Testimony of the Day
“Hi Maria!! I need to tell you Thank You!! I wanted to let you know 2013 has been the best year of my life. I am so happy I found your blog, and signed up for a consult. I’m down over 60 pounds, and off all but 1 prescription medication!!! I was taking over 600 pills a month, prescription and non-prescription. I had headaches everyday, had no energy, severe acid reflux and had severe IBS. For the first time in my life I feel amazing!!! My body is changing, and it feels great. I used to be a carb loader, now I have turned my body into a fat burner thanks to you!! You have given me back my health, which I am forever grateful!!!! -Tanya
Click HERE to start your journey to a keto-adapted diet!
CONVERTING FLOURS
All flours are not created equal. If you have coconut flour in the house and the recipe calls for almond flour, your finished product will not turn out.If you are trying to replace almond flour with a recipe using white flour, it requires more eggs to provide more structure. If you are trying to replace coconut flour with the white flour, you will need to add A LOT of eggs to the mixture!
Coconut flour is unlike any other consisting of 14% coconut oil and 58% dietary fiber! The remaining 28% consists of water, protein, and carbohydrate. It gives baked goods a rich, springy texture but needs a lot more liquid than other flours, for example you only need a 1/2 cup coconut flour for about 6 eggs in a muffin recipe; therefore you end up with a high protein muffin rather than a high carb starch bomb.So here is an example of how different the recipes look to make MOCHA FUDGE CAKE with the different flours.
USING ALMOND FLOUR
1 1/2 cups Swerve
4 TBS butter or coconut oil
3 eggs
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup hot coffee
1 1/2 tsp vanilla or chocolate extract
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
USING COCONUT FLOUR
1 1/2 cups Swerve (or Just Like Brown Sugar)
4 TBS butter or coconut oil
6 eggs
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cups coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup hot coffee
1 1/2 tsp vanilla or chocolate extract
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
If using a slow cooker, grease the inside of a 4 quart slow cooker (if using the oven, grease a 9″ cake pan with coconut oil and pre-heat oven to 350˚F).
Beat natural sweetener and coconut oil/butter in a bowl until combined. Beat in eggs, then chocolate, then sour cream. Sift the coconut/almond flour and baking soda in a bowl; add to chocolate mixture. Beat in coffee, vanilla and salt until combined. Pour batter into the vessel you are cooking in.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 minutes in the oven OR 2-4 hours on low in a slow cooker. Makes 12 servings. Serve with my “healthified” ice cream.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Cake = 279 calories, 42g carbs, 2g fiber, 4g protein, 11g fat
“Healthified” Almond Cake = 200 calories, 5.8 carbs, 2.7g fiber, 6g protein, 18 fat
“Healthified” Coconut Cake = 162 calories, 11 carbs, 7g fiber, 6 protein, 11g fat
Are you looking for tasty keto meals and desserts but do NOT like to cook or bake? Look no further! Yes, even this can be made in your slow cooker!
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Thank you all for your love and support!
This one’s a winner!!!!!
Thanks! I really liked this cake and I’m not usually a cake fan;)
Happy baking!
Maria, I love your blog and appreciate all the info I find on it!
Can you help me understand exactly what “Just Like Brown Sugar” is? I checked your amazon store, but am still not certain what this food product consists of?
I, too, love your blogs and all your recipes. I do have a question though: sometimes you mix your sweeteners – like using erythritol and stevia glycerite in the same recipe. Why?
Different sweeteners have different flavors profiles and characteristics. Erithrytol provides bulk, but is not as sweet as sugar. It is also expensive. The combo is all the things: bulk, texture, sweetness, moisture.
yummy! do you have chart/info conversion equivalents of…
1) Truvia TO JLS
2) Truvia TO JLBS
3) Truvia TO stevia + ?
I still have bulk box of Truvia when I bought your books in December/early 2011. still like flavor and want to use that up first.
many thanks!
I just don’t get this “Just Like Sugar”. To me it has an extreme aftertaste. I just made brownies and had to throw it all out. Am I doing something wrong? I made a recipe I love but normally use xylitol. The bag says 1 cup sugar = 1 cup Just Like Sugar. I wish it did taste good because I just bought a big bag of both white and brown Just Like Sugar after reading your book.
Me too!!!!! I’m NOT getting a good sweet flavor at all with any of the ‘sweets’ recipes..what am I doing wrong? My teenagers don’t even touch the sweets I make cause of the taste and I follow it step for step 🙁
NAME BRANDS OF STEVIA-ERYTHRITOL BLENDS
1. TRUVIA: Coca-Cola brand. It is expensive and I don’t enjoy opening a million little packets if the store doesn’t carry the tubs. This is why I purchase erythritol and stevia glycerite separate.
2. ZSWEET: It comes in convenient large bags (as compared to the small tubs of Truvia). A lot of people prefer the taste of ZSweet over other non-caloric sweeteners.
