It has been a while since my last post at the recipe section, I am back with another baking recipe of the famous fluffy Japanese Cheesecake, but this time, I make it into a gluten-free (flourless) and low carb Cheesecake. This gluten-free low carb Cheesecake is perfect for those who are in the LCHF ketogenic diet and for those who are gluten intolerant. If you compare the outlook of both low-carb and non-low-carb, they look exactly the same. This low-carb version is still as fluffy & as tasty like before, it even comes with a bit of enhanced cheese flavor. You will not know that it is the all-new flourless recipe, yes, no flour at all, not even other gluten-free flour; no almond flour, no coconut flour and such. You will find the complete recipe in all possible details I can provide, with photos and videos, at the recipe page.
It’s Low-Carb!!!
Ever since I published my first Japanese Cheesecake recipe more than a year ago, it was a big hit on my website and I was so happy to know that everyone wants to bake it. Consequently, I received tons of questions and requests which I am more than happy to answer. Some questions are straightforward but some needs experiment and trying out, for example, this low-carb and gluten-free version. For this reason, I spent a few months to try out my new recipe and tweaking it until I am 101% satisfied with the result. I have lost count of how many Low Carb Cheesecake I have baked before sharing out this perfect recipe with you here. Definitely, I am absolutely happy to go through all the processes and finally succeeded in baking an as light… as jiggly… as pillowy… as fluffy… as perfect as the original Japanese Cheesecake.
Japanese Cheesecake (Low Carb, Flourless) Recipe
scroll ⬇️to get the recipe
Besides low carb and gluten-free, I also changed the oven temperature setting to a single-temperature bake. In my original Japanese Cheesecake, many overlooked on the instruction on changing the temperature in stages and some find it troublesome with the multiple stage temperature setting. Due to these reasons, baking at a lower temperature with longer duration works perfectly in this recipe.
Light and jiggly!!!
Due to the cheese, butter and the cream in the cake, the low carb Japanese Cheesecake is best served after chilled for the best taste and texture, unless you love to savor it as soufflé then you may proceed while it is still warm. Since it is low carb, I didn’t add any icing decoration on the surface as what I did to the original Japanese Cheesecake. In the event that you may want to decorate it and still maintain it’s low carb value, perhaps you may stencil-icing it with pure cacao powder.
Here is the quick GIF of the View the complete video on the recipe page, I have included the jiggly part in the video too.
Disclaimer: I adapted the ketogenic lifestyle 8 months ago and have learned a lot of this low-carb-high-fat diet. Besides achieving better health for my body, I lost some weight (more than 20 pounds and it’s still going) too.
Watch “How-To-Bake” Video
Japanese Cheesecake – Low Carb, Flourless
Watch it bakes at 3.01 min, Watch it jiggles at 4.25 min
Low Carb Japanese Cheesecake
Flourless / Gluten Free, Ketogenic Diet Compliant
Makes 8″ round cake pan (12 servings)
Prep Time: 30 mins | Bake Time: 90 mins
INGREDIENTS:
Cheese Mixture
250 gram Philadelphia cream cheese (read note 2)
60g Grated Mozzarella Cheese (read note 2)
20g Grated Cheddar Cheese or Grated Parmesan Cheese (read note 2)
6 egg yolks, large (read note 1)
70 gram Natural Sweetener Lakanto (fine granulated) (read note 3) (Available at iHerb)
70 gram Unsalted Butter
50 gram Heavy Cream
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp Himalaya pink salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract (1 tsp Vanilla essence or 1/4 tsp vanilla powder)
Meringue
6 egg whites, large
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (or 1/2 tsp lemon juice)
70 gram Natural Sweetener Lakanto (fine granulated)
METHOD:
1. Pre-heat oven to 150°C / 302°F (Top and bottom heat, no fan force)
2. Grease 8″ x 3″ cake pan with butter, line bottom and side with parchment paper, grease the parchment paper (read note 4)
3. Prepare Cheese Mixture (The Yellow)
a) Whisk cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese till smooth over a hot water bath (read note 6)
b) Add the natural sweetener and whisk
c) Add yolks and whisk, 2 yolks at a time, mix well
d) Add butter and heavy cream and whisk
e) Add salt, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and whisk
4. Prepare Meringue (The White)
a) Whisk whites at low speed till foamy
b) Add cream of tartar and beat at high speed till bubbles become very small but still visible
c) Gradually add the balance 70 gram of sugar and beat till firm peaks
5. Combine Cheese Mixture with Meringue by folding 1/3 of meringue into cheese mixture at a time,
lastly, pour the batter into the final 1/3 of meringue and fold well. (read note 7)
6. Pour the batter into the cake pan and tap the pan on the counter to release visible bubbles (read note 8)
7. Baking and Cooling (read note 9 to 12)
a. Bake with a water bath at the bottom-most rack in a preheated 150°C / 302°F for 90 min
b. Switch off the oven, remove the water bath and leave the cake in the oven for 30 mins, with the door slightly open, unmold the cake when it is cool enough to handle with hand.
