Key Lime Cheesecake

A recent craving was for key lime pie... but also some classic cheesecake.

Always one for efficiency, I decided to combine the two... resulting in this delicious keto cheesecake recipe!

This creamy cheesecake has a creamy key lime cheesecake filling, in an almond flour crust that’s doctored up a little to taste more like a graham cracker crust.

It’s got the perfect balance of flavours - the tartness of key lime pie brightens up the richness of the base cheesecake filling.

Just a really delicious keto dessert recipe - and another great keto option that’s sure to become a favorite dessert of your whole family, whether everyone is following a low carb diet or not. It’s even gluten free!

I love desserts that are inclusive like that - it makes things like potlucks a lot more easy... and welcoming.

Nutrition Information

These low carb cheesecake is perfect for anyone on a ketogenic diet.

26.5 grams of the total carbs per sugar-free cheesecake serving come from the allulose - a sugar alcohol.

When combined with the 2 grams of fiber, that gives you 28.5 grams of deductible carbs per serving, or 5.5 g net carbs per slice... a fraction of the carbs in a regular cheesecake!

Anyway, let’s take a look at what you’ll need to make this easy keto cheesecake recipe.

Ingredients

With the possible exception of the allulose, these are all simple ingredients. You should have no problem finding what you need in any grocery store.

As always, I have a few ingredient notes for you:

Fresh Key Limes

Key limes are tiny limes that are a bit more acidic than regular limes / Persian limes.

I use both the fresh key lime juice and the zest from actual limes, as it’s hard to find the bottled key lime juice locally.

That said, it’s a giant pain to grate the key lime zest - not only are the limes really small, but the skin is really thin.

Because the recipe isn’t actually relying on the acid level, feel free to swap out the key limes for regular fresh lime juice and zest.

Really, any fresh citrus juice.

You can make this a keto lemon cheesecake by using lemon juice & lemon zest... I bet orange would be fantastic as well!

Cream Cheese

Just a couple notes:

1. I recommend using full fat cream cheese, for flavour, texture, and carb count reasons.

2. You want to use room temperature cream cheese. It’ll cream easier, and give you a better final texture.

Almond Flour

Almond flour takes the place of graham cracker crumbs in the crust, I recommend using super fine almond flour. A little bit of cinnamon goes a long way to making this almond flour crust taste like a graham-cracker crust!

If nut flours are out, try sunflower seed flour.

I haven’t used it myself, but I’ve heard it makes a great substitute in similar crust recipes.

Allulose

I stopped using erythritol / monk fruit sweetener a couple years ago. I never got used to that weird cooling sensation, and I hated the way it behaved.

While it’s annoying to have to order allulose from the USA, it’s the closest sweetener I’ve found to the real thing.

Not only does it taste more like regular sugar, it behaves more like it AND doesn’t have the mouth cooling thing that comes with those erythritol/monk fruit blends.

If you want to use a different sweetener, just use a little bit less - allulose is not quite as sweet, so doesn’t work cup-for-cup.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Unsalted Butter
Large Eggs
Vanilla Extract
Ground Cinnamon
Xanthan Gum
Salt

I just don’t have anything to add, here!

Garnish - Optional

While this cheesecake is great on its own, it’s always fun to garnish it.

I usually use unsweetened whipped cream and thin lime slices, but sometimes I’ll add some fresh raspberries in for a pop of colour.

How to Make Keto Key Lime Cheesecake

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

Keto Cheesecake Crust

Preheat oven to 350F.

Carefully wrap the outside of a 9" Spring form pan with a few layers of heavy duty aluminum foil, making sure it’s completely sealed off.

Press crust mixture into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared springform pan, taking care to form an even layer on the bottom of the pan.

Bake crust for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, turn oven temp down to 325 F.

Sugar Free Cheesecake Filling

In a large bowl (if using a hand mixer) - or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment - whisk together the allulose, the lime zest, and xanthan gum until well combined. Make sure to break up any clumps of allulose.

Note: you can do this step in a mini food processor, if you prefer, then transfer it to a larger bowl.

Add cream cheese the bowl, cream the cream cheese and allulose mixture on medium speed until smooth. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl as you go.

Gently fold in the eggs, just until well combined.

Bake the Cheesecake

Pour cheesecake batter into the prepared crust.

Place prepared cheesecake in a larger pan, carefully pour hot water into the larger pan, aiming for it to come halfway up the height of the springform pan.

Form a large “tent” out of a long piece of aluminum foil, as pictured in the post. This will prevent excessive browning - from the use of allulose - while preventing condensation (from the water bath) from landing on the top of the cheesecake.

Carefully transfer the whole thing to the 325 F oven.

Bake key lime cheesecake for 60-65 minutes, or until the center is mostly set - it’ll wiggle a little if shaken, but shouldn’t be liquid.

Remove from the oven. Tilt the foil tent to the side and carefully remove it from the pan, pulling it up and to the side. You want to avoid dripping water into the cheesecake.

Carefully remove the springform pan from the roasting pan of water. Run a butter knife along the inside of the pan to loosen the crust from the pan, then allow to cool to room temperature.

Transfer cheesecake to fridge, chill for at least 8 hours - ideally overnight.

Garnish as desired - I like to pipe whipped cream onto the top of the cheesecake, then garnish with key lime slices, but other fresh fruit - especially fresh berries - can be another nice option.

Use a sharp knife to cut individual slices, serve cold.

Leftovers

Leftover cheesecake can be transferred to an airtight container - or wrapped in plastic wrap - and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

More Low Carb Dessert Recipes

Looking to indulge your sweet tooth with delicious keto desserts that won’t spike your blood sugar? Here are some of my favorite recipes!

Basic Cheesecake
Biscotti
Chocolate Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy Lemon Bars
Chocolate Truffles
Raspberry Coconut Bars
Bananas Foster Truffles
Fudgy Brownies
Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
Lemon Tart
Sugar Free Sour Peach Gummies
Ladyfingers
Rum Cake
Tiramisu
Cream Cheese Mints
Chocolate Mousse
Low Carb Holiday Desserts
Creme Brulee
Carrot Cake