to do is replace the traditional cookie crumb crust with a nut flour crust and use powdered sweetener instead of the sugar!
This low carb pumpkin cheesecake has a baked crust made with nuts and plenty of ground ginger. It tastes as if it’s made from gingerbread cookies!
The filling is a luscious mix of pumpkin puree, double / heavy cream, cream cheese and a generous amount of warming spices. Check out my tips below – I know a super easy hack to prevent cheesecake filling from splitting!
Pumpkin is a favourite staple for low carb and keto diets.
It contains 6.5 grams of net carbs per 100 grams. This makes it less sugary and starchy than any other starchy vegetable. Pumpkin is a good choice for diabetics and for anyone wanting to keep their blood sugar levels stable.
How to make low carb pumpkin cheesecake – step by step
1.) Blend almond flour with pecans, walnuts, melted butter, sweetener, ground ginger and a pinch of nutmeg. I did this in a food processor, but you can use a stick blender plus attachment as well.
Tip: You can vary the type of nuts you use, as long as the amount stays the same. Both pecans and walnuts work well with pumpkin.
I used 2 tablespoons of granulated erythritol to sweeten the crust. If you like yours sweeter, feel free to add more!
2.) Fill the crust mix into a 9 inch springform which you have greased with butter (or cooking spray). If you’re worried about the crust sticking, you can also line the base with parchment paper.
3.) Press the walnut pecan crust firmly into the cake pan. You can do this with your fingers or with a glass. The firmer you press, the less crumbly your crust will be.
Bake the crust for 15 minutes or until it is browned at the edges. This will prevent it from getting soggy!
4.) Now it’s time to get the cheesecake filling started. First, you simmer the pumpkin puree with spices and powdered sweetener until it’s silky and thickened – I got this idea over at the (not sugar free) blog Once upon a chef.
Baker’s Tip: Don’t skip this step – it reduces the amount of liquid in the pumpkin and intensifies the pumpkin taste!
I used Libby’s pumpkin puree in this recipe – it’s widely available in the US and you can get it at Waitrose over here in the UK during autumn and winter. I always stock up while I can!! If you can’t get hold of canned pumpkin, find out how to make your own here.
5.) Blend the cooled pumpkin puree with the double / heavy cream.
6.) Add the cream cheese….
7.) … and the eggs. You should mix only until combined – you want as little air in the filling as possible.
8.) Pour the cheesecake filling onto the cooled crust and bake for around 1 1/2 hours.
Tips and tricks to make a perfectly formed low carb pumpkin cheesecake
Whether it’s Thanksgiving or any other day of the year, you don’t want your pumpkin cheesecake to split. Well, I’ve got an kitchen hack for that: ALWAYS place a pan with boiled water inside the oven, right below the baking cheesecake.
This is SO MUCH EASIER than the traditional way, where you have to envelop the springform with aluminium foil and place it in a water bath. Make a mistake and end up with a soggy cheesecake. Believe me, I’ve been there.
By placing a baking tray or other ovenproof container with boiling water underneath the cheesecake, you have the same effect without all the work (and the risk).
You can decorate your low carb pumpkin cheesecake with a sugar free caramel sauce or simply with a dollop of sweetened cream – or with both!
Optional Maple Caramel Sauce:
I used the Lakanto maple flavoured syrup to make the sauce (it’s available in the US only, but Lakanto sent me their products to try).
Lakanto makes erythritol-based sweeteners with Monkfruit which taste good and are reasonably priced. I’ve negotiated a special discount for my readers: If you add the code SUGARFREE at the checkout you get 20% off all non-sale items!!
- Melt 1/3 cup Lakanto maple flavoured syrup, 3 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp heavy / double cream in a small saucepan.
- Cook on a medium heat for 3 minutes.
- Let cool and spoon over the cheesecake. The sauce thickens as it cools.
If you are in the UK, the Sukrin Fibre Syrup would be a good alternative.
I find that granulated sweetener works well in the crust and powdered sweetener is better for the filling. Eythritol mixed with stevia is my personal go-to sweetener, but you can use xylitol as well (this will increase the carb count though), monkfruit, or Swerve.
Don’t have powdered sweetener? You can make your own by blending granular sweetener in a food processor.
Take a look at my other pumpkin recipes:
Tried this recipe? Give it a star rating below!
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Low Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cheesecake Crust
- 1 cup / 100g almond flour
- 5.3 oz / 150g walnut & pecan halves (ca 1 1/2 cup)
- 3 tbsp / 50g unsalted butter melted
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- pinch nutmeg
- 2 tbsp granulated sweetener
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
- 1 can / 425g pumpkin puree unsweetened
- 1 tsp mixed spice / pumpkin spice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- pinch cloves
- 1 cup / 120 g powdered sweetener
- 1 cup / 225g double / heavy cream
- 24 oz / 675g cream cheese
- 3 eggs large, room temperature
- 2 egg whites room temperature
Sugar Free Maple Caramel Sauce (optional)
- 1/3 cup / 80 ml Lakanto maple flavoured syrup
- 3 tbsp / 50g butter
- 2 tbsp heavy / double cream
Instructions
Pumpkin Cheesecake Crust
- Preheat the oven to 160 Celsius / 320 Fahrenheit.
