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 tbsp Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp butter
Cake:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 6 tbsp unflavored whey protein powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 3 large eggs
- ½ tsp apple flavoring
- ¼ tsp stevia extract
- 2/3 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.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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This is the first THM thing that my husband has said that is good–you can make this again. He is very supportive. Just hasn’t been on board for eating the food.
Thank you!
Wonderful compliment, thank you!
Do you have an info sheet of all the different sweetner you use in your baking, including brand names, and how to use them effectively. I am so confused, swerve, xytiol, erythitoil, liquid, etc. Until I started this way of eating I only used sweet n low to sweetened my ice tea! I’m no a big added sugar person but I do bake tons and I don’t ice very sweet desserts, so I always adjust sweetness when sugar doesn’t matter. Thanks in advance.
I don’t have such an info sheet, but I really should make them. However, I can tell my that my preferences are for Swerve (which is mostly erythritol) with a touch of liquid stevia extract (NuNaturals brand). I only use xylitol when I need a caramel sauce to stay liquid. Hope that helps for now!
I know that a lot of people have asked about using erythritol/only swerve for the caramel sauce and you said it’ll re-crystalize. But do you think I could use only powdered swerve and make it more like a caramel glaze?
Your blog is hands down my favorite website. Thank you for creating/adapting such amazing recipes!
You can use powdered and it will be good…but it will still re-crystallize more than with the Swerve/xylitol combo. Pour it over when it’s hot, though and it will be delicious!
Do you know if Swerve and Truvia can be used interchangeably? I’ve never bought Swerve before…
Truvia doesn’t caramelize quite as well but you can certainly use it. Your end product will likely be paler in colour but still tasty.
Hi,
Just wanted to let you know I am sharing your wonderful recipe tomorrow in my Gluten-Free Recipe RoundUp with a link back to your original post!
Have a terrific weekend!
Cathy from APeekIntoMyParadise.com
Do you think I could use coconut flour instead of almond here? And, of so, how muh less coconut flour would I use?
No, this cake recipe is based on almond flour so you really should find a cake recipe that is based on coconut flour instead. I have a vanilla cupcake recipe that might work. https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2013/11/vanilla-bean-coconut-flour-cupcakes-and-teaching-children-about-kindness.html
Could I leave out the protein powder or do have a substitute you would recommend? This looks so amazing! Thank you for any input:)
In the absence of gluten, protein helps the cake rise properly. But you can use any sort of powdered protein…hemp, soy, even powdered egg whites.
Carolyn, I used this recipe to make an upside-down cake — I just put sliced apples in the pan, covered with caramel sauce, and then poured in the cake batter. The cake performed beautifully, being substantial enough to support the topping, and flexible enough to absorb the apple juices as it was cooking.
Wonderful. your version sounds delicious!
My family is having an early Thanksgiving dinner this Saturday, since family members will be vacationing over the holidays and we won’t all be together. I’m going to make this for dessert and my thought is to make on Friday, after I get home from work. Do you think I can leave it out on the counter until our early dinner the next day? Or should it be refridgerated?
One day on the counter would be fine. Any more than that, and you should refrigerate.
That is one gorgeous coffee cake.
Maybe you answered this and I missed it. Can you just use swerve in the caramel sauce? I don’t have xylitol? This looks delicious!
You can, but just be aware that it will harden a lot as it cools. It’s just a thing with erythritol, it won’t stay in solution.
My daughter was in from college this weekend and I made this as a treat – she deemed the caramel sauce “better than caramel!” It was a big hit, just as your recipes I have tried are. Thanks! You inspire me to keep on baking AND keep my carb count down.
I made this over the weekend and it is absolutely amazing! I first thot one apple would not be enough but it was. Since my hubby is diabetic he didn’t need more than that. What a blessing you are. I had given up cooking fun stuff but not anymore. Thank you so much. Mine even looked just like your picture!
Wonderful, Elaine, so glad to hear it.
Well Carolyn, I think you outdid yourself with this one. I made it for a fall themed baby shower I was hosting and it was incredible! This is going to be a staple for holiday breakfasts at our house. Thank you so much for yet another wonderful recipe!
So glad to hear it!
As far as the sweeteners, I just have Splenda and Truvia at home, and I’m not sure if I could find the other ones you have listed without having to order online- I want to make this recipe this weekend; I’m impatient! I know you don’t use Splenda, but do you think I could use what I have? Why the use of 3 different sweeteners anyway? Thanks!
Truvia is erythritol so you could try to caramelize that, but it will end up hardening once on the cake. It won’t be bad, though, just not a liquidy glaze. Every sweetener has its advantages and disadvantages and I think they work best in combination.
I have to try this. I love that you used almond flour. it looks so good.
The caramel sauce dripping down the sides definitely makes up for it! 🙂