This beautiful Low Carb Keto Carrot Cake is layered between creamy cheesecake and cream cheese frosting! This pretty cake is Nut Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free and Grain Free. Just 5 g net carbs!
Low-Carb Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Even if you're not much of a baker, you can make this lovely low carb but traditional carrot cake for a special occasion, like Easter! It's not as hard as you might think, but does take some prep work to prepare the cheesecake layer.
This flavorful keto carrot cake is everything you need to make any occasion special! A layer of sugar-free cheesecake and a layer of the best low carb carrot cake you will ever have, all covered with sugar-free cream cheese frosting!
Friends and family will be shocked when they taste this keto recipe and certainly won't believe this delicious carrot cake is a Healthy Low Carb, Gluten Free, Sugar-Free Cake!
Keto Cheesecake
I'd never call myself a baker. I'm certainly not much of a cake decorator. It doesn't come easily to me and I struggle with making my favorite desserts pretty.
This sugar-free carrot cake has been on my mind to make for a long time, hubby loves carrot cake and I love cheesecake.
When I looked around on Pinterest for cakes similar to what I wanted to make, I saw this beautiful Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cake from Shugary Sweets and it inspired me to finally get a sugar-free low carb version done!
I adapted my Carrot Cake Mug Cake recipe and one of my cheesecake recipes to create this beauty. I made this for Easter a few years ago and no one could believe it was low carb!
Best Keto Carrot Cake Recipe
The best part about this luscious low-carb keto carrot cake cheesecake is that even days later kept in the fridge, the carrot cake never became dried out!
All the cheesecake and keto cream cheese frosting kept it as perfect as the first day we ate it and I'm talking up to 5 days later, we still loved it!
But some of you are thinking you can't have carrots on a keto diet, right? Wrong. There is only a ½ cup of shredded or grated carrot in this entire cake which has 12 servings. That is a very small amount of carrots for a whole
Now if you ate a ½ cup of carrots that may spike your blood sugar, but in a serving of this keto-friendly carrot cake recipe you are getting less than a tablespoon. I don't think we should not enjoy certain foods just because we are living a keto lifestyle.
The inside of this delicious keto carrot cake recipe does not contain nuts. Only the top has nuts on the frosting to decorate it, which is completely optional. So if you have a nut allergy in the family like my youngest child does the nuts on top can be eliminated and you've got a beautiful allergy friendly classic carrot cake for anyone!
How to Make Low Carb Carrot Cake
To view exact measurements of the simple ingredients listed and see nutrition info on recipe card, please scroll to the bottom of this blog post.
Cheesecake
cream cheese, room temperature
sour cream
heavy cream
Swerve Confectioners sweetener
eggs
Carrot Cake
large eggs
heavy cream
avocado oil or melted coconut oil
lemon juice
grated carrot
coconut, shredded, unsweet
Allspice or use a combination of cinnamon nutmeg, cloves
Cream Cheese Frosting
cream cheese, softened or mascarpone cheese
heavy cream
pinch salt
Instructions
Cheesecake
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the cream cheese and sour cream in a stand mixer and blend until smooth. Add the heavy cream, stevia, extract, Swerve and salt and blend on high until combined.
Add one egg at a time and blend until well incorporated.
Pour the batter into a greased or parchment paper lined 9 inch spring form pan
Wrap the bottom and half way up the pan with aluminum foil and place into a roasting pan. Pour hot water into roasting pan to half way up the sides of the spring form pan.
Bake 45 minutes until golden but still jiggly in the center.
Allow to cool then refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight.
Carrot Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the first 5 ingredients into a stand mixer and blend until combined.
Add the remaining ingredients and blend until combined.
Pour cake batter into a greased 9 inch spring form pan
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick in center comes out clean.
Allow to cool 1 hour.
Prepare frosting by adding all ingredients into a stand mixer. Taste and adjust sweetener if needed.
Assemble
Remove spring form from around each cake.
Place the cheesecake onto serving platter.
Lay the carrot cake on top of the cheesecake.
Spread frosting over the top of the cake and sides. Decorate around the outer edge of the top of the cake and add a sprinkle of chopped nuts if desired.
Keep refrigerated until serving.
How To Store
You can cover the entire cake with plastic wrap and place in the fridge or for portion control, you can slice into individual servings and wrap each slice in plastic wrap then store pieces in an airtight container like a ziploc bag.
Low-Carb Sweetener Options
Keto sweeteners are not all the same and different ones are required for different low-carb flours and cake recipes. Amount of sweetener needed for each low carb dessert will also vary. Here's my Sweetener Guide & Conversion Chart.
I prefer liquid stevia or liquid Monk Fruit when making keto treats that don't need any baking. Just a little bit of liquid stevia or monk fruit goes a long way and is never grainy.