- Blend all ingredients for the crust in a food processor or with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Grease a 9 inch springform with butter or cooking spray (bottom and sides) and press the nut mixture into the bottom. You can do this with your fingers or use the bottom of a glass.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are browned. Then remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
- While the crust is baking, heat the pumpkin puree, all spices and half the sweetener (1/2 cup / 60g) in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for ca 5 minutes, stirring frequently. This way the pumpkin becomes less watery. Once the pumpkin mix is brown and silky, remove from the stove and cool.
- Blend the cooled pumpkin mix with the double/heavy cream and the remaining 1/2 cup / 60g powdered sweetener.
- Now add the cream cheese and blend until smooth.
- Last, add the eggs - 3 eggs plus 2 egg whites (you can use the remaining 2 egg yolks for homemade mayonnaise!). Blend only briefly to combine and avoid getting air bubbles into the mix.
- Fill a baking tray ca 2 fingers high with just boiled water and place in the bottom of the oven. Place the springform with your pumpkin cheesecake on a rack above the tray. Bake for ca 90 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. When it does NOT jiggle any more it's done.
- Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature (this takes ca 3 hours). Then chill in the fridge for at least another 4 hours or overnight until serving.
Sugar Free Maple Caramel Sauce
- Melt all ingredients for the caramel sauce in a small saucepan and cook on a medium heat for 3 minutes. Let cool and spoon over the cheesecake. The sauce thickens as it cools.
Notes
Nutrition
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Beth says
I don’t have a spring form but I DO have a muffin tin and paper wrappers. Do you think this would work? I’m guessing the cooking time would be shortened a bit? Also I don’t have heavy cream at hand, thinking of doing 3/4 cup milk 1/3 cup butter (suggested by google as a heavy cream replacement). Has anyone else tried it in the past?
Katrin says
I think using a muffin tin should be no problem. You’ll definitely need to reduce the baking time, maybe by around 20-30 minutes. Check that all the jiggle is gone and they’re done. As for the cream, I’m not so sure. I would hate for you to take all that time and use all those ingredients and the cake does not work out in the end. If you have coconut cream (the firm part from a can of coconut milk) you could use that instead. That sub will definitely work and taste great.
Shirley Feinstein says
I just made this for the first time and thought I’d share my experience. When I added the cream cheese I thought for sure I’d read the recipe wrong and added too much. I re-read and checked the amount and it was right…. 3 packages of 8 ounce cream cheese. Wow! That’s a lot of cheese! While it was baking I thought it might come over the top of my spring form pan, but it didn’t. Once it cooled, the cake settled down a bit and ended up looking like the photos. This is a delicious recipe, super rich and creamy tasting. So, bottom line, don’t be scared when you pour the filling in and it’s a huge amount. Yes, it will cook through in 90 minutes or so. And yes, it’s baked at 320 degrees F, just like the crust. Thanks for the recipe!
Katrin says
Hi Shirley, it’s a lot of cheese, that’s right! Sorry it gave you a fright, but I’m really happy you all like it in the end. It’s a rich cake that will feed a crowd 😉
Daphne LeCamu says
Put it in the oven about an hour ago..it smells great! But the middle is sunk in, do you think it will all level out wants it cools down?
Katrin says
Hi Daphne, I’m not sure! This has never happened to me… Normally the middle sinks a little bit and the edges stay a tad higher like in my cake. Maybe this has something to wo with the ingredients being very cold when you put the mix in the oven, so the middle would take longer to firm up?
Willie says
Hi Katrin, do you think one can sub the cream with coconut cream? Looks amazing and thinking about trying this for Thanksgiving 😀
Katrin says
Yes, I think that should work. Make sure to use only the cream and not the entire can of coconut milk mixed together so you have the same thick consistency as dairy cream.
Larisa Akhmedova says
Thank you for the great recipe! The cake turned out delicious and was not hard to make. My partner’s family enjoyed it and didn’t realize it was lowcarb. I decorated with melted 85% chocolate and heavy cream.
Katrin says
A chocolate topping for the cake sounds delicious! I’m glad you liked it.
