Moist cinnamon apple coffee cake drizzled with homemade low carb caramel sauce. Everything you love about fall in one recipe!
Okay, so today is supposed to be a Makeover Monday post but already I am getting off track and straying from the schedule. And here we are, only the second week in! Welcome to the world of Carolyn, disorganized blogger and hater of all things routine. That girl, she can’t stick to a schedule if her life depended on it! Although, truth be told, this one is due to circumstances beyond my control. I have a great makeover recipe for you, but because it is part of larger campaign, it’s being pushed to tomorrow or Wednesday. And so, Makeover Monday becomes Makeover Tuesday or Wednesday. Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?
However, to appease you, I offer up this delectable low carb Caramel Apple Coffee Cake. Apple season is in full swing here in New England, and apple-picking is one of my favourite things about fall. I have always loved apples and back in the day when I had a fully working pancreas, I ate at least one a day. Apples are surprisingly high carb, so I now limit myself to half an apple here aor there. Or I eat one before I go for a run or work out, since I will burn the sugars up quickly anyway. But they still rank among my favourite fruits and there are usually plenty of apples in our fruit drawer. They’re infinitely portable and great for kids’ lunches, since they won’t smoosh like softer fruit.
Even if I couldn’t eat apples at all, I’d probably still go apple-picking every fall. It’s a tradition in these parts and it was when I was growing up in Toronto too. Getting out of the city and into the apple orchards on a warm, sunny fall day makes the world seem like a friendlier place. And those sun-warmed apples picked right off the tree…truth be told, I’d run a whole marathon, just to be able to eat one. That crisp flesh, crunching under your teeth, releasing the tangy juice and sweetness onto your tongue. Yep, that’s worth some serious mileage in my books!
This recipe idea has been floating around in my brain ever since the kids went back to school, and I could hardly wait until we went apple-picking to make it. I knew I’d have to go light on the actual apple in the cake, to keep the carb count down. But I helped the flavour along a bit with some apple flavouring in the cake batter. Then I swirled in some homemade low carb caramel sauce into the batter, and sprinkled the top with a cinnamon crumb mixture halfway through baking. And then a drizzle of some more low carb caramel sauce to finish it off.
Now that’s what I love about fall!
Keto Caramel Apple Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cinnamon Crumb:
- ¼ cup almond flour
- 1 tablespoon Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter
Cake:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 6 tablespoon unflavored whey protein powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 3 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon apple flavoring
- ¼ teaspoon stevia extract
- ⅔ cup almond milk
- 1 medium apple peeled and cored, chopped fine
- 1 recipe Sugar-Free Caramel Sauce
Instructions
Cinnamon Crumb
- Whisk together almond flour, Swerve and cinnamon. Cut in butter and use your fingers to rub together until small crumbs form. Set aside.
Cake
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease a 9-inch springform pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, whey protein, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat butter with Swerve until smooth. Beat in eggs, apple flavoring and stevia extract.
- Beat in almond flour mixture in two additions, alternating with almond milk. Stir in chopped apples.
- Spread batter in prepared pan. Drizzle half of the caramel sauce over top and swirl into the batter with a knife.
- Bake 25 minutes, then remove from oven and sprinkle with cinnamon crumb mixture. Bake another 25 minutes, or until golden brown and center is set (if your cake is browning too quickly, cover with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking).
- Remove from oven and let cool. Then run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen sides. Remove sides and drizzle with remaining caramel sauce.
Beth Patterson says
If I don’t have whey protein powder, can I use unflavored collagen powder?
Carolyn says
No, it will make the cake gummy and hard to cook through.
Jennifer Allard says
Hi Carolyn,
Do you have any suggestion on how to swap out for the stevia extract? I have swerves and allulose but haven’t used the liquid stevia. Would you leave it out? Just add a bit more swerve? Or am I basically asking to rework the whole recipe and mess up the texture, etc?
Appreciate any guidance because I know you know your baking stuff!
Thanks,
Jennifer
Marie Trepanier says
hi, with what can i replace the unflavored protein whey?
Carolyn says
You can use egg white protein or a plant-based protein.
Heather says
Can you use egg protein powder in place of the whey protein?
Carolyn says
Yes… you almost always can!
Sue says
I just made this for tomorrow, but was wondering if it’s better to drizzle the rest of the caramel sauce now or just before serving…any advice would be appreciated
Jennifer says
Can I sub thm baking blend for the almond flour? Would I still add the whey?
Carolyn says
I am sorry, I don’t use it. But my brief experience with it indicates that it’s much drier than almond flour so it won’t be a good substitute.
Brenda Estes says
Made this cake yesterday for company today. Wanted to make sure ok to serve non keto guests. Had to have a taste test. Was delicious!!!!! 5 stars not enough.
Blue Ridge Lady says
Awesome! You’ve cured my fear of dry coffee cakes!. This one was so yummy and moist.. I added a little over a 1/4 cup pecans to the topping and adjusted the carbs accordingly. And just had to decrease the serving size to 12. The extra carbs were so worth it! Delish!
Carolyn says
So glad it worked out!
Stefan Gronewold says
Hello Carolyn!
Your Recipes are very good. But i have a Question about Almond Flour. Do you take deoiled or non deoiled almond flour?
When i take deoiled Almond Flour i became an other Result. Many Thanks for your Effort and your good Recipes.
Greetings from Germany
Stefan
Carolyn says
Do you mean de-fatted? Then no, that’s not what most almond flour is. You just want the finely ground, blanched nuts.
Suzy says
Could this be made with chayote squash? I’m allergic to apples.
Carolyn says
Sure.
Sherrie says
I skinned some zuchini,zucchini, it soak 24 hours in lemon juice… drain well… no one knew it was zucchini:)
Awesome recipe 🙂
Patti says
Hi, i was going to try zucchini also, how much zucchini did you use?
thanks,
Patti
Judi Jensen says
I am anxious to make this – sounds wonderful. But I have a few questions: First, while the recipe says to put the batter into the prepared pan, I can’t find where it says what size/type pan to use and how to actually prepare it – ?
also, I’m not sure what apple flavoring is or where I should be able to find it. Lastly, when referring to the Swerve, does that mean just regular old Swerve (like granulated sugar) or should the brown sugar type be used anywhere? Thanks! “JJ”
Carolyn says
First step, under Cake, says the pan size. Swerve = granular. I always specify if it’s brown or powdered. Apple extract –> https://amzn.to/2WSXi6Q
Cassandra says
Can you use Monk Fruit instead of swerve Sweetener.
Carolyn says
Please read this: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/best-keto-sweeteners/
Carolynne says
Is there anything I can substitute for whey powder?
Carolyn says
Egg white protein powder.
Dana Duell says
What apple extract do you use, having a hard time finding one?
Thank you
Dee says
Made this cake and it is wonderful. But with just 2 of us in the house, and I do not allow myself keto desserts everyday, can this be frozen? Thank you