Keto Chocolate Birthday Cake - Part 2: Have your cake and eat it too

So picking up where we left off yesterday ...

First of all, I've been baking for quite a long time. I limit baking to the winter months, when it's cold enough outside to truly appreciate the warmth that comes from the hearth and oven. In all these years, I never once realized that baking powder has aluminum. That's bad. 

But it turns out that there is an aluminum free option, which is what I used in this recipe, and it seems the only way to go from here on out.

So the secret ingredient in this cake is ... zucchini!

Keto chocolate birthday cake

Full disclosure: I got the cake recipe from here.

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup Hersheys unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup erithrytol

20-30 drops liquid stevia

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup coconut oil, liquefied

4 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups zucchini, shredded and drained

1 bar Chocoperfection Milk Chocolate, smashed with glee by a small child wielding a silver hammer*

* or, you know, sugar free chocolate chips. 

It's your call. 

   I went with the hammer wielding child.

   It's what I had on hand. 

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients: coconut flour, cocoa, powdered sweetener, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
2. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, coconut oil, liquid sweetener, and vanilla. Combine with dry ingredients.
3. Add in zucchini and chocolate pieces
4. Pour mixture into a greased pan (the original recipe calls for a 9x9 pan.)
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean

It was at step 4 that things started to go horribily somewhat awry...

I don't have a 9x9 pan, so I greased up a 9 x 4.5 loaf pan .  In hindsight, I think this would have come out much better had I used the suggested size. 

Because the mixture was so thick, Step 5 morphed from:

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean

into something more like this

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, 

Check center with toothpick 12 inch skewer**

Add 15 more minutes

Check center with skewer again

Add another 25 minutes

Check center with same skewer

Add another 15 minutes, start to worry.

Check center with skewer yet again

Start to feel better that progress is being made. Add 15 minutes anyway

Skewer

5 minutes

Skewer

Ok, that's good enough

** Go big or go home, baby.

When all was said and done, the cake tasted great! I had initially hoped to cut it in half and make it a layer cake, but I doubted the structural integrity would hold up given the uneven cooking between the edges and the middle.

 

The edges were a bit more crispy than I'd have liked, but overall the cake very good nonetheless!

Truly, the ultimate test was whether or not this chocolate frosted birthday cake satisfied the tastes and traditions of my good friend and keto partner.

I was told in no uncertain terms that it did.*** 

*** Understatement. Victory!

 

I am going to make this again, with some changes... slightly less erithrytol in the cake itself, more fats to increase moisture (considering avocado mayo), and using a 9x9 pan. I'm keeping the hammer wielding child. I think it's important for kids to learn their way around a kitchen. With a hammer.

Category: Keto 

Tags: Recipes