Recipes | Cakes & Cupcakes

Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake

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Crisp chocolate cookie-crumb crust topped with a lactose-free cream cheese based chocolate cheesecake filling makes for one decadent Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake. The small servings are low FODMAP yet rich enough to satisfy.

low FODMAP chocolate cheesecake. Whole cake with slcies out in rear; single wedge on white plate up front

All About Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake

This chocolate cheesecake is part of a series of cheesecake recipes, which began with our New York Style Low FODMAP Cheesecake. These types of cheesecakes are always based on cream cheese; in our case it is lactose-free cream cheese. Then, sour cream is often used or sometimes cream (which is featured in our Frozen Low FODMAP Peanut Butter Cheesecake).

Please do take the time to read through our New York Style Low FODMAP Cheesecake recipe, as we have included very helpful basic cheesecake-making information in that recipe.

They are all rich and creamy, and although this chocolate cheesecake is divided into several pieces, I PROMISE that these serving sizes will satisfy your cravings.

In this case, we begin with a crisp chocolate cookie crust and then a fair amount of melted dark chocolate is added to the batter.

closeup of chocolate cheesecake, slice taken out on silver tray

Conventional Cheesecake vs. Low FODMAP Cheesecake

I first made this cheesecake in 1980; the original recipe was from the beloved Maida Heatter. That summer I was living in a communal apartment at Hampshire College and I was making a birthday dinner for a roommate.

I had my brand-new Cuisinart (my first) and made pesto pasta and this cheesecake, in its original form. After eating this rich meal we all took off for Mountain Park and road the rides– like the awesomely rickety wooden roller coaster. Yeah, not a great idea.

But my point is that this recipe began as a classic and conventional recipe – and I am determined to bring you as many classics as possible, made low FODMAP so that we can all enjoy!

slice of low FODMAP chocolate cheesecake on white plate

Chocolate Crumb Crusts

You can use whatever low FODMAP cookies you like to make the crust, although we highly recommend chocolate; I happened to have some homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti, so I used those. But I know that is a rarefied occurrence.

Use Our Shopping Lists To Find Low FODMAP Foods

You can refer to our Shopping Lists to find lists of cookies that have been approved by Monash University trained Success Team RD Vanessa Cobarrubia. Our Shopping Lists contain thousands of low FODMAP products for you to shop for, including cookies.

Make sure to grind the cookies to a very fine texture in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulsing on and off to start. You can also place your chosen cookies in a heavy zip top bag and crush them with a rolling pin – or a mallet. Just make sure that they are finely and evenly crushed.

The amount of melted butter needed to create a crumb crust that sticks together well will depend on which cookie you use.

About Lactose-Free Cream Cheese & Sour Cream

This recipe was developed and tested using Green Valley Creamery brand lactose-free cream cheese and sour cream.

This lactose-free cream cheese is a fabulous product, and we highly recommend it. You can also see it featured in our New York Style Low FODMAP Cheesecake, Frozen Low FODMAP Peanut Butter Cheesecake, Cheesecake Pie and several other recipes – including savory, such as Ben Lee’s Butter Chicken (one of our community favorites).

Can I Use A Different Cream Cheese?

You cannot substitute regular conventional cream cheese, as it does not react the same to our preparation techniques or in the final baking. The ratios of the ingredients called for in this Chocolate Cheesecake work with Green Valley Creamery lactose-free cream cheese.

If you do make this recipe with another lactose-free cream cheese, we would love to hear from you about your experience.

You can substitute another brand lactose-free sour cream.

How To Use Your Springform Pan

If you click on over to our NY Style Low FODMAP Cheesecake you will see that the cheesecake and its crust are formed directly on the metal bottom of the springform pan – and indeed, this is how most folks make cheesecake.

But it does not create the nicest looking finished dish. Plus, if you take the cheesecake somewhere to share, there is a high chance of leaving that metal bottom behind; yes, I speak from experience.

There is a way to assemble your cheesecake and crust in such a way that you when you unmold the cake from the springform pan, you can remove the sides and then also separate the cake from the bottom! This allows you to place your cheesecake on a lovely platter of your choice.

It is all in the pan prep.

How To Prep Your Springform Pan

Parchment paper stars in this particular technique. We use parchment paper every day in our Test Kitchen. To line cookie sheets, to wrap savory food in parchment packets, and to line the bottom of cake pans.

You can see this at work in our cake recipes, such as our Easy Chocolate Cake and Basic Yellow Cake. In those recipes a simple parchment round is cut to fit the bottom of your chosen cake pan.

For our Chocolate Cheesecake, follow these 3 steps:

      1. Separate your springform pan pieces. Cut a piece of parchment paper a bit larger than the bottom of your springform pan – you can do this by eye. You want there to be overage; around 11 or 12-inches (28 to 30.5 cm) is good. You can see all the parts in the image below:
  1. prepping a springform pan with parchment paper
    1.  2. Center this parchment round on top of the metal bottom of the springform pan. Snap the springform sides into place, with the bottom edges catching the parchment so that it is locked into place.

springform pan with parchment paper, snapped into place

    1.  3. Spritz the inside of the pan, metal sides and paper lined bottom, with nonstick spray. Now your pan is prepped so that you will be able to remove the entire cheesecake from all parts of the springform pan, allowing a more elegant final look.