COOK’S NOTE:
- Egg – Size: large (about 65 gram with shell). I separated the yolk and white by using cold eggs. By the time you’ve finished preparing the cheese mixture, the egg whites are just nice to beat into a meringue.
- Cheese – place grated Mozzarella cheese followed by cream cheese and cheddar or parmesan cheese, leave them over the hot water bath (not boiling) while you prepare for other ingredients so that they have time to melt before you whisk them. Both cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese will give a slightly different taste for the cake in overall, though minor but choose which cheese you like the best. If you are baking for the ketogenic version, please use only those cheese which is keto compliant.
- Natural Low Carb Sweetener – Lakanto sweetener is monk fruit sweetener mixed with erythritol. It is natural, and most importantly, it does not raise blood glucose levels. Read more on Low Carb Sweetener and find one to replace if needed, there is a sweetener conversion chart at the far end of the post, so you will know how much to use as a replacement for Lakanto. By the way, this recipe has not been tested with other sweeteners, so please use the replacement with cautious. If you are baking as “Gluten Free” Japanese Cheesecake and is not restricted to low carb, you may use the same amount of fine granulated sugar or castor sugar.
- Cake pan – I recommend that you use a 3″ tall non-black 8″ round cake pan (maybe this cake pan is a good fit, found in Amazon). If you cannot find a 3″ high cake pan, then replace it with a 9″ round cake pan with at least 2.5″ tall. Use a 1-piece punch out cake pan, not springform pan or any other seamed pan. (Refer to pic 1)
- Grease & Pan Lining – grease the side and bottom of the pan with butter and line both the side and the bottom of the pan. Grease the lined parchment paper again with thick butter. This will help the cake to pull away easily from the side during the cooling stage. (Refer to pic 1)
- Cheese Mixture – before folding into the meringue, the cream cheese batter should be a keep warm over a warm water bath to prevent the cheese being coagulated, about 40-50 °C. (Refer to pic 3)
- Meringue folding *** VERY IMPORTANT *** – folding egg white meringue to cheese mixture needs to be gentle to minimize the deflation of tiny pockets of air in the meringue. Make sure both cheese mixture and meringue are well incorporated and come together. (Refer to pic 9)
- Batter filling – only fill Japanese cheesecake batter about 15mm (1/2″) from the rim, if you have extra batter (it shouldn’t be a lot left), discard it. (Refer pic 10)
- Water bath- Use a roasting pan of about 2″ high and at least 11″ diameter. Fill hot water to about 1″ high after placing the cake pan on the roasting pan before sending into the oven. (Refer pic 11)
- Oven – this is crucial and very important. The temperature stated in the recipe is in-oven temperature. Each oven is different so if you are not too sure if the temperature inside your oven is accurate as what you have set at the control panel, get an oven thermometer to check.
- Cooldown – Immediately after the time is up, open the oven door to remove the water bath, put the cake back into the oven and open the oven just a tiny bit (about 10mm). Use a mitten to stop the door from closing back. Removing the water bath is optional but I find that it will prevent the bottom of the cake being wet by the condensation. Open the door wider after 30 minutes or remove the cake from the oven if your room temperature is not too cold.
- Unmold cake – Unmold the cake when it is able to handle by bare hand. Remove the side liner if the cake has pulled itself away from it, otherwise, trim the paper to pan height. Use a cake board to cover the cake pan, flip the pan and carefully remove the pan. Remove the bottom liner and place another cake board or plate on the bottom of the cake, invert it back. The cake should be soft and fluffy and jiggly when it is still warm. Leave it to cool to room temperature before sending it into the fridge. The final cake size after shrinkage is about 7.5″ x 3″ (highest point). (Refer pic 13 to 16)
- Cake serving – Cut the cake with a warm knife, wipe the knife clean before the next cut.
CONVERSION:
For your convenience, please use this unit conversion, powered by UnitConversion.org to convert the measurement to another unit.
NUTRITION & MACRONUTRIENT FACTS:
Note: This is an estimated value based on my ingredients, it may be different if you are using different brands.
PHOTO REFERENCES:
Pic 1, the cake pan and the lining of the parchment paper.
Pic 2, the ingredients of the low carb Japanese Cheesecake.