Meghan says
Just wondering if there was a different temperature to bake the cheesecake at? It’s been in the oven at 320 F for over 2 hours and it is still jiggling, I felt like I wanted to adjust the temperature for the cake to be more than the crust but couldn’t see the change anywhere in the recipe, not sure if I missed that somewhere? Also felt like it might be interesting to try beating the cream cheese before adding it to the pumpkin so it was smoother and minimized the lumps as well as beating the egg whites before adding them for a fluffier texture. Will have to try that next time! Looks really yummy so far, just still not quite done yet.
Katrin says
Hi Meghan, I baked the filling at the sane temperature as the crust. How long did you need to keep yours in the oven in the end?
Lisa says
Love what you said about the water bath. I’ve been doing that for a while now, I’ve mentioned it in the comments on other blogs, but nobody seemed to pay attention. Finally a blogger that is posting it to a wide audience. It really works great like you said, no hassle and no ruined Cheesecake. This recipe is just what I’ve been thinking about, sounds delicious, can’t wait to taste it.
Katrin says
Thanks for your kind words Lisa. I’m so glad the cake was a success 🙂
Kat says
I couldn’t get the same carbohydrate count you have listed. It is very good though.
Katrin says
Hi Kat, first of all – glad you liked the cake! About the carb count – different nutrition calculators and different brands used can mean slightly different results. That’s why I recommend to always make your own calculations if your health depends on it, as for example for type 1 diabetics.
Debra Fox says
I made this in an 8″ springform pan and it turned out awesome. Added caramel and fudge sauce and whipped cream. The combi ed flavors with the pecan/walnut crust was heaven to the taste buds. To bad I can’t add a picture….
Katrin says
Oh wow, caramel and fudge sauce… AND whipped cream. Sounds like heaven!!!!!
JJ says
is there an alternative crust without nuts>
Katrin says
You could use ground up pumpkin and sunflower seeds in place of the nuts.
Robert says
I don’t cook with powdered sweeteners too much, is it okay to leave them out for this recipe?
Katrin says
Of course. You can use regular sugar or coconut sugar if you prefer
Charlie says
This may seem like a silly question, but your picture that is with the “add the double / heavy cream” step looks as if the heavy cream is whipped. Did you whip this before adding to the pumpkin puree or is that actually the cream cheese. Thanks, this does look amazing!!
Katrin says
Not silly at all! It’s the cream cheese you’re seeing (there’s a lot of cream cheese in this cake!!). The heavy cream gets mixed into the pumpkin.
Cynthia says
It’s currently in the oven. Stay tuned. Smells amazing!
Katrin says
Great!!! Enjoy your Thanksgiving 🙂
Emma says
How deep is the pan you used?
I seemed to end up with loads of filling and had to throw a lot of it away as there was no room in the pan!
Katrin says
My pan (you can see it in the pictures) is 6 cm deep. It’s a regular spring form depth, I have 3 different sizes and they are all the same height. Maybe yours is thought for pies or tarts? What a shame you had to throw away some of the filling!
Cindy says
I’m about to try this recipe, it looks amazing! My question though is how long does it keep? How far ahead can I make it? I’m traveling 6 hours for thanksgiving and wasn’t sure if I should make it ahead , or make it once I get to my destination? Thanks!
Katrin says
This cake is best made one day in advance. It takes a while to cool down and then you need to chill it in the fridge. You could even make it 2 days in advance. If you travel with it, make sure you keep it in a cooler/cool container and definitely keep it in the springform.
Lisa says
Can I use Stevia as the sweetener and if so is it the same amount?
Katrin says
Yes you could use granulated (powdered) stevia. Check though that it is a 1:1 sugar replacement. I once had a granulated stevia sweetener that was twice as sweet as sugar. You don’t want to end up with a cake that’s way too sweet.
Teale says
I made just the filling and OMGosh, so yummy! Can’t wait to try out more of your recipes!
Katrin says
Glad you like it!!! 🙂
Daniel Šimek says
Hi, am I supposed to use BOTH => pumpkin spice / nutmeg, cinamon, ginger OR just ONE of them so pumpkin sipce OR ginger, cinamon, nutmeg? Thaks for your answer.
Katrin says
Hi Daniel, I used both. I guess what I was trying to say is to just use MORE pumpkin spice if you don’t have the separate spices.
Jenny says
Absolutely delicious, great recipe! I made this cake for a dinner party and people were AMAZED when I told them it was sugar free.
Katrin says
I”m so happy you all liked it!!
R W says
Did you know that your recipe says to let it chill in the oven? Lol, I think you meant refrigerator. Can’t wait to try this for Thanksgivng – looks delicious! Thanks for posting it!
Katrin says
Oops. Thanks for pointing this out – I’m glad everyone who’s read the recipe so far has plenty of common sense. Correcting this now. And I hope you’ll like it as much as we did!!! 🙂
Amanda says
This cake looks amazing! I’ve just put mine in the oven,can‘t wait to see how it will taste. 🙂
Katrin says
Let me know how you all liked it!!