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| With out of town guests in the next room, I quickly sneak a photo of the cake! |
Baking with almond flour and natural sugar substitutes is so much healthier and good for you than GMO wheat products and white sugar, but admittedly a lot of recipes are trial and error tested as almond flour and sweet substitutes are all so very different and you often need to tweak recipes. Sometimes it's just so easy to 'fall back' to using flour because you know what the end result will be - even if you have to endure bloating, cramps and digestive issues from the flour. But THIS recipe is one I have made a couple times and as you can tell from my quick picture snapped (no fancy dancy photo shoots on this blog... it's all about the food, not the camera) - this recipe is a keeper because it's tried and true and I know it turns out and tastes great.
My husband loves chocolate and I don't indulge him nearly enough as I probably could.... since I love vanilla and lemon more then chocolate! Ha. So today he can be thrilled when he returns home from work to find this waiting for him.
Low Carb, Sugar Free, Chocolate Cake
2 1/4 c Honeyville almond flour
3/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c erythritol granules
1/3 c whey protein powder
1 t instant coffee
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
3/4 c sour cream
1/2 t lemon juice
1/2 c soft butter (1 stick)
5 eggs
15 drops Sucralose liquid or other sweetener
2 t vanilla
2/3 c almond milk
Place all the dry ingredients from the almond flour to the salt, in a large bowl and mix well with a wood spoon, whisk, etc. Set aside. In your mixing bowl, beat the butter, sour cream and lemon juice. Beat in the eggs, liquid sweetener and vanilla. Add half the dry almond flour mixture, beat well. Add the almond milk, beat. Add the last of the almond flour mixture. Bake in your preferred pan; a greased and parchment lined 9X13, a greased bundt pan, 2 greased and parchment lined round 8 or 9 inch pans or make into cupcakes. Bake at 325 degrees. I baked in two- 9 inch round pans about 32 minutes. Test and bake until the center is done. Let cool about 10 minutes and remove from pans to cool completely.
For a layered cake like I made, I sliced each round in half to make 4 layers. In between each layer I used a heavy dollop of 7 minute frosting and covered the cake in buttercream. Ultimately I love the buttercream for the filling and covering the cake in the marshmallowy goodness of the 7 minute frosting. I only did it this way because I didn't want to double the 7 minute frosting recipe to make enough to cover a 4 layer cake, while I knew the buttercream frosting recipe makes enough to easily cover a layer cake. Use whatever frosting recipe you like best or here are my two favorites;
Frosting: 7 Minute Frosting (sugar free) or Sugar Free Butter Cream Vanilla Frosting
Here is my 7 Minute Frosting (Marshmallowy Goodness!)
3/4 c granular Xylitol
1/4 c water
3 large egg whites (separate and use the yolks in another recipe)
3 sticks real butter
2 T vanilla extract or use half vanilla sf syrup and half extract
*If you taste test it and find your personal tastes would like it sweeter, use 5-10 drops liquid sweetener
In a saucepan, place the water and Xylitol. Heat over medium high until it comes to 240 degrees. With normal sugar this would be soft ball stage but because Xylitol and Splenda do not thicken, you cannot test this by traditional soft ball stage.
As you are heating the sugar substitute and water, mix the egg whites in a large mixing bowl. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, pour the hot Xylitol mixture down the side of the bowl in a thin stream, mixing into the egg whites. Beat approximately 7-10 minutes on high until the egg whites resemble a thick and glossy meringue.
Start to add the butter in chunks, about a tablespoon at a time. Keep the mixer running and whip the mixture about 7- 10 minutes more. If the mixture breaks up when you first add the butter and it looks like cottage cheese, no worries. Just keep whipping until it's smooth again. Once the frosting is smooth, add your vanilla and whip again for a few minutes. If it's a really warm or humid day it might get too warm to work with. Just refrigerate it for about 7 minutes, whip again. The cooler temperatures will cause it to harden up again.