3. ORGANIC ZERO: Is produced from Organic Sugar Cane Juice, which is naturally fermented and
crystallized to create Organic Erythritol. Organic Zero is 70% as sweet as table sugar. You need to add
1 tsp of stevia to your baked goods when using Organic Zero.
I can comment on using ZSweet. I’ve just ordered another bag of this fabulous natural sweetener. I use it often to make lchf cheesecakes, which always turn out great. Also, have used in the little mug chocolate cakes, as well as bbq sauces and coleslaw. It all has tasted so good-DH loves it too. Measures 1 to 1 with regular sugar. I also researched and found folks prefer ZSweet over Swerve. I order mine on netrition, as well as the MOST FABULOUS Nature’s Hollow Sugar free syrup, honey and the lovely jams!
My recipes will call for erythritol and stevia glycerite. I use these seperate to help keep my costs down. In any recipe you can use ZSweet, Truvia, Organic Zero, Xylitol or Just Like Sugar. In order to use a different product, use the same amount of sweetener for the amount of erythritol in the recipe and omit the stevia (except for Organic Zero, that is only erythritol and you will still need stevia for sweetness).
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup ZSweet
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Truvia
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Just Like Sugar
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Organic Zero and 1 tsp stevia
I bake with Somersweet, which is erythritol and chicory fiber. I don’t like Stevia/Truvia or any other sweeteners.
Why do you add 1 tsp of stevia glycerite with your erythritol?
Would your sweetness combo be equivalent to Somersweet?
It gives it a better balanced sweetness. It should be equivalent, yes. 🙂
JUST LIKE SUGAR = It is made from chicory root, calcium, vitamin C, and orange peel.
SWEETNESS/CONVERSION = Same as table sugar. Use cup for cup.
CALORIES = 0
WHY I USE IT = Just Like Sugar has none of the strong aftertastes of stevia or artificial sweeteners.
BENEFITS = Keeps ice cream soft, makes perfect caramel sauce, makes cookies soft on the inside and chewy on the outside, and it tastes great.
Per cup = 0 calories, 97 carbs, 96g fiber!!!
Great post! I have a question: If I want to make a recipe that originally calls for white flour, do I use the same amount of almond flour? Obviously I adjust the eggs as you said but I wondered about the flour…. thanks!!!
Thank you for your kind words!
If I want to adapt a recipe I usually use cup for cup. Please note that there is no gluten in almond flour so it doesn’t rise like white flour.
Happy baking!
Thank you very much for the recipe and a great website.
Do you have some suggestions as to how to alter the other items in the recipe if I decide not to add any sugar or “just like sugar”?
Thanks!
My recipes will call for erythritol and stevia glycerite. I use these seperate to help keep my costs down. In any recipe you can use ZSweet, Truvia, Organic Zero, Xylitol or Just Like Sugar. In order to use a different product, use the same amount of sweetener for the amount of erythritol in the recipe and omit the stevia (except for Organic Zero, that is only erythritol and you will still need stevia for sweetness).
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup ZSweet
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Truvia
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Just Like Sugar
1 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia = 1 cup Organic Zero and 1 tsp stevia
I just made the coconut flour version (I used xylitol because I don’t have any JLS yet, and no coffee because it makes me sleepy). It is fantastic! Tastes just like devil’s food cake but obviously better for you! Thanks for the great recipe and the conversion info. I used it to make your Christmas cutout cookies for my girls (using coconut flour for this one too).
Thank you SOoooo much Teresa!
I will carry your kind words with me today!;)))
Hello Maria,
Thank you for the response.
What I meant by “if I decide not to add sugar” was if I decided not to add any sweetener at all. I would like to try the recipe but you have equal amounts of sweetener and flour. Are there changes that I can make in order not to have any sweetener in it or at least very very little sweetener and still be able to make this healthified cake?
Thank you.
Sorry about that, I miss understood.
If you don’t add any sweetness I’m not sure how it will taste, but it will still be a moist gooey cake. I would use the same amount of everything else.
Happy Eating!
Thank you Maria!
Delish! Its even better the next day. Are the carb counts listed above the “net carbs”?
Nope, it is the total carbs. You can subtract the fiber to get the net carbs:)
Happy Eating!
Hi Maria, LOVE your site. LOVE the recipes. Just came across this one today though. I don’t drink coffee…caffeine gives me killer headaches. What can I sub instead? Water? or would something else be better?
You can use unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk.
Happy Baking!
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, I’ve made this cake twice and it never comes out chocolately/gooey – it just comes out like a dry cake 🙁
The only change I make is I use normal sweetener instead of just like sugar because I’m in the UK and can’t get that here.
Hmm, did you do the almond flour or coconut flour version? The sweetener shouldn’t affect the moistness.
I did the almond flour, I even increased the chocolate by half
Hmm, I guess I would try cooking it less. Maybe try 25 minutes? Good luck! 🙂
Hi Maria,
I wanted to quote a couple of excerpts from an article I read today from the Natural Grocers Nov/Dec 2012 newsletter entitled, “A Glimpse Into the World of Grain-Free Baking” and was hoping to get your thoughts.
***
“Nut Flours. …One thing to keep in mind when using nut flours – nuts tend to have high levels of phytates and oxalates. Phytates can bind to minerals, especially calcium, iron, and zinc, reducing their absorption; however in moderate quantities, phytates don’t appear to cause major problems. It is when they are eaten in excess that there is concern that they can cause mineral deficiencies. Phytates may also reduce digestive enzymes, inhibiting the ability to digest carbohydrates and protein. Soaking, sprouting, and roasting nuts helps to reduce phytates.”
[and then a little further on in the article] Almond flour…The main drawback to almond flour in large quantities is a very high phytate and oxalate content.”
***
So my question to you is, what do you think a “large quantity” of almond flour consumption might be? The article doesn’t specify any kind of measurement. Have you any thoughts/advice?
Hi, First, this is one reason I like blanched almond flour. The blanching removes the outer skin (where most of the phytates are) and soaks them removing almost all the rest. So for me, blanched almond flour is fine. 🙂
I was wondering if you knew a way to make this cake without the coffee. I do not eat/drink coffee products and i was hoping to make a sugar/gluten free cake for my daughters 2nd birthday. Also do you know if using Splenda instead of Just Like Sugar will significantly change the finished product?
Thanks,
Jessica
This cake was absolutely amazing! It was hard to stick with one piece!
Thank you! 🙂
Well, darn, mine is a mess! I don’t have any of the sweeteners you mention, so since you said in a comment, same amounts as sugar, I used brown sugar. Everything else as recipe states. I saw how very full the 9″ pan was, so I luckily thought to put a cookie sheet on the rack below. Sure enough-overflow! And at 35 minutes, it was still very soupy in the middle. Have it going for 10 more minutes now. I did the blanched almond flour version. Any ideas? I checked the recipe over and over again, and made it exactly as shown. Thanks, Nancy
Brown sugar will probably be a little different bulk and bake differently than the natural sweeteners I use. I don’t cook with sugar or brown sugar. 🙂
How about agave for sweetener? If so, how much?
No, please don’t use agave. Agave is almost all fructose and not good for our bodies. Here is a post with more info. 🙂
http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/rhubarb-crisp-and-fructose-facts/
Okay, I must have done something wrong. I followed the recipe AS LISTED for the blanched almond flour version. The batter looked kinda soupy as I poured it into the cake pan but I’m new at using almond flowers, Swerve, etc so I figured it must be okay. After the listed 35 min of cooking I still had a runny mess in the pan. It had started to bubble over and now I had a smokey kitchen as well. I cooked it for an additional 30 min. before I could get a clean toothpick to come out. What happened??? Anyone!
The batter should have been close to a normal batter. Did you use Bob’s red mill almond flour? That doesn’t cook the same as other flours.
Looks delicious…But do you have any ideas for replacing the sour cream, for a dairy-free version?
Maybe some coconut cream? (from top of a can of coconut milk). Then maybe less sweetener to compensate. 🙂
I made it with coconut flour. It’s in the crock pot now. I can’t wait to have it!
Thank you Maria.. I will try this in my crockpot.. Thanks for your book keto adapted.. and all that you do.. Thank you for your answers also.. I so refreshing that you read all the comments and answer them..
Thanks!
I made this recipe last night, and used a combination of almond meal and pecan meal, and erythritol only as the sweetener. My batter was quite runny as well, but I decided to leave it be. I used an 8×8 pan, and had to bake it for around 50-60 minutes.
It was fantastic when finished! The consistency was similar to a lava/molten cake. After refrigerating the remaining pieces cake, I was quite pleased this afternoon to discover that it now tastes (and has a similar texture) like fudge! Thanks much, Maria!
Thanks!
Hi-
What can we use if we don’t have unsweetened chocolate? How much cocoa?
You can try 3 tablespoons cocoa and 1 tablespoon butter to equal 1/4 cup unsweetened baking chocolate. 3 ounces should be about 1/2 cup.
I’ve made this so many times and love love llove it but don’t have sour cream today…can I replace with cream cheese? Or coconut yogurt?
I think cream cheese would work. 🙂
I have seen this recipe and picture in your book and here online. What I can’t find is a recipe for the chocolate ice cream in this picture. Only chocolate swirl ice cream recipe. Please help! I Need cHocolate ice cream!
You can just do this recipe and add 1/2 cup cocoa powder. 🙂
http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/chocolate-pb-swirl-ice-cream/
I tried the 1/2 cocoa powder in the vanilla ice cream, and it’s DEEEEE-LISH! My mid-western mother-in-law (June Cleaver in the flesh) was impressed with this recipe’s flavor and nutrition. She usually thinks I’m a crazy cook, and eat only weird California foods. Thank you!
Has anyone ever made this recipe into cupcakes? I tested with a toothpick and it came out clean, but upon removing them from the oven they sank. Maybe that is just the nature of this recipe since the picture make the end product look, “fudgey”.
the center is gooey, but try the cupcakes! i thought about that the last time i made the cake. i think they would be better!