Low-carb Cheesecake needs help!

[chopsky]

Hey guys,

So I tried to make a sugar & wheat free cheesecake last night using a stevia/erythritol sweetener I found at a nearby store. The end-result was quite delicious. The only problem is the texture of the cake. It seems to lack any flexibility and crumbles very easilly. It also isn't quite as creamy/smooth as I'd have hoped. I think the problem may lie with the stevia granules, which it appears failed to melt. With almost each bite, I can feel a slight crunchiness when I bite on (what I assume is) the granules.

I decided I wanted to make the (relatively small-ish) cake without a biscuit base and loosely followed the following recipe: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/dess...

My cake was a bit smaller, so I adjusted the ingredients accordingly:

2 packages of full-fat cream cheese (500g or approx. 1lb
)3 eggs
1.5 tsp of vanilla extract
1.5 tsp of lemon juice
Just under 1 cup of Stevia/Erythritol sweetener
(I forgot to add sour cream which was part of the recipe)

After mixing the ingredients, I set the oven to 400, waited for it to heat up and placed the pan (with mixture) in the oven, immediately turning it down to 200. I then let it cook for about an 50 minutes until it was ready.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks! :-)

[amyzan]

If you can stomach maltitol, this syrup from Joseph's is a good alternative sweetener for cheesecake, ice cream, etc: http://www.josephslitecookies.com/ind...

I haven't yet successfully used erythritol in baking, but like it's flavor for drinks.

[chopsky]

Yeh, unfrotunately I'm trying to stick to a stevia-based recipe. The sweetener I found (which was primarilly Stevia, but contained Erythritol as a filler) was the best-tasting so far.

[amyzan]

I agree on the taste. So, if you figure out how to bake with the stevia and erythritol mix, I'd appreciate a post! I just didn't find the texture of most anything I tried (cheesecake, apple cake, cookies) to be appealing at all--grainy and dry--though the flavor was fine. Not as bad as Splenda in terms of texture, which was simply disastrous, IMO. I wish I could use half sugar half artificial sweetener, but a family member won't tolerate any sugar at all.

[ipsedixit]

Your problem is probably due to the Erythritol, which is hydrophobic -- i.e., it does not like, or attract water) -- and generally tends to be non water-solube in the absence of very high heat. Thus, baked goods maked with it tend to have a drier mouthfeel.

Try this experiment with pure Erythritol (not the Stevia blend). Put a cup of it in a saucepan, add some water, and heat it -- sort of the way you would if you were making simple syrup. Once the water gets really hot, you can stir it and the stuff will appear to dissovle, but once the water cools, you'll notice it will start to re-crystalize almost immediately.

Therein lies the texture difference you are sensing.

Sometimes you have to give up certain things when you are trying to adapt traditional recipes to be either sugar free, or sugar-less.

Good luck.

[chopsky]

Ahhh that makes more sense then. Perhaps I better find pure Stevia extract sweetener then. Thankd\s

[toveggiegirl]

Using the sour cream should improve the creaminess. As for the crunch of the stevia, you might want to consider using a liquid low cal sweetener.