Summary:
This 9-inch moist chocolate cake is made with coconut flour and a sugar-free sweetener, topped with a dark ganache frosting. It's a delicious gluten free and low carb alternative that tastes amazingly like regular chocolate cake.
INGREDIENTS
- 1.75 cup (8 oz wt.)
confectioners swerve sweetener (Note 1) - 1 cup warm coffee or water (Note 2)
- 3/4 cup (4 oz wt.) finely chopped
unsweetened baking chocolate (Note 3) - 8 tablespoons salted butter, plus more for greasing pan
- 2/3 cup (2.5 oz wt.)
coconut flour (Note 4) - 2.5 tablespoons (1/2 oz wt.) unsweetened cocoa powder (Note 5)
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons
baking powder - 1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
Ganache:
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup (2.5 oz wt.) finely chopped
unsweetened baking chocolate (Note 3) - 1/4 cup (1 oz wt.)
confectioners swerve sweetener (Note 1)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare Pan: Grease sides of 9-inch
springform pan and line bottom withparchment paper . Set aside. - Sift Ingredients: Sift together coconut flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder over bowl. Stir until well-mixed. Set aside.
- Make Batter: Microwave baking chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl until just melted, heating in 30-second intervals, stirring in between. Whisk in sweetener, warm coffee, and vanilla until smooth. Whisk in eggs for a few minutes until smooth. Gradually whisk in sifted coconut flour mixture until incorporated; small lumps are fine.
- Bake Cake: Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading to sides and smoothing surface. Let stand for about 10 minutes; meanwhile, preheat oven to 300 F. Transfer pan to preheated oven, and bake for 55 minutes or until inserted toothpick in center comes out clean with a few crumbs. Cool cake in pan for 30 minutes; meanwhile, prepare ganache in next step.
- Make Ganache: Microwave all ganache ingredients in bowl until chocolate is just melted, heating in 30-second intervals, stirring in between. Texture should be very smooth. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until mixture has spreadable consistency.
NUTRITION
| Makes 12 Servings |
| Amount Per Serving (1 slice): |
| Calories 250 (76% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 21g | 32% |
| Saturated Fat 13g | 64% |
| Cholesterol 93mg | 31% |
| Sodium 90mg | 4% |
| Net Carb 3g | |
| Total Carb 8.5g (Note 8) | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 5.5g | 21% |
| Sugars 1.5g | |
| Protein 6g |
PHOTOS
I have been on keto diet for the last 3 months and have been craving for some cakes, but sadly, most cakes out there are high in sugar and carb. Wanted to order some keto-friendly cakes but they are too pricy. So I decided to make my own keto cake and stumbled upon your post. And boy, was I in for a surprise! I never expected the cake to be so moist and delicious! I used a different sweetener and the taste turned out well. Love love love the recipe! I didn’t make the ganache though because before I could make it, my hubs and my boy started digging in. Hubby said he wasn’t quite used to the texture but said the taste was great. My boy, a picky eater and cake lover, gobbled up a few slices. Thank you so much for the recipe, Julia! I really love the cake so much! Gonna be checking out the rest of your recipes soon!
I wish I could show you the picture of this cake that I made today for my daughter’s 26th birthday, it was perfect!!! And she absolutely loved it♥️ followed the recipe to a T everything was simple and delicious. Thank you
I’ve made this cake about 5 times now and it’s amazing! Half my family are keto too and they love it so much I keep getting requests for more!
This cake is delicious! I topped mine with caramel salted pecan halves. Very popular even with the nay say ketoers!
Hi Julia. I would like to make this cake for my husband’s birthday. He needs to eat low oxalate. Do you think it would turn out well if I used unsweetened carob in place of the baking chocolate?
Amazing cake! I weighed all the ingredients out and I think that made the difference – it was so perfect. Reheated the next day and still great (maybe even better since it was warmer).
Made this cake for guests. I made the Ganach twice and neither time did look like the picture. It was grainy looking. The cake did not taste good and was crumbly. There was a bad after taste. I threw out the rest of it.
A grainy ganache means the chocolate likely seized, which can occur from overheating. This can be avoided by making sure that the chocolate is finely chopped (so that it melts quickly) and microwaving in shorter time intervals with frequent stirring.
🙁 Not the recipe’s fault, but for anyone thinking about doing the same thing as I did, be warned: do not try to grind regular swerve to make confectioners swerve. 8 oz will be a bomb of artificial sweetener. I couldn’t even swallow the first bite of it. I am so sad all those ingredients will be wasted. At least I tasted some crumbs before preparing the ganache.
Instead of eggs can I use unsweetened applesauce?
No you can’t as the eggs have the protein that you would need for a cake.
Delicious!
Hi, I’m just wondering why it says 3 grams per serving but also says in the nutritional facts that it is 8.5 grams? I must be missing something?
I believe you’re confusing “Net Carbs” with “Total Carbs” — net carbs is 3 grams and total carbs is 8.5 grams. Net carbs is calculated by taking total carbs and subtracting out fiber since it’s not digested by the body.
Can this batter be baked as cupcakes with the paper cupcake liners?
That sounds like a great idea! I haven’t tried that variation myself, but it should work well. I would bake for about 15 or 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean or with some fudge-y crumbs. When it comes to baked chocolate desserts, I prefer to err on the side of under-baking than over-baking.
Can you use almond flour instead of coconut?
Not directly as a 1:1 substitution. Almond flour and coconut flour behave very differently, with the latter being much more absorbent. If you were to use almond flour in this recipe, you’d likely need to tweak and adjust the proportions of the other ingredients.
If you’re looking for a chocolate dessert that uses almond flour, I suggest taking a look at my Keto Brownies.
Can monk fruit sweetener be substituted for the swerve sweetener?
Yes. If your monk fruit sweetener measures the same as sugar (check labels on your package), then it can be replaced as a 1:1 substitution for Swerve. If not, then you’ll have to calculate the conversion to determine the appropriate amount to use.
I forgot to pick up the unsweetened chocolate:/ Can I double the cocoa?
Unfortunately, not in this case.
Can I just skip the sweetener? Would that mess up the texture?
It would affect the texture, and also it would likely taste way too bitter. Chocolate desserts usually use a fair amount of sweetener to balance the bitterness of unsweetened chocolate.
Can the keto chocolate cake be frozen?
I haven’t tried freezing this, Debbie. If you do, wrap it tightly in foil or plastic wrap, and store in a freezer bag.
Made this cake on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It was a hit with me and my kids!
Great cake but like other sugar substitutes has an aftertaste.
If you detected an aftertaste similar to erythritol’s cooling effect, that usually means you added too much of it related to other ingredients. If you have a food scale, I recommend weighing out the sweetener for best results (recipe provides weight in oz). Depending on how you pack an ingredient, using a measuring cup can vary quite a bit in how much you use.
Looks great! Does it have a strong coconut flavour?
Hi Mikey. There isn’t any discernible coconut flavor since the chocolate dominates.
This was delicious 😋Best keto cake so far.
Would using wheat flower make this cake taste better than using coconut flower? Im just going for sugar free I don’t care so much about gluten free.
It’s not a 1:1 substitution so you would also need to make tweaks to the other ingredients.