Ingredients For Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake

Let’s look at each one:

Low FODMAP, GF Chocolate Cookie Crumb Crust – Use our Shopping Lists to find a cookie that you might like to use – or use our Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti as shown in the images.

Butter – We call for unsalted butter.

Ingredients for Chocolate Cookie Crumb Crust

Lactose-Free Cream Cheese – This recipe was developed and tested with Green Valley Creamery Lactose-Free Cream Cheese. I cannot vouch for how this recipe will work with any other cream cheese. Make sure it is room temp.

SugarRegular granulated sugar for this recipe.

Vanilla Extract – We prefer pure vanilla extract over imitation.

Lactose-Free Sour Cream – I used Green Valley Creamery Lactose-Free Sour Cream for this recipe, but you can use another brand. Room temperature please. BTW, this company also makes a Lactose-Free Cottage Cheese that looks almost exactly the same. Read labels carefully when you are in the supermarket.

Green Valley Creamery products. Their Sour Cream vs Cottage Cheese

Large Eggs – Make sure they are graded size large and bring to room temperature; beat well in a bowl before adding to batter.

Chocolate – I suggest a semisweet chocolate with about a 50% to 55% cacao content for this cake. Melt and cool slightly. It should be barely warm to the touch.

How To Make Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake

Pay attention  to temperature of ingredients – and specific directions. Each step counts for best results!

First step is to combine the chocolate cookie crumbs and melted butter. Below they are both in a bowl and ready to be combined.

combining chocolate cookie crumbs and melted butter for a chocolate cookie press-in crust

Stir them together well until completely mixed together. Below you can see that they are ready to be pressed into your prepped pan.

chocolate cookie crumb crust ready to be pressed into a pan

Then it is time to make the cheesecake filling. As I have explained in our NY Style Cheesecake recipe, which I sort of think of as our “mothership” cheesecake article, working with Green Valley Lactose-Free Cream Cheese is a bit different from working with conventional cream cheese. Please follow the directions carefully.

Temperature is especially important to helping our ingredients blend well and smoothly to make the creamiest cheesecake.

What Happens If My Ingredients Are Too Cold?

This is what happens if your ingredients are too cold – look below.

Chocolate cheesecake batters side by side in glass bowls

On the left you can see that the melted chocolate seized when it was combined with the cold dairy ingredients. Little flecks of hard chocolate are suspended in the dairy, sugar, egg mixture.

If everything is at the right temperatures, the bowl on the right shows you what the batter will and should look like. The chocolate has blended with and become incorporated with the other ingredients. CREAMY! Take your time and prep your ingredients properly for best success. I often take the bowl off of my stand mixer and give the mixture a once-over with a balloon whisk to make sure everything is well combined (see below).

Using a balloon whisk and whisking by hand to ensure a rich, creamy, blended chocolate cheesecake batter

How To Prevent Cheesecakes From Cracking

Please refer to a thorough section on preventing cracking in our NY Style Low FODMAP Cheesecake recipe. In brief, you must pay attention to:

  • Temperature of Ingredients
  • Beating Technique
  • Beating Your Eggs BEFORE Adding to Batter
  • Using a Water Bath with a Silicone Wrap
  • Using Right Tools & Equipment

Use A Water-Bath for Best Results

This cheesecake is baked in a water-bath, which insulates the cake from the oven heat. This provides a very gentle baking and helps create a super creamy, end result.

To protect the cake from any water leaking into the pan, you can also use extra-wide, heavy-duty aluminum foil wrapped around the outside of the pan, but there is now an even better solution.

Silicone Water Bath Wrap

Here in this picture below you can see this yellow silicone “pan”. It functions as a “wrap” or protective layer for your cheesecakes when they bake in a water bath – with no leaking! I have become quite fond of my Easy Bath Cheesecake Wrap.

low FODMAP chocolate cheesecake batter, in springform pan, within silicone wrap, ready for a water bath

How To Unmold Your Cheesecake

With your pan prepped as described above, unmolding will be a cinch – after the cheesecake has chilled thoroughly. As usual I suggest running a small icing spatula around the edge of the cake first to help physically separate it from the pan before unlocking the spring-lock. Once the outer springform rim is removed your cheesecake will look like this below. You can see the chilled cake is firm and on top of the parchment topped bottom round.

unmolding chocolate cheesecake from springform pan

Then, it is very simple to separate the very firm, chilled cheesecake from the parchment-lined bottom, as seen below – and place on the display plate of your choice. TA DA!

cheesecake lifting easily off of parchment covered springform pan bottom

Now it is time to make this decadent, luscious low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake!

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low FODMAP chocolate cheesecake. Whole cake with slcies out in rear; single wedge on white plate up front
4.25 from 4 votes

Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake

Crisp chocolate cookie-crumb crust topped with a lactose-free cream cheese-based chocolate cheesecake filling makes for one decadent Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake. The small servings are low FODMAP yet rich enough to satisfy.