Pic 3, whisk and soften the cheese over a hot water bath. The hot water bath is underneath the metal bowl.
Pic 4, this is the mixture after sweetener and yolks were added.
Pic 5, since the mixture is kept warm on the water bath, it will melt the butter as well.
Pic 6, the yellow cheese mixture is then left on the water bath to keep warm while we prepare the white meringue part.
Pic 7, beat the egg whites with the sweetener until it forms a firm peak. Watch this video to check out the stages of peaks.
Pic 8, scope 1/3 of the meringue into the cheese mixture, carefully mix this 2 part together, repeat again for the 2nd 1/3. I use hand-whisk to FOLD, not stirring.
Pic 9, then I changed my hand whisk to a spatula for the last 1/3 of the meringue. I pour over the mixture to the meringue for the final folding.
Pic 10, pour the batter into the cake pan.
Pic 11, place the cake pan into the roasting pan, add hot water before sending to the oven.
Pic 12, bake the cake at the bottom-most rack for 90 mins.
Pic 13, pull out the side’s parchment paper liner if the cake has pulled away from the lining.
Pic 14, place a spare cake board onto the cake.
Pic 15, Inverting the cake out from the pan. Remove the balance of the parchment paper liner.
Pic 16, repeat the same to transfer the cake to the desired cake board or plate or cake stand.
Chilled and serve!!!
ENJOY and savor every bit of it!!!
I made another cheesecake that used a water bath for baking. It called for wrapping a springform pan in double foil before putting in the water bath. Would that work with yours? I hate to buy another pan!
Springform pan can be used but I do not recommend it as it may cause water to sip it. Secondly, the pan is in black color and will be hotter than white color pan.
Hi, my cake rises well but then when it deflates i get folds on the sides (like i smushed it) unlike yours which are pristine. What did i do wrong?
Apply more butter to grease the parchment paper that contact with the batter. It looks like the cake clung to the parchment, that why when it shrinks, it pulled the paper together.
Hi would like to know what adjustments should I make if I use a black pan? The cake top became burnt when I did it with a black pan:(
The cake also became very dense the next day after chilling.
Black pan is generally collect more heat than a white pan. I failed when using a black pan, my advice is to change your pan to white. The dense cake might come from other factors though, the black pan is one of the factors but it might not the only reason.
Hi, may I know why you line the bottom and the side with parchment paper whereas your original recipe you didn’t? You mentioned in the original recipe that as the cake cools it will create creases on the side as it pulls away from the lining, pls advise thanks
Yes, I didn’t line the original non-low-fat Japanese cheesecake. Somehow this low carb has the difficulty to detach from the pan, so, I have to line the side with parchment paper then grease it with a thick layer of butter to prevent it from creasing.
Would substituting coconut milk for heavy cream affect whether, or how high, the cake will rise? Same question about adding lemon/orange zest…would adding too much citrus zest affect whether the cake will rise or not? I don’t want a dense cake, but love adding citrus zest to the batter. Lastly, if I were to add fresh, homemade Pandan leaves extract, should I substitute it in place of another ingredient?
Have you made it before and got it successful? Please follow the recipe before attempting any changes to the ingredients. You may add a bit more zest to the cake for more flavor but restrict it to 1 tablespoon each. I haven’t tried changing heavy cream to coconut milk, as well as adding pandan leaves extract.
Thanks for your response. Yes, I have made this cake according to your recipe about 8 times now and have been successful as of late so now I want to branch out and try adding different flavors and techniques for fancy designs. But before I do that, I wanted to do a little more research on substituting ingredients to be sure it will have a good chance of succeeding. Have a good one!
Hi – Thanks for sharing your recipe. This looks great! About the grated Mozzarella, do you have a specific brand that you use? Also do you buy a block of mozzarella and grate it your self, or use the pre-shredded part skim mozzarella that we find often here in the stores in the U.S.A.?
I used a block of mozzarella cheese and grated it, no particular brand as long as it is real mozzarella cheese. Perhaps you can read the label to check the nutrition value to check the carb value, get the lowest carb value if there is any. Don’t buy pre-shredded cheese as they usually contain additional ingredients in it to prevent the cheese from sticking up.
Got it. Thanks for your reply! I’ll give it a try soon!
Happy baking!
Sorry; one more question on the mozzarella cheese; do you use a block of part-skim low moisture, low-fat kind, or a full-fat kind? Thought most of the mozzarella I saw is low-fat. Thanks.
I prefer it to be full fat as I am in LCHF / keto diet and I need the fat. I think you can use low-fat.
Hi – So I tried it last week and followed the recipe exactly especially the baking temp/time and water bath including leaving the cake in the oven for 30 minutes after turning off the heat, removing the waterbath and keeping the door closed only with a towel inserted to keep a tiny crack. The cake did rise beautifully and very tall while in the oven even during that 30-minute cool down period in the oven, and the top browned. I took it out of the oven and unmold it while it was still warm. The cake was jiggly and looked fine, although it did shrink slowly down to maybe only 1/2 inch taller than the original unbaked cake batter. At this point the outside looked nice and done. After it cooled down I put it in the fridge over night. The following morning when I took it out and cut into the cake, the inside was soft and done, yet not as fluffy as I had hoped. It was still a little wet and when I cut with a knief I could not get a clean cut of slice as there was a lot of crumbles making the slices look very messy. Tastewise it was o.k; since I added maybe one or two additional table spoons of lemon juice, it tasted a little too tangy like a lemon cake rather than a normal vanilla cheesecake. I ended up toss most of the cake as it did not look very appetizing sliced and it was too tangy for most people to enjoy as a dessert. In terms of the cake interior texture being too wet/crumbly, wondering if I should have kept it in the oven for longer; but 90 minutes is a long time to wait and then 30 minutes cool down time. I did use an oven themometer so knew my oven temp was correct. Also I did use low-moisture part-skim mozzarella rather than full fat as I wanted to use up the big bag I got previously. But this was only 60 grams; given the small quantity I did not think it would make much difference in the final texture of the cake. Any tip would be appreciated. Oh and in addition, would the size of the eggs make a big difference? Do you have the total weight of the egg yolks v.s. the egg whites? Any tip would be appreciated.
Hi thanks for the great recipe! I baked it yesterday. The oven temperature became lower than 150 degree when I open my oven and put my cake in with the water bath. So I increased the temperature to 179degree. 10mins after, the cake top cracked but oven temperature is not 170 degree. Can I know why my cake top i switched the oven temperature back to 150degree. Why it has cracked? Is it because I increased it to 170 degree? Should I reduce to 140 degree for the whole baking time?
Thanks for your help and advise.
Check the in-oven temperature during pre-heat to make sure your oven temp selector is correct, otherwise, just off set the difference to the setting.The temperature will drop when you open the door and when the cake just entered into the oven. Please don’t change the temperature during the baking.
Hi It tried the recipe but mine was deflated If I’m using a fan forced fan, what temp and times should I follow? Thanks!
You may try lower down 10 deg C for the fan-force oven. The problem of large deflation usually was caused by improper mix of the 2 part batter. Try fold it carefully to prevent deflating the tiny bubble too much.
Hi there!
Thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
I made a first try that was quite successful 🙂 I’m just wondering why the texture of mine was still wet despite having risen properly when I see yours in the picture that seems to be dryer (similar to regular japanese cheesecakes)?
Does it sound like I have to keep it in the over more time or any other tip?
Thanks
Sara
It is the water condensation during the cool-down process. Remove the water bath during the cool-down process to avoid the condensation. After a while, the wetness will be gone especially after chilling in the fridge. 🙂
Thanks for the reply 🙂 I did follow your advice and removed the water bath direct after the cooking time…
In the meantime, I tried a second attempt and this time, it didn’t rise despite my white eggs were very fluffy and well incorporated to the cheese mixture 🙁
So when I took it back from the oven I could feel just by moving it a bit that it was not cooked inside (or too much wet?)
I left it cool down and when I tried to remove it from the mold it was a disaster: not cooked at all, texture was like very wet mashed food
I really read many many times your recipe and cannot explain why it happened… My oven was not using the fan only top and bottom 150°C, I really followed all your advices…
Will try a 3rd attempt though and try to remove the excess moisture from the cream cheese before using it… let’s see
Hi, I’ve substitute mozzarella with cheddar and parmesan. But it doesn’t really rise much.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
The cheese won’t make it rise but the tiny bubbles in the meringue will. Please make sure your beat the egg whites into the correct stage then fold it into the cream cheese mixture carefully to prevent deflation of batter.
I tried this recipe twice, but both times, around 1cm of the bottom becomes like a jelly. Do you know why it is like this?
I am not sure what caused this, perhaps it is a separation on the cheese?
I followed the instruction carefully but my cake centre sink. May i know is there any possibility for this to happen?
It sounds like it was under-baked. Did you check the internal temperature with an in-oven thermometer?
Hi! If i’m going to half the recipe what will the cooking time be? Thanks!
You can use the same cooking time since it is low temp bake and with water bath method.
made mine today but it’s really wet. i think it’s either because i had too much water in the water bath, or i mixed the meringue and the cheese mix to much. i might make it again though. i love japanese cheesecake!
