Casein Protein Cheesecake

Cheesecake.  You probably never thought it could be healthified, but there's a new viral presence under the alias @mattie_mudblood on Instagram and it seems he was the first to successfully create a low fat, lower calorie, high protein cheesecake AND make it pretty darn tasty!

I tried the original recipe, with completely fat free cream cheese and added a crust like he had suggested.  I wanted to see what the "bare minimum" tasted like before I changed the recipe around to fit my macros or taste buds.  The cheesecake looked like this:

and with sauce added: 

Oh yeah.  It was pretty awesome.

This one was created using his recipe with Cellucor whey.  My verdict was that you could really taste the protein.  Perhaps it was because there wasn't much fat in the cheesecake to take away from the powder taste.  Even with a tasty protein powder… you could tell there was added protein. 

Here's the original recipe, with the crust I used:

Whey protein cheesecake with Fiber One Chocolate crust:

2 scoops Cellucor whey, any flavor

2 eggs plus 2 egg whites

2x 5.3 oz greek yogurt (I used greek 100, vanilla)

2 packages fat free cream cheese (softened)

1 Tbs vanilla extract

2 cups sugar substitute

Macros for the entire cake (no crust) was something like this:

12 fat

78 carbs

157 protin

1170 calories

So, dividing into portions you can see it's a great go to for a high protein treat!

The crust was Fiber One chocolate cereal:

80g cereal

20 g spray butter

Blind baked in a 9" springform pan at 350 degrees for 10 minutes

the Macros including the crust, for a 1/8 pie slice (though I always ate it 1/4 pie at a time, muahahaha)

3 fat

21.9 carbs

19.2 protein with 3.3g fiber and 197 kcal's

Now, taking my notes into consideration, I decided to alter this recipe, and these are two of my trials:

The pink/blue swirled cheesecake is my favorite so far.  The bottom green swirl is a pistachio flavor.

Here are my recipes:

Reduced fat Casein Protein Cheesecake:

1 pkg fat free cream cheese

1 pkg reduced fat cream cheese (I used Philly honey cream cheese, which actually had less fat than the 1/3 less fat neufchâtel)

2 whole eggs plus 2 egg whites

1 Tbs vanilla bean paste (or extract)

2.5 scoops Casein protein powder (I used Optimum Nutrition in Cookies and Cream)

2 containers of 5.3 oz vanilla Greek 100 yogurt

2 cups granulated sugar substitute

Hot water for baking

Procedure:

Leave ingredients out overnight to get to room temperature.  Lightly beat eggs in separate bowl.  Mix together all other wet ingredients (including sugar) until combined.  Do not whip - it may cause cracking when baking.  Alternate mixing in dry ingredients and eggs until homogenized.

In sprayed 9" springform pan (I also put foil around my pan), pour in batter and rap on counter to make sure no air bubbles are in mix. Place pan into a casserole dish large with high sides and pour hot water into the casserole pan until it reaches about halfway up the batter.  Bake at 250 degrees for 20 minutes and then increase temperature to 300 for an additional 30-35 minutes.  When center is just jiggly, take out.  Remove springform from water bath and leave on counter until cool, then fridge overnight.

I did not miss the crust on this one.  The higher fat content of the honey cream cheese really beefed up the flavor and richness of the cheesecake.  The water bath baking allowed the cake to be a lovely texture throughout, and the casein helped it cook up more custard like than the whey.

Macros for this cheesecake (1/8 pie):

4.2g fat

15.3 carbs

20.1 protein

Pistachio protein cheesecake:
3 scoops ON Cookies and Cream casein protein powder
2 eggs plus 2 egg whites
1 Tbs vanilla bean paste (or extract)
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups granulated sugar substitute
1 pkg fat free cream cheese
1 pkg reduced fat cream cheese (I used Philly honey, which is not marketed as RF but is lower in fat than neufchâtel)
Instant Jello Pudding (sugar free, fat free) in pistachio
4 containers of Greek 100 vanilla (21.2 oz total)

Same procedure as above, mixing the pudding in with the dry ingredients before alternating wet and dry.  I think the proportions were slightly thrown off since I had to add more yogurt to compensate for how thick the batter was with the addition of the pudding mix.  Plus, since I was increasing carbs, I wanted to increase the amount of protein powder, so the cake has a bit more volume to it.  The taste is pretty nice.  I may have to play around with it a bit more.

Macros for the pistachio cheesecake:
4.3 fat
21.3 carbs
24.9 protein with 241 kcal

Here's what it looks like with chocolate sauce:

Try them out and let me know what you think!  The beauty of the original recipe is there's a lot you can do to play around with it and make it your own.  Plus, toppings are endless so you can make it fit your macros!  Happy baking (eating)!