This is what I made my husband for Valentine's Day. Sure was good!
The basic chocolate cake batter in this recipe is actually not my recipe. My inspiration was a cake created by a wonderful cook and member of LowCarbFriends forums named The Chicken Lady. This cake is a testimonial to her incredible cooking skills. I’m very pleased with this chocolate cake! And I can’t say that about a lot of the low-carb chocolate cakes I’ve tried. This one’s not too sweet (which I really prefer) but sweet enough. Despite outward appearances, it came out VERY light and not too rich or heavy to eat after a big meal. I want to give the author full credit, so the original recipe can be seen here:
http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/l...e-cake-pic.html.
I did bake my cake in
ONE 9″ round cake pan (wax-paper lined) that is
unusually deep (2½”) and the cake rose nearly to the top! It would bake OK in two standard 1¼" deep, standard 9″ cake pans also. You’ll have more trouble slicing it into 4 layers, and might prefer to just do a two-layer final cake instead of three. Or you could bake the cake in a wax-paper lined stew pot/dutch oven. That has worked for me many a time. This cake is not suitable until the berries rung of the Atkins OWL carb ladder. Due to the artificial sweeteners and dairy, this dessert is not be suitable for Paleo-Primal followers without considerable modification.
This cake is a fairly carb pricey, but if you can’t afford the carbs, cut it into 12 pieces, which drops the calories to 527, carbs to 16.88, fiber to 5.88 and net carbs to 11.1. That’s a wee bit better. This should be considered a very special occasion treat because it IS so carb pricey. Be sure if substituting other than liquid sweeteners, to add in those carbs!
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
4 c. almond flour, room temperature
liquid sweetener to equal 2 c. sugar (I used ½ tsp. EZSweets small bottle)
½ c. erythritol – granular
4 pkts. stevia (I use Sweet Leaf)
½ c. cup cocoa (I use Hershey’s)
2 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/3 c. oil of your choice or melted butter
4 eggs, beaten
1 c. sour cream
FROSTING INGREDIENTS:
2½ c. heavy cream, whipped
½ tsp. glucomannan powder
14 oz. frozen whole strawberries, thawed and drained of juice, chopped
1 c. fresh strawberries, chopped (or more frozen berries, or use all fresh)
Sweetener of choice to taste
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Mix and beat the wet cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl. If your almond flour isn’t room temperature, make it so and press out any lumps. Measure and add in all dry ingredients to the bowl and stir well. Line your cake pan(s) with waxed paper or parchment. Grease the sides of the pan(s) well. Pour batter into pan spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Tap pan on counter to eliminate air pockets and pop into 350º oven for about 60 minutes. Toothpick test the center. It should come out clean and dry when the the cake is done. Completely cool before attempting to tip cake out onto a board to cut it into layers. This cake can also be made in a 9×13 pan, cut in half and each half then sliced into two layers. All sorts of possibilities with that cake size.
While cake is in the oven, make the frosting: Whip the cream until thick. Run the berries through a food processor (or chop coarsely) for a few seconds, but leave them coarse. Fold the berries into the whipped cream. Sprinkle the glucomannan powder over the mixture slowly, folding after each addition, until all of it has been incorporated. Taste for sweetness and add your favorite sweetener until it is to your taste. I can’t begin to tell you how much, because that depends on your berries’ sweet/tartness level. Chill frosting until cake is totally cool and you have cut it into layers.
Next to cut the cake: I sliced the completely cooled cake very carefully with a long-bladed knife, using a piece of cardboard covered with foil to gently slide each layer onto to set aside while I filled/frosted the final creation. This cake has a firm texture and is not as crumbly as some almond flour cakes. This pleased me very much. But you still need to be careful, as even firm cakes can break.
Place about 1¼ c. of the frosting on the bottom layer of the cake. Spread evenly with a rubber spatula, going almost to the edges. Place the second layer of cake gently on the top and press slightly. Put another 1¼ c. frosting on this layer and spread it out evenly. Place the top cake layer on the stack, press slightly and spread all remaining frosting on the top and sides. OPTIONAL GARNISH: Decorate the top of your cake with fresh strawberry slices, a few strawberry leaves or perhaps a sliced and “fanned out” single strawberry at the center. Chill in the refrigerator with plastic wrap on top until ready to cut and serve.
This cake was simply DELICIOUS and I will definitely be making it again! My thanks to The Chicken Lady for her wonderful chocolate cake recipe. It truly made my Valentines treat a success!
CONFESSION TIME: The reason I used both frozen and fresh berries in the topping is I only had one 14 oz. bag of the frozen diced unsweetened berries in my freezer. I thought that would make enough frosting. But 1½ c. cream and those berries didn’t make enough frosting to frost the sides of the cake! So I had to whip up a little more frosting real quick with another cup of cream and berries. And I had also bought a pint of fresh berries for garnishing and other uses (thank goodness! or it would have meant a trip to the store).
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 10 servings, each contains: (you can cut carbs a bit cutting this into 12 servings) Numbers below were calculated using EzSweets concentrated, small bottle sweetener for the 2 c. sugar equivalent (0 carbs). If you use a sweetener with carbs, you’ll have to add that in below.
632 calories
57.8 g fat
20.4 g carbs, 7.05 g fiber, 13.35 g NET CARBS
15.2 g protein
521 mg sodium
192 mg potassium
52% RDA Vitamin A, 18% B12, 35% C, 10% D, 21% calcium, 40% iron, 11% manganese, 28% phosphorous, 20% riboflavin and 14% selenium
Strawberry Chocolate Torte
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