Death by Keto Chocolate Cake (Gluten Free|Low Carb)

I had a very shit end to last week. Anti-epileptic medication changes led to a seizure on Sunday. Epileptics know how the story goes, and now I’m just just waiting for my body (or brain) to adapt to the changes. (I might do a separate post on that later.)

Anyway, I fasted that day out of sheer exhaustion and because the medicine (Zonegran) causes me to lose my appetite. However, after a few days of resting up, I finally got my ass into gear again.

As a result I needed some major comfort food that was Keto friendly. THIS my friends is how I made damn sure that the rest of the week stayed AMAZING!

KETO CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! With EXTRA chocolate!

I’ve made a few keto chocolate cakes in the past, but I think this one hits the spot. Especially if you’ve been keto for a while and your sweet tooth isn’t what it used to be.

This is the most indulgent, because I’ve used almost twice the amount of dark chocolate of other similar recipes. Initially I set out to make a “flourless” cake, but I decided to add almond flour in the end, so although it isn’t exactly flourless. It’s still very much gluten-free.

Now, before I get the Keto police on me for this post – yes IF you eat the whole cake you’ll probably be thrown out of ketosis. BUT if you use good quality DARK chocolate (Over 75%), then a slice a day won’t hurt if you’re fat adapted and watching your macros.

And dark chocolate is high in potassium, something that a lot of us on this lifestyle struggle with! So why not treat yourself once in a while!

Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature*
• 300g dark chocolate (75% and above. I used 3x100g bars of 90% Lindt Dark Chocolate for convenience but recommend 100% cocoa to reduce sugar and carbs.)
• 5 medium eggs (or 4 large): yolks separated from whites
• 1/3 cup almond flour (or other flour of choice OR cocoa)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Sweetener: 3 tablespoons of a powdered sweetener of choice (I used Natvia which is a blend of Erythritol and Stevia)
• Optional: 2-3 drops of Liquid sweetener for additional sweetness if required
• Optional: 1 teaspoon sugar-free vanilla extract or essence
• Optional: 1/4 teaspoon coffee
  
  NOTES:
  *Apologies my weighing scale wasn’t behaving so I will update butter measurements in grams the next time I make this!

Method

• Pre-heat & prep:
  – Pre-heat your oven to 175C and prepare your cake tin of choice (grease and sprinkle some cocoa powder, or line the tin with a grease-proof baking sheet. I used a round 9 inch tin).
  – Measure out 300g of DARK chocolate**
  
  – Measure out 10 tablespoons of butter
  
  – Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites into two bowls, ensuring the whites are in a large clean cold bowl for whipping.
  

• Melt the chocolate & Butter until silky smooth:
  
  

  

  
  
  – Option 1: Double Boil the chopped up chocolate and butter on the stove. (Here’s a how-to melt chocolate using a double boiler).
  – Option 2: Melt the chopped up chocolate and butter in 30 second bursts in the microwave. Stirring the mixture in between until the chocolate has completely melted.
  Useful Tip: Make sure your utensils are completely dry when melting chocolate to prevent the chocolate from seizing up.
• Beat the egg whites:
  
  In a cold clean bowl, beat the separated egg whites on a medium speed until they start to get foamy, then add the cream of tartar and increase the speed until they start to form stiff peaks.

• Add sweetener:
  Add your sweetener of choice to taste and keep beating the egg whites until the stiff peaks are able to stand by themselves. They shouldn’t move even if the bowl is turned upside down.
• Add egg yolks, 1/3 cup almond flour, vanilla essence and salt to chocolate:
  
  

  

  

  
  Once the chocolate has cooled down, whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate along with the salt. Mix in the almond flour (or other flour or additional cocoa well).
  Optional: Add 1/2 tsp espresso powder into the mixture.

• Fold the whipped egg whites into the chocolate:
  
  – Whisk 1/4 of the whipped egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
  – Carefully fold the remaining 3/4 whipped egg whites into the chocolate with a spatula.
  Useful Tip: A silicone spatula is easiest for folding egg whites.
• Taste and add more sweetener if required:
  I added additional stevia drops into mine.

• Bake:
  

  

  Pour the batter into your prepared cake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes. It will only rise very slightly, and might form a thin crust.

• EAT!
  
  This cake is great warm or cold but I it gets quite hard once it has been in the fridge. Personally, my favourite way to eat it is a slice straight out of the oven, or after ten seconds in the microwave with some berries and cream. 

Macros

(Based on Lindt 90% Dark Chocolate)

1 cake = 12 servings

1 serving:

• Energy 280.3 kcal
• Protein: 5.5g
• Net Carbs: 6.3g**
• Fat: 26.8g

**If you would like to reduce the carb count even further, you could:

1. Reduce the amount of chocolate used to 200g, but I wouldn’t go lower than that as it would seriously compromise the chocolateyness and it taste too ‘eggy’.
2. Use a chocolate with a lower carb count e.g. 100% cocoa (I recommend Montezuma’s Black 100% Cocoa which I used for these chocolate covered nuts),  and increasing the amount of sweetener used.