Sometimes, it is the condensation of the water bath, it could be the liquid in the recipe which is due to solidifying (because the cake is still warm). Happy baking.
Hi, thank you for sharing the recipe. Is it fine to omit the sweetener ?
If you like the taste which is basically like a bake fluffy omelette with a hint of vanilla taste, it should work without sweetener.
Hi! I was able to make this and it was a success. Too bad I wasn’t able to take pictures of it before it deflated, though just a little and perfectly fine with me. It still looks gorgeous for my taste. I will make this over and over gain 🙂 I am hoping you would be able to make a low carb matcha version. Thank you so much!
Hi Gemini, glad to know your success in this cake. You could add a tablespoon of matcha powder to this recipe and omit the vanilla extract, it should works wonderful too. Please tag us @craftpassion should you share any photos in your social media. Thank you.
Why does it deflate when cooling?
It is normal to deflate a little because the cake is filled with tiny air pockets. If it deflates a lot, it means the air pockets weren’t distributing correctly in the cake, which could cause from improper folding of batter or thermal shock during the baking.
Thanks so much for the recipe! I had two blocks of cream cheese in my fridge and have been craving japanese cheesecake and was worried I’d have to cheat from keto to have some! This turned out so good, in both taste and texture! And first time for me making japanese cheesecake without the top cracking! Thanks for the thorough instructions!!
Hi! This cake is delicious! How would you add chocolate to it? If I have keto chocolate bars, how much would be needed to melt into the batter?
Thanks!
I haven’t tried to add melted chocolate to the batter, however, no harm trying it by replacing the same weight of 60 g mozzarella cheese. If it works and if you want to increase the chocolate more, you may replace the cheddar cheese as well. Please keep us update if it works. Hope to hear your favorable reply soon.
Hi!
on this low carb keto recipe, Can I use Truvia as the sweetener instead of Lakanto monkfruit? also, can I use regular salt instead of the Pink Himalayan salt?
Thanks!
I never use Truvia before, but if it looks like and tastes exactly like normal granulated sugar, I think it should be ok. Yes, you may use regular salt if you are not in strict keto.
I just used some Truvia in this recipe today and it turned out great! My guests did not know it was a keto recipe even though they just had some “regular” japanese cheesecake the day before!
This is so beautiful! I was wondering, is the mouth texture the exact same as the original recipe? And could you use all mozzarella cheese in place of the other grated cheese types if you wanted a slightly milder cheese flavor?
I was also curious if I could just use lakanto sweetener in place of the sugar in the original recipe and still have success? I like to watch my carbs but am not as strict as Keto so I wouldn’t mind the few carbs the cake flour would add 🙂
Hi Hilda, the Mozzarella cheese is a must because it helps to bind the ingredients well. You may choose a mild flavor mozzarella cheese if there is an option.
Yes, you may use Lakanto in the original recipe without a problem.
Happy baking 🙂
Hi, will the oven temperature and timing given in this recipe work for the original recipe as well? I’m hoping to try this out soon but am not that adept at baking.
Yes, you can use this temperature setting too.
I’ve made this cake twice. I’m a little confused. First time used 70g of sugar in batter and another 70g in meringue according to recipe.
Then second time watched the video and you used half of the sugar in the bowl for batter and half for meringue so I did 35g on batter and 35g on meringue which came out not sweet enough.
What should it be?
Thank you!
Also, is there anyway I can not use butter and whipping cream instead use milk? I wonder if you know how to get it even lighter texture.
70g is already half of the sugar, so it should be 70g in the batter and 70g in the meringue.
I am not quite sure about your question in the last part, do you mean that you want to replace butter and whipping cream to just milk to make it lighter?
Thank you! That helps a lot! Yes is it possible to just use milk to make it lighter? Or would you recommend another way? Thank you!
I supposed you can but I never tried it before. I used heavy cream is because milk is not keto compliant but heavy cream is 🙂
Got it! Thank you!! Where do you purchase the hello kitty stencil?
You can find it in Craft Passion Shop, there are many other designs as well.
I was confused with this at first too and watched the video multiple times. What I’ve concluded is she put all 140g of sugar in one bowl, so that’s why in the yellow mixture she added half the sugar. Then used the rest of the 70g in the meringue. This is what I did and it turned out great 🙂 I kept my scale out while I added the sugar from the bowl so I would add exactly 70g into the yellow mixture. You can separate them into two separate 70g bowls too to make it less confusing.
Oh my this cake looks fluffy as a cloud! I love Japanese cheesecake ♥