If you don't like stevia or use it I can tell you my hubby is not a fan, but I can promise you he tasted no aftertaste whatsoever! He was in love with this cake!
Please use whatever sweetener you like but only use a small amount and taste it before adding more. You can always add more but never can take any away once it's been added. The cheesecake layer can be tasted before adding the eggs and you can do the same for the carrot cake and frosting.
Brenda's Best Tips
Please weigh your measurements with the dry ingredients which can tend to be different when using cup measurements. Weight measuring is the only accurate way to get the best results and best texture.
There are natural sugars in the dairy products and carrots which is where the sugar grams are coming from.
Cream cheese frosting could be reduced by half if you decide to only frost the top of the cake as opposed to all around the sides as I did.
Crushed pecans on top are optional and not included in the nutrition information.
More Easter Keto Dessert Recipes
Keto Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Ingredients
Cheesecake
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup Swerve Confectioners sweetener
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
Carrot Cake
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup carrot grated
- ½ cup coconut shredded, unsweet
- ⅓ cup ground flaxseed
- ¾ cup Swerve Brown Sugar Sub or Sukrin
- ½ teaspoon Allspice or use a combination of cinnamon nutmeg, cloves
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 oz cream cheese softened or mascarpone cheese
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia
- pinch salt
Instructions
Cheesecake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Place the cream cheese and sour cream in a stand mixer and blend until smooth. Add the heavy cream, stevia, extract, Swerve and salt and blend on high until combined.
- Add one egg at a time and blend until well incorporated.
- Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch spring form pan. Wrap the bottom and half way up the pan with aluminum foil and place into a roasting pan. Pour hot water into roasting pan to half way up the sides of the spring form pan.
- Bake 45 minutes until golden but still jiggly in the center.
- Allow to cool then refrigerate for 2-3 hours or overnight.
Carrot Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the first 5 ingredients into a stand mixer and blend until combined.
- Add the remaining ingredients and blend until combined.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick in center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool 1 hour.
- Prepare frosting by adding all ingredients into a stand mixer. Taste and adjust sweetener if needed.
Assemble
- Remove spring form from around each cake.
- Place the cheesecake onto serving platter.
- Lay the carrot cake on top of the cheesecake.
- Spread frosting over the top of the cake and sides. Decorate around the outer edge of the top of the cake and add a sprinkle of chopped nuts if desired.
- Keep refrigerated until serving.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Monique
Can Almond flour be used in place of the coconut flour?
Monique
This sounds amazing! Not a fan of coconut flour for baking though. Can the coconut flour be substituted with almond flour?
Brenda
Really can't be swapped one for one. You'd have to reduce some of the wet ingredients and use much more almond flour to replace the coconut I used. I would need to test it out because I am not sure you'd get the same results. You honestly can't taste coconut, it is masked by all the other flavors.
LQ
Wow! I made this for Father's Day as my husband loves both cheesecake and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. This is definitely the BEST keto cake I've ever had -- maybe one of the best cakes ever! Thank you SO much for posting this recipe. And by the way, I do not post, EVER...but I just had to break my "never" streak and let you know how good this cake is! I even took a picture of it because it was so pretty.
And those of you reading this, don't let all the preparation scare you as it's not as daunting as it may appear. I made the cheesecake one day and the carrot cake, etc. the next day. It is well worth whatever extra effort you have to go through.
My husband's suggestion was to make another layer of carrot cake to go under the cheesecake, just so you have a little something to hold it all together and bite into (and the carrot cake part was his favorite). I would love to do this, but how would you get the cheesecake layer off the bottom of the spring form pan to sandwich in between 2 layers of carrot cake? The cheesecake part seemed to be pretty well glued to that pan bottom so I just left it and placed it on the serving platter as is and constructed the rest of the cake from there. Any ideas?
Thanks again for such a great recipe. This one is already in my permanent file!
-- Oh and my husband immediately claimed at least 1/2 the cake is just his!!
Brenda
Reading this today made my day!!! Thank you!
Lucy
Wondered if you put parchment paper under the cheesecake in order to flip it over on top of your 1st layer of carrot cake, LQ, then add the 2nd layer on top? It would take some fancy flippin' for sure! 🙂
Polly
This looks amazing! The notes suggest weighing dry ingredients but the recipe doesn't list weight amounts.
Lisa
Click the metric link below the ingredient list for the weights.
Andee
I made this for easter — I was AMAZING. Absolutely perfect! My guests also enjoyed it and were shocked when I told them it was sugar free and low carb. A keeper for sure!
Brenda
Awesome thank you!
Angie
Hi Brenda do you recommend adding Pineapple to this? Would 1/2 cup create and issue?
Brenda
I don't think 1/2 cup will be an issue, but of course the carbs will increase since its pineapple.
Nicole
Was that whipped cream around the wedges and in the middle? Or was that the extra cream cheese for the topping?
Brenda
It was all the same cream cheese frosting used in the middle and on top.
Celeste
You say to weigh, but is there a way to know how much things way per the required measurement? Thanks!
Brenda
No you need a scale to be most accurate but for the most part the measurements should be fine to use. It's just when people change some ingredients there may be issues.
Joanne Kahlhamer
This sounds wonderful, I'm going to try to make this soon..we miss carrot cake !!
Debbie Valente
Was supposed to say flaxseed. Sorry
Debbie Valente
Don’t have fla seed. Can I leave it out?
Brenda
You'll need to add something to replace it with, maybe almond flour if no nut allergies.
Archie1954
459 calories for one gram of cake? I don't think so, definitely not for me!
Brenda
1 slice, the recipe plug in had a glitch.
Evelyn Macdonald
I am watching for a reply to Brenda regarding the sugars. I also use monk fruit. It has no bitter aftertaste and you can use way less. Just not sure how it will affect the cake. Thanks.
Brenda
That would work fine as well.
Evelyn Macdonald
Are there any substitutes for vanilla stevia or any other flavored stevia? This is kind of expensive to have to buy on top of everything else. Thanks for your reply.
Brenda
you can really sub any sweetener of choice you like.
Mary Beth
How much powdered sweetener and vanilla extract should I use in place of 1 tsp of vanilla stevia. I'm on social security and already spent my monthly payment. I have all the other ingredients. Thank you!
Brenda
It depends on the powdered brand you have. If it's Swerve you need at least a cup to equal the sweetness of 1 tsp stevia and 1 tsp vanilla extract. If another brand you might only need 1/2 cup and 1 tsp vanilla extract.
Mary Beth
Thank you!
Rebecca
Hi!! I plan on making this this for Easter and was wondering your thoughts on using almond milk instead of the heavy cream in the cake and frosting. I know little changes in ingredients can make BIG changes in the final product.
Thanks in advance for your input!
Brenda
I honestly haven't tried that swap but I think it would be fine for the cake but not quite sure for the frosting.
Evelyn Macdonald
To Rebecca - instead of heavy cream, why don't you try evaporated coconut milk in the cake and coconut cream in the frosting?
Joanna
Is there a sub for sukrin? I have monkfruit granulated sweetener and swerve granulated sweetener. Would it be 3/4 cup or less? I am unfamilair with how sweet sukrin is and didnt know how it compared to the other two. Ive noticed monkfruit is much sweeter than swerve so I tend to use half of that when subbing in recipes. Thanks in advance!
Grace
What kind of oil did you use for the carrot cake?
Brenda
Avocado or olive oil, you could use coconut oil as well.
Jessica
If you were using monkfruit sweetener, do you need to have the brown sugar type or will the regular white kind work for the cake section?
Brenda
No I think the granulated will work, you don't need the brown sugar sub.
Lena Mantarian
Will this work without the water bath?
Brenda
The edges might get more dry than the middle of the cake.
Amy
I made this recipe a few days ago, and it was AMAZING. Everyone who tried it love it and couldn't tell it was low carb. I will definitely be making it again, but minus the coconut as I've never been a fan of the texture. Thank you for sharing the recipe for this wonderful cake!
Sharon
What could I use to substitute the flax seeds? I have been reading that flax & chia seeds are very high for our estrogen levels and are not as healthy for us as once thought so have been trying to eliminate them from our diet . What is your take on this info?
Brenda
Yes I've heard that but I think small consumptions are fine for some of us. The flaxseed give this some great texture. Maybe swap it with almond flour if you have no allergies to nuts.
Lauren
Would this freeze well? I want to make it on the weekend for consumption on Wednesday next week - just wondering if it will still work from frozen?
Brenda
I think so, but I've done tried it.
Sharon mariano
Hi, how much cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg do you use if you don't have allspice?
Thanks.
Brenda
1/4 tsp of each
Linda B
I can't wait to make this! Carrot cake is my husband's absolute favorite. We have been eating a very restrictive carb diet. My husband has been battling Lyme disease, and eating low carb has made such a difference in his quality of life. This is going to be such a treat for him. Thank you so much for sharing!
Brenda
Hope he loves it!
Nancy
Thank you for mentioning this ...I was looking for dessert to make for Easter ~ my husband and myself are currently undergoing treatment for lymes disease also, low carb … no carb has been how I’ve eaten for years prior to diagnosis, not knowing my illness, this was an encouraging read for my husband to hear, I think he was watching me make changes but still unwilling to do the same. I’m hoping this will be some motivation for him to join me … I cook low carb but he still wants his carbs, mainly his breads!
Donna B.
That looks delicious. May have to request this for Mothers Day. What size springform pan did you use? Thanks.
Brenda
sorry just updated it, 9 inch.