Low Carb Chocolate Cake

Who doesn't love a moist, rich chocolate, fudge cake with creamy chocolate icing? Here is one, with a lovely crumb, that you can eat even if you are on a Low Carb or Keto diet!

I took my classic dark chocolate cake and turned it low carb, and this is the recipe.

Please note: This recipe uses Vital Wheat Gluten though, so if you gave a gluten intolerance or sensitivity, this recipe definitely won't be suitable for you.

Low Carb Chocolate Cake Recipe    Print Recipe

125.6g Net Carbohydrates for the whole loaf (based on ingredients I have used please see values at the end of the recipe).

10.5g per slice (cut into 12 slices).

Ingredients

Cake

40g Almond Flour

40g Vital Wheat Gluten Flour

20g Coconut Flour

20g Psyllium Husks

1/2 stp Xanthan Gum

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

150g Granulated Sweetener

40g Cocoa

1 Egg

125ml Milk

5ml Lemon Juice

90ml Oil (of your choice, should be liquid when adding to the recipe)

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup boiling water

Icing

100g Butter

100g Powdered Sweetener

40g Double Cream

75g Low Carb Chocolate

Method

Cake

Preheat oven to 145°C (fan oven).

Grease and line an 8” cake tin.

Add lemon juice to milk and set aside.

Combine dry ingredients, in mixer bowl.

Add the eggs, milk & lemon juice mixture, oil and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until just combined. Add the boiling water and mix immediately by hand until the batter is smooth (don’t over mix).

Pour into the prepared 8” cake tin. Tap tin once, firmly on the counter to reduce large bubbles in the mix.

Bake for 60 mins, until the cake just begins to pull away from the sides of the tin, and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack.

Icing

Break the chocolate up and put in microwave proof dish. Pour over the double cream. Melt together in the microwave at low power, for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate had just melted enough to stir into the cream to a smooth consistency. Do not allow the cram to boil at all or the chocolate will seize.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter until creamy, then add the powdered sweetener and beat until fluffy. While beating on low, pour the chocolate cream mixture in and beat until soft peaks form.

Once the cake is completely cool, it can be iced.

Net Carbohydrates

Almond Flour: 2.8g        (6.9g / 100g)

Vital Wheat Gluten: 3.7g        (9.3g / 100g)

Coconut Flour: 4.3g        (21.7g / 100g)

Psyllium Husks:         0.3g        (1.73g / 100g)

Cocoa:         3.6g        (8.9g / 100g)

Milk (Lactofree):         3.1g        (2.6g / 100g)

Lemon Juice:         0.8g        (7g / 100g)

Butter:         0.6g        (0.6g / 100g)

Powdered Sweetener: 3g           (3g / 100g)

Dbl Cream (Lactofree): 1.2g        (2.9g /100g)

Low Carb Chocolate 5.2g        (7g / 100g)

Total: 28.6g

The values in brackets are the net carbs shown on the packaging of the ingredients I used - please check your ingredients to verify the net carbs for yourself.

Low Carb Banana Bread

I have recently started a low-carb / dirty Keto diet, after my husband's diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes. We are both doing really well on it, lost lots of weight, and are feeling much healthier (doing a lot more exercise too), but we have really missed baked goods. So I've started experimenting, and I'd like to share my recipes here.

So, my first recipe is banana bread, with only 10g net carbs per slice - my daughter has actually been doing the baking of this one, and we have been through quite a few loaves which tasted good, but just weren't quite there. Well, I believe today we have cracked it! We do use Vital Wheat Gluten though, so if you gave a gluten intolerance or sensitivity, this recipe definitely won't be suitable for you.

Low Carb Banana Bread Recipe    Print Recipe

125.6g Net Carbohydrates for the whole loaf (based on ingredients I have used please see values at the end of the recipe)

10.5g per slice (cut into 12 slices).

Ingredients

115g Almond Flour

165g Vital Wheat Gluten Flour

5g Psyllium Husks

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

160g Granulated Sweetener

140g Butter

4 Ripe Bananas, mashed

2 Eggs

80ml Milk

5ml Lemon Juice

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C (fan oven).

Grease and line a bread tin.

Add lemon juice to milk and set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl beat butter and sweetener until creamy.

Add mashed bananas, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract, mix in well.

Fold in dry ingredients.

Pour into prepared bread tin.

Bake 1 hour 20 mins.

The Carbohydrates Breakdown:

Almond Flour: 8g         (6.9g / 100g)

Vital Wheat Gluten: 15g         (9.3g / 100g)

Psyllium Husks:         0.1g (1.73g / 100g)

Bananas:         100g (25g per banana)

Milk (Lactofree):         2g         (2.6g / 100g)

Lemon Juice:         0.5g (7g / 100g)

Total:         125.6g

The values in brackets are the net carbs shown on the packaging of the ingredients I used - please check your ingredients to verify the net carbs for yourself.