Low FODMAP Serving Size Info: Makes 1, 9-inch (23 cm) cheesecake; 24 slices; serving size 1 slice

Makes: 24 Servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Chilling Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 9 hours 30 minutes
Author: Dédé Wilson

Ingredients:

Crust:

  • 1 ½ cups (about 225 g) low FODMAP chocolate cookie crumbs, finely ground; I recommend our Low FODMAP Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti as an excellent choice
  • 1 to 6 tablespoons (1 tablespoon to 85 g) unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Filling:

  • 12- ounces (340 g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, preferably around 60% cacao mass
  • 3, 8- ounce (227 g) each containers lactose-free cream cheese, such as Green Valley Creamery
  • 1 cup (198 g) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten well
  • 1 cup (227 g) lactose-free sour cream, such as Green Valley Creamery, at room temperature

Preparation:

  1. For the Crust: Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Assemble a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan as described above with parchment paper if you want to ultimately separate the finished, chilled cheesecake completely from the pan bottom. Coat the inside of pan with nonstick spray. If you have the silicone wrap, place the metal springform pan inside it now. If you do not, then proceed as follows: double wrap the outside of the pan with 18-inch (46 cm)-wide aluminum foil, bringing the foil up and around the sides of the pan all the way to the top edge. Make sure the bottom edge of the pan is completely sealed off to protect it from the water-bath it will be placed in; set pan aside.

  2. Place the cookie crumbs in a medium-size mixing bowl and stir in just enough melted butter to moisten the crumbs so that they stick together. The amount of butter will vary hugely, depending on the type of cookie used. If you use our Low FODMAP Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti, you will probably need the full amount of butter.
  3. Press the crust mixture firmly into an even layer in the prepared pan and up the sides a little bit. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until dry to the touch. Remove the crust from the oven and set aside on a wire rack.
  4. For the Filling: Melt the chocolate in top of double-boiler or in microwave and stir until smooth; set aside to cool slightly. Place one 8-ounce (225 g) container’s worth of the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and blend, with an electric mixer on low speed, until creamy and smooth, which will happen very quickly. Do not overbeat or let it get too liquidy. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and blend very briefly on low speed, then beat in the melted chocolate. Pour in the beaten eggs a little bit at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Do not whip on high speed; you do not want to incorporate air. The mixture might be very thin at this point; that’s okay. Add the remaining containers’ worth of cream cheese and sour cream and beat just until combined and smooth, maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute. If the mixture is not blending, use a large balloon whisk to whisk by hand to bring the cheesecake batter together. Scrape the filling into the crust and smooth the top with a small offset spatula.

  5. Place the silicone wrapped or foil-wrapped pan in a large roasting pan. Add very hot tap water to the roasting pan to come up the sides of the wrapped pan by about 1-inch (2.5 cm). Bake for 45 minutes, then turn oven down to 350°F (180°C) for 15 minutes for a total of 1 hour. The cake should be set along the edges and slightly jiggly in the center; there might be a few superficial cracks. While the cake is still on its oven rack, dip the tip of a small paring knife in warm water and use it to run around the top edge of the cake (going down about ½ inch/12 mm) to loosen it from the pan; this will prevent the sides from pulling away from the pan as it cools, which can create cracks, then remove the cake from the oven. Remove the springform pan from the roasting pan and carefully remove the silicone wrap or foil. Cool to room temperature, then cover the top of the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate the cake in the springform pan overnight or up to 48 hours.

  6. Dip a small icing spatula in warm water, shake dry, and run all the way around the outer edge of the cake, going all the way down to the bottom. Release the springform rim, remove it, and place the cake on a display plate. If you have lined your pan with parchment, you can separate your cake from the pan bottom at this time and place the cake directly on the platter of your choice. Your Low FODMAP Chocolate Cheesecake is ready to serve and is best served cold and sliced with a very thin-bladed knife, wiped cream between cuts. Dip the knife in warm water to facilitate the process.

Notes:

Tips

FODMAP Information

Our recipes are based on Monash University and FODMAP Friendly science.

  • Chocolate: Monash University has lab tested dark, milk and white chocolate all have low FODMAP amounts: 85% dark at 20 g; dark at 30 g; milk at 20 g; white at 25 g.
  • Sugar: Monash University and FODMAP Friendly have both lab tested white, granulated sugar. Monash states that a Green Light low FODMAP serving size of white sugar is ¼ cup (50 g). FODMAP Friendly simply states that they have tested 1 tablespoon and that it is low FODMAP. Regular granulated white sugar is sucrose, which is a disaccharide made up of equal parts glucose and fructose. Sucrose is broken down and absorbed efficiently in the small intestine.

Please always refer to the Monash University & FODMAP Friendly smartphone apps for the most up-to-date lab tested information. As always, your tolerance is what counts; please eat accordingly. The ultimate goal of the low FODMAP diet is to eat as broadly as possible, without triggering symptoms, for the healthiest microbiome.

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 308kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 21mg | Potassium: 80mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 10IU | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg

All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more. For a more detailed explanation, please read our article Understanding The Nutrition Panel Within Our Recipes.

Other Recipes Featuring Lactose-Free Cream Cheese: