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Low Carb Spice Cake

By February 6, 2013December 16th, 2018Dairy Free, Desserts, Holiday Recipes, Vegetarian

Low Carb Spice Cake

gluten-free-spice-cake

Testimony of the Day

“Hi Maria! I just wanted to show you a quick update after being on your diet for 5 days!! I’ve attached a before and after picture. My itchy, rashy legs have always looked their worse when i’m in a bath or shower; they are always there, but something about the hot water would make them very red and more noticeable than they already were. The “before” picture is how my legs would look while bathing for the last 3 or so years. I was so happy to take a bath tonight and realize they are almost all gone! I just wanted to thank you again for saving my skin!” Malorie

To get started on your path to health and healing, click HERE. 

gluten-free-spice-cake

I’m not a big fan of cake, but WOW this one was awesome…but then again, you could put this cream cheese frosting on cardboard to make it taste good. I also made cake pops with the extra batter, and they were a perfect addition to my husband’s “bento box” lunch.

gluten-free-spice-cake

CAKE:
3/4 cup butter or coconut oil softened
2 3/4 cups blanched almond flour (OR 1 cup coconut flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 TBS ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups Swerve (or erythritol and 1.5 tsp stevia glycerite)
3 large eggs (8 eggs if using coconut flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream or coconut cream
3/4 cup pecans, chopped

FROSTING: 
1.5 cups butter
1.5 cups confectioners Swerve 
1.5 (8 oz) packaged cream cheese (or mascarpone cheese)
2 TBS unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla (or other extract like lemon or orange)

CAKE: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease cake pans. Sift together almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices into a large bowl. In another bowl, beat together butter (1 1/2 sticks) and sweetener with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and sour cream alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth. Mix in pecans until just combined.

Spoon batter evenly into pans, smoothing tops, then rap pans once or twice to expel any air bubbles. Bake until pale golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edge of pans, then invert racks over pans and reinvert cakes onto racks to cool completely.

FROSTING: Melt butter in 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring constantly and watching closely, until butter just starts to turn golden (4 to 6 minutes). (Butter will get foamy and bubble.) Remove from heat. Cool completely. Combine browned butter, confectioners Swerve, cream cheese, almond milk and extract in small bowl. Beat at medium speed, gradually adding enough milk for desired spreading consistency. Add natural food coloring if desired. Frost cooled cake.

ASSEMBLE: Halve each cake layer horizontally with a long serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion. Put 1 layer, cut side up, on a cake stand or large plate and spread with about 3/4 cup frosting. Stack remaining cake layers, spreading about 3/4 cup frosting on each layer and ending with top cake layer cut side down. Spread top and side of cake with remaining frosting (about 3 1/2 cups) and coat side of cake with pecans (1 1/3 cups), gently pressing to help them adhere. Serves 18.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON: (per slice)
Traditional Cake = 498 calories, 36g fat, 5g protein, 38 carbs, 1g fiber
“Healthified” Cake = 422 calories, 40g fat, 7.7g protein 6.5 carbs, 2.5 fiber

Make into Cake Pops!

Low Carb Spice Cake

Maria Emmerich

Maria is a wellness expert who has helped clients follow a Ketogenic lifestyle to heal and lose weight for over 20 years. She has helped thousands of clients get healthy, get off medications and heal their bodies; losing weight is just a bonus. She is the international best selling author of several books including "Keto: The Complete Guide to Success on the Ketogenic Diet.".

30 Comments

  • I made a version of this as part of my contribution to the family Thanksgiving spread and wanted to let you know that we all loved it. Thanks!

  • Thanks Susan! I’m so happy they liked it!

  • o2b30again says:

    What did I do wrong? I tried this in a reg. muffin pan and all the muffins collasped…hmmm??? We are going to sprinkle the “crumbles” over ice cream. So all is not a loss 🙂 I would love to be able to get these to work in a reg. muffin tin or mini’s for lunches. Any ideas? Thanks!

    • Devon says:

      I just made this recipe into muffins today for my mom’s birthday. I followed the recipe to a tea and every single one collapsed 🙁 They were still so moist after 15 minutes (I saw Maria posted on the other Spice Cake recipe to bake for 12-15 minutes if making into cupcakes). I couldn’t just throw them away so I took each one and mooshed them all together, placing the gewieness in two square cake pans. I’m hoping they come out tasting like a brownie/cake! I had to bake them for another 30 minutes. The batter seems to have been too moist? I am no baker but baking with almond and coconut flour is very difficult for me as a new bee!

      • Maria Emmerich says:

        Some brands of coconut flour (like bobs red mill) don’t adsorb as much moisture as other. You can adjust to get a more consistent batter. 🙂

  • Bummer, I have also made it like this and it didn’t fall at all:

    CAKE:
    1 c. coconut flour
    2 tsp aluminum free
    baking powder
    1 tsp Celtic sea salt
    1 TBS ground cinnamon
    1 1/4 tsp nutmeg
    1 tsp ground ginger
    1/2 tsp ground allspice
    1/4 tsp ground cloves
    3/4 c. coconut oil or
    butter, softened
    1 1/2 c. erythritol
    1 1/2 tsp stevia glycerite
    8 eggs
    1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
    1 1/2 c. sour cream

  • Jenni says:

    If using coconut cream instead of sour cream/cream cheese would I just use the thick cream off the top of a can of coconut milk? What form if coconut cream do you use? Looks delicious, thanks!

  • ~ April says:

    Can I use raw sugar instead of stevia glycerite? Would the amount be the same? Or would honey work?

  • Stacy says:

    Maria – could I add some vanilla protein powder to the frosting? I know that is a strange question, but I have to make a “Captain America” cake for my son, and I have no idea how to make the shield on top if the icing is not thick. There seems to be no recipe for a sugar free gluten free fondant. I do have the natural dyes, though. 🙂

  • Renee says:

    I love Spice Cake and am so happy to have a grain free version. The only thing I did differently was to bake cake in three pans instead of two (no need to slice cake afterward) and baked for 28 minutes. My house smells fantastic! Perfect for a snowy winter afternoon in Vermont! Thanks so much for sharing.

  • Linda says:

    Maria, can I use straight erythritol instead of Swerve? I have a lot of it and would rather use it up than buy something new.

    • That will work. The reason I also add stevia with erythritol is erythritol is 70% as sweet as sugar or Swerve. 🙂

    • Linda says:

      Thanks! After reading your reply, I checked the recipe again and noticed that you add liquid stevia to the erythritol. (I was just looking at the frosting recipe). I have liquid stevia, so I will try that. Thanks so much!

  • cookie says:

    What else can I use instead of the erythritol? I live in a rural area and don’t have access to many health food stores.

    Claire

  • claire says:

    I do have stevia in the raw. Can I use that as a substitute?

  • Kara says:

    I’m so sad. I made this with the $20 of swerve I bought and the cake did not rise at all. Super flat. One came out of the pan in pieces – the other not at all. I left the stuck one on the pan, iced the top, “glued” the top layer together in the pan on top of the stuck layer, and iced the top. Two layers plus icing were only 2 inches tall finished – as tall as the cake pan I used. =/ I do wedding cakes and tiered wedding cakes all the time and I have never had a cake turn out bad… until now. I’m afraid to try to make it again because it cost so much to make. =/

  • Joanne says:

    Made this in a 9 x 12 pan with granulated Splenda (can’t stand erythritol and didn’t have anything else) and it was collapsed by the time I checked it at 30 minutes. Came out of the pan easily enough, though, so I’m still going to frost it because it’s for a birthday party later today – mine, and everyone else is getting ice cream cake! lol Here’s hoping it tastes okay.

    • Joanne says:

      I have to say this tasted so good I ate the whole cake by myself over a period of a few days! I don’t know why it came out flat but it was so good that it doesn’t matter! The only reason I haven’t made another already is because I did gain a few pounds and I attribute it to eating the whole cake myself! lol

  • Charlotte Estess says:

    This cake recipe is the bomb! Comes out perfect every single time. We really love it cold 🙂

  • Jenni says:

    I know I am super-late to the party, but I would love to know how you made the coating for the cake pops!

  • Jenny says:

    Made this yesterday for a b-day…Ouch! Too sweet even with 1 cup of Erythritol in the cake and 1 cup of confect. Swerve in the frosting. I think Maria has an extremely sweet tooth!!!

    Next time I’ll reduce the “sugar” to half a cup for the cake and 1/4 cup for the frosting. Ppl liked it very much but they all had the same reaction: too much sugar.

    Thank you!

  • B Brown says:

    Two questions:
    1.). did you use 8″ or 9″ cake pan?

    2.). Does this get that “gritty” taste in either/or the cake and/or icing from the swerve or erythritol?

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