, nutritional review by Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE
in Recipes, Dessert Keto chocolate cake with peanut buttercream
Ingredients
- 1 cup (4 oz.) 240 ml (110 g) almond flour
- ¾ cup (5½ oz.) 180 ml (160 g) granulated erythritol
- ½ cup (1½ oz.) 120 ml (45 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1½ tbsp 1½ tbsp ground psyllium husk powder
- 1 tbsp 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ¼ tsp salt
- 4 4 large egglarge eggs
- 8 oz. (1 cup) 230 g (240 ml) cream cheese
- 4 oz. 110 g salted butter, melted
- 8 oz. 230 g butter, room temperature
- 8 oz. (1 cup) 230 g (240 ml) cream cheese
- ½ cup 120 ml unsalted and sugar free peanut butter
- ¼ cup (1¾ oz.) 60 ml (55 g) powdered erythritol
- 2 tsp 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 10 cherrycherries (optional)
- ½ cup 120 ml heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbsp 1 tbsp chopped salted peanuts
Instructions
- Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).
- Combine almond flour, sweetener, cocoa powder (sift to eliminate lumps), ground psyllium husk powder, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
- In a big bowl, combine cream cheese and melted butter with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, while mixing continuously. Mix for a couple of minutes until combined and smooth.
- Add flour mixture into egg bowl and whisk for a couple of minutes until cake batter is smooth.
- Grease two 7-inch (18 cm) cake pans — or make one at a time if you only have one pan. Pour half of batter in each cake pan and spread out evenly. Bake in oven for 25–30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes in pan before transferring to a rack to cool. Wrap layers with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to cool completely, preferably overnight.
Peanut buttercream frosting
- Combine room temperature butter, cream cheese and peanut butter in a bowl. Add sweetener (sift to eliminate lumps) and vanilla extract. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
Assemble the cake
- Place one layer with the flat side up on a plate or cake stand. Cover top with 1/4 of frosting with a spatula or knife. Place second layer on top and spread the rest of the frosting on top and sides of cake.
- Whip heavy whipping cream until stiff and decorate top with piped rosettes. Put cherries on top — one for each piece of cake. Chop peanuts and sprinkle on top.
I don't have granulated erythritol — what should I do?
Don't worry, just mix regular erythritol in a food processor for a couple of minutes until granulated. You could also use a few drops of liquid stevia as a replacement.
Can I prepare the cake in advance?
If you're making a layered cake as we did, it's better to prepare the cake layers one day before serving. Make the frosting on the same day you're going to enjoy it.
Do I have to eat it all at once?
No, you don't have to. You could also surprise your neighbours with your tasty leftovers or cover it and it will stay fresh and moist in the refrigerator for at least 2–3 days. Put in the freezer to keep fresh up to 3 month. Thaw in refrigerator overnight.
I don't like peanuts — is there a substitute?
Feel free to exchange the peanut butter for any other nut butter of your liking. Hazelnuts and chocolate is another winning combination. You could also skip it completely and you'll have tasty vanilla frosting.
Can I make this without almond flour?
Yes, you can! But the taste and consistency will be very different. 1 cup of almond flour can be substituted for 1/3 cup of coconut flour.
93 comments
The best option, if you can find it locally would be an almond milk based cream cheese.
Any suggestions regarding the frosting would be appreciated.
You can tweak the frosting as needed for your preferences.
Thank you to the person(s) who developed this recipe. It is definitely a keeper. I would be hard pressed to tell that it wasn't full of sugar. Most importantly DH enjoyed it and agrees that it is difficult to tell it's sugar-free. Next time I think I'll try it with walnut butter & toasted walnuts. Thank you again for another wonderful recipe.
Just a heads up that you should always use unsalted butter unless the recipe specifies to use salted.
Availability will vary based on where you're located. You can ask at your local grocery or whole foods type store. If you can't get it locally, you may need to order it online.
Any brand without added sugar will be good. Brand availability varies widely be location.
And so are my kidneys and liver 🤣😂🤗💕
It is however not the same as a carbivore chocolate cake, if that's what you're expecting you'll be disappointed. The texture is more dense and it is very rich, not light and fluffy like a sponge made with wheat flour . Having said that I totally recommend trying this recipe, it's amazing we can eat something like that in Keto.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, thank you for taking the time to let us know!
Do you mean powdered stevia? It would not be recommended as it would not provide enough bulk in the recipe. Perhaps using a sweetener that is a blend of stevia and erythritol? You would not want to use a blend that includes sugar.
Stevia will not provide the bulk the recipe needs and splenda contains ingredients that don't work well for everyone. Are you able to access monk fruit? https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/sweeteners
The salted butter may be the culprit. Standard recipe convention calls for unsalted butter in baking because there is not a standard amount of salt in salted butter so it can vary a lot between brands.
I am glad that the result was a very pleasant surprise! Thank you for letting us know.
We have not tested this as a coffee and walnut cake. The cocoa powder in this recipe represents a significant percentage of the volume of the dry ingredients so a coffee/walnut cake would be a completely different recipe, not just a few substitutions for this one.