Strawberry Scone Cake {Recipe}

So, my neighbour messaged me a while back, asking: "Could you  make a scone cake?"

My reply: "You mean, like a really big, cake sized, scone?"

I had never heard of, nor thought of such a concept, so all credit goes to Maria, but what an AWESOME IDEA!!!

This cake, uh, scone... has an abundance of delicious strawberries, and to make the most of the strawberries' unique flavours, I used them in three different ways:

• Cooked strawberries (in the scone itself).
• Fresh Strawberries
• Strawberry Conserve/Jam

It was so quick and easy to make, and everyone absolutely loved it! (I made one for my family too). If you would like to make one yourself, here is the recipe:

Strawberry Scone Cake Recipe

Print Recipe

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

60g unsalted butter (chilled)

3 tablespoons sugar

400g fresh strawberries

250g clotted cream

80g strawberry conserve/jam

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 220°C (or 200°C fan forced)

Grease and line the bottoms of two 7" or 6" cake tins (you could also do a single layer in one 9" pan).

Reserve 6-8 of the nicest looking strawberries for decorating the top of the cake, whole.

Quarter 200g of the remaining strawberries.

In a jug or bowl, whisk together the milk, egg and vanilla, put aside.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter until there are no lumps bigger than a pea.

Add the milk mixture and stir with a spatula until all the flour is just mixed in.

Add the strawberries and fold the batter over the strawberries about a dozen times (batter will be smoother and strawberries well distributed in the batter).

Split the batter between the two tins and press down to fill the tins evenly.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top is golden.

Leave to cool about 10 minutes, then turn out of tin and leave on cooling racks until completely cooled. (The scones can be baked the day before needed).

Lay one scone layer on a cake stand/board and spoon on about half of the clotted cream, covering the whole top of the scone. Spread 2 thirds of the strawberry conserve on top of that. Quarter the rest of the strawberries (not the ones reserved for the top) and lay them on top of the conserve and cream. Drizzle another 1/4 of the cream on top of the strawberries. Add the second scone layer. Spoon the rest of the cream on top, keeping it to the sentry of the cake, add the rest of the jam in the middle, then decorate with the whole strawberries.

Slice and serve. Cake should not be kept past 24 hours of adding the cream.

ENJOY!

Rainbow Cheesecake and Persian Fairy Floss

So, my daughter requested a cheesecake for he birthday (the actual day, not her party), so I decided to be ambitious and make a RAINBOW cheesecake. This was actually only the second baked cheesecake I have ever attempted, so I am quite delighted with the result (the first one was not pretty at all!)

To make matters even more complicated, a friend posted a video of a Unicorn Cheesecake (by Cake Style) on my FaceBook wall the other day, and I just LOVED the Persian Fairy Floss on top, so I just had to try and make that too (as you do).

My floss didn't quite turn out right, but it looked pretty and tasted delicious! It created a lovely contrast in texture when eating the cake.

The cake itself wasn't perfect either, I believe it could have done with a little bit more time in the oven. It sure was pretty though! And tasted divine, very light with a delicate (not too cheesy) flavour.

I managed to get a hole in my tin foil, and a little bit of water got in, so there was a bit of a soggy base and cake collapse on the one side (though not too bad). I will double wrap next time.

Persian Fairy Floss (Pashmak).

I used a video tutorial by Henrys HowTos to make my Fairy Floss.

Attempt 1:

Syrup looked OK, but crystallisation set in when cooling and the entire puck clouded up.

Attempt 2:

The syrup was perfect, but I still got some crystallisation in the very centre. I tried pulling it anyway and it was promising to start with, but then didn't go well. Only managed about 4 folds.

Attempt 3:

Again, my syrup was good, but before the puck was cooled properly I could see some crystallisation happening! I quickly scooped out the crystallised bit (it looks like it forms on the thin pouring ribbons right at the end of the pour) and worked the bit of sugar that looked OK.

It was going so well! But my technique needs work. After about 7 folds my strands kept breaking until I couldn't work it in a loop anymore. I pulled it a few more times as straight strands, but the ends started clumping together and the strands were becoming more and more uneven. It was a really good attempt though. I thought, if I gave it one more shot, I was sure to get it right!

Attempt 4:

Well, it was an utter disaster. Apparently my sugar thermometer decided to stop working! It said that my sugar was about 10 degrees away from where I needed it when suddenly I noticed a burnt sugar smell and the sugar started going brown. Sigh. Oh well, I'll try again another day...

Happy Birthday Karate Girl!!