This low carb strawberry cheesecake is a baked New York style cake on a pecan crust, finished with a real cooked-strawberry compote, at about 6 grams of net carb a slice. The dense, four-egg filling sets firm where the no-bake versions stay soft, and the berry topping does double duty: it tastes like summer and it hides the crack a baked cheesecake always seems to get.
This is an update to my very first post. My Low Carb Cheesecake has been quite popular and I felt it was time to update it with a strawberry topping and pecan crust. Another reason for updating this recipe is that my camera skills are finally getting better. With the help of two large flood lights I now have more natural light in my kitchen. As you can see from my original post of this recipe my cheesecake looked a little too yellow. I like adding the strawberry topping because although this cheesecake is beyond sinful it doesn't always present that well as a whole. The four eggs in the recipe help with the firm New York cheesecake setup, but it always cracks on the top. The strawberry topping helps to hide this flaw when you want to display the whole cheesecake as a birthday cake. And this is exactly what it will be used for tonight, in our home, for my Dad's birthday along with a special meal of marinated pork loin with pan gravy and cauliflower mash. Happy Birthday Dad!
A baked cheesecake on a pecan crust
The base here is a proper New York cheesecake, dense and tangy from five blocks of cream cheese and four eggs, not the whipped no-bake kind most keto recipes settle for. Under it goes a crust of ground roasted pecans and a pinch of cinnamon, pressed into the pan in place of graham crumbs. Pecans toast as the cake bakes into a buttery, sturdy base, and with no flour the whole cake stays gluten-free at around 6 grams of net carb a slice. Swap the Splenda for powdered erythritol, monk fruit, or allulose if you want it lower still, using the powdered form so the filling never turns gritty. The same baked base, without the fruit, is my original sugar free cheesecake.
A real strawberry compote that hides the crack
The topping is just frozen strawberries cooked down with their juice and a touch of sweetener until thick, no jam and no added pectin or sugar. It takes about ten minutes on low heat, mashing as you go, and it sets into a glossy sauce once chilled. Beyond the flavor, it earns its place by covering the split that runs across a baked New York cheesecake every time, so you can serve the whole cake as a birthday centerpiece without a bare crack on top. For a softer, no-bake cousin, the cheesecake mousse skips the oven entirely, and you will find the rest of the lineup in my low carb desserts guide.
Sources:
USDA FoodData Central, nutrient reference for cream cheese, sour cream, pecans, and strawberries
Sugarfreechic test kitchen, baked low-carb cheesecake and sweetener notes
