Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting is a keto cake recipe that makes the perfect birthday cake for chocolate lovers. But this low carb chocolate cake is so good, you won’t want to wait for a special occasion to make it.
Any Occasion Chocolate Layer Cake
It is nobody’s birthday in my house. Nobody. Not even close. We’re all late Fall and Winter babies in this household. My three kiddos are October, November and December, my husband is right after Christmas and I am in early March. It’s pretty nutty, quite honestly. From mid-Fall to New Year’s we are run ragged with birthday and holidays, and each year it seems to get more stressful.
My husband and I aren’t even remotely over-indulgent with our kids and we don’t do big birthday celebrations for them. But even the minor family celebrations we do hold take enough effort and time that we find ourselves girding our loins at the approach of October. Oh, and have I mentioned that our anniversary is in October as well? Um, yeah, that gets more and more overlooked each year as we just try to survive.
So what on earth possessed me to make what is, for all intents and purposes, a huge low carb chocolate birthday cake in June? I haven’t the foggiest, the idea just took hold of me and wouldn’t let go. It worried at me like a dog with a bone, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. And it wasn’t just any old birthday cake I wanted to make. I knew this one had to be gluten-free chocolate cake, with lots of layers and a rich sour cream frosting. It had to be tall, it had to be impressive, and most importantly, it had to taste wicked good. I wanted it to be a low carb birthday cake, but one that you would never know was sugar-free and gluten-free.
Keto Cake Recipes
If you make a lot of keto cake recipes, you already know that they can be a challenge to make well. They tend to dry out during baking, but this low carb chocolate cake is definitely not dry! If you want low carb cake, but in a different flavor, make my Low Carb Italian Cream Cake or Kentucky Butter Cake, or Brenda’s Sugar-Free Low Carb Sponge Cake.
So why chocolate sour cream frosting? I don’t know. Once again, it was just an idea that got a hold of me. My sister-in-law made sour cream frosting for my nephew’s birthday cake and I am not sure I’d ever had any until that time. And then I happened to see a recipe for chocolate sour cream frosting on the inside of a package of unsweetened chocolate, and I thought how perfect that might be for a low carb frosting. I could see the cake in my mind’s eye, 3 or 4 layers with rich frosting in between and swirled richly on top. And some brightly coloured sprinkles to finish it off. Just a few, since I don’t think they make sugar-free sprinkles yet!
Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Recipe Notes
The Results: Honestly, this keto cake recipe is phenomenal. Except for the fact that I can’t seem to get almond flour chocolate cake to look as chocolaty as cake made with wheat flour (it has a muddy brown appearance, rather than a rich chocolate brown), you would never know the difference. The low carb chocolate cake is rich and decadent.
The chocolate sour cream frosting is made using powdered Swerve, and it is rich and has a wonderful tang from the sour cream. I was a touch worried at first because the frosting seemed too goopy, like it would just slide right down the sides of the cake. But it didn’t at all, and I was able to frost the cake perfectly. And I gave it an hour to chill in the fridge and it set nicely. It is a really big cake and very rich, so even though I’ve called it 16 servings here, you can easily get 18 or 20 out of it.
This gluten-free chocolate cake is definitely one worthy of a birthday celebration!
Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting (Low Carb and Gluten-Free)
Print Pin RateIngredients
Cake:
- 2 ¼ cups almond flour
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup granulated erythritol I used Swerve
- ½ cup vanilla whey protein powder
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 oz Greek yogurt room temperature
- ½ cup butter softened
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon stevia extract
- ⅔ cup almond milk
Sour Cream Frosting:
- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 1 ½ cups sour cream room temperature
- 3 cups powdered erythritol I used Swerve
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon stevia extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
Instructions
- For the cake, preheat the oven to 325F and grease 2 8-inch round cake pans. Line cake pans with parchment paper and grease the parchement.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, protein powder, granulated erythritol, instant coffee, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt.
- In another large bowl, beat Greek yogurt and butter together until combined. Beat in eggs and stevia extract. Beat in almond flour mixture in two additions, alternating with almond milk, and scraping down beaters and sides of bowl as needed.
- Divide batter between prepared pans and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cakes are set and a tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans 10 minutes, and then flip out onto wire racks to cool completely.
- Once cool, use a large serrated knife to cut each layer in half horizontally to create 4 layers total.
- For the frosting, in a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate and stir until smooth. Set aside.
- In large bowl, beat sour cream and powdered erythritol until smooth. Beat in cocoa powder, then vanilla extract and stevia extract.
- Sprinkle xanthan gum over mixture and beat in until frosting thickens slightly. Stir in melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl, until well combined.
- Place one layer of cake on serving platter and top with ½ to ¾ cup frosting, using knife or offset spatula to spread evenly. Repeat with remaining layers and frosting. For final layer, top with any remaining frosting and spread down and over sides of cake, smoothing with knife or offset spatula. If desired, use back of small spoon to create swirled effect on top of cake.
- Chill cake in refrigerator for at least one hour. Any leftover cake should be wrapped in plastic and kept in refrigerator.
Kathy Burress says
Made this cake tonight in a bundt pan. Cooked it about 40 minutes and it came out perfect! I used the icing from your Texas sheet cake recipe and did it like a glaze. My husband doesn’t usually eat my stuff but he loved it! Amazing and delicious!
Carolyn says
Glad it worked out!
allison says
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday and I can not tell you how much my family raved about it. It was just incredible. I have made a lot of cakes, mostly your cakes but this one as you said was phenomenal!! It did firm up nicely in the fridge as you said. I put the cakes in the fridge to chill before i cut them and I use fishing line to cut them lol. I use a deep dark special cocoa powder to get that deep dark color and instead of instant coffee I used expresso powder. Just the most delicious cake evah!!
Carolyn says
Loved seeing your pics, Allison!
Francelle Leighton says
This cake is absolutely amazing. I have baked it twice now. I baked it for my birthday on the 13th of February and it was a hit. I am super super super impressed with this recipe. Thank you so much. xxx
Denise says
Hi Carolyn,
I going to try and make a black and white birthday cake with this recipe in order to accommodate a chocolate allergy. ( I know, it’s bad enough to have a sensitivity to chocolate and have a granddaughter who insists on a chocolate cake!) I’m thinking one chocolate round and one white round cut into half moons and reassembled with separate icings – like a b&w cookie..
Could I halve the dry cocoa and mix two separate half recipe batters for this recipe or could I just make 1 batter and add the equivalent of melted chocolate into one half of the batter – I don’t see the mixing in of cocoa powder into the batter as a good idea.. ( I imagine that I’d probably have to reduce the fat a bit as well.)
Thanks for any advice!
Denise
Carolyn says
So you’re looking to make half of this chocolate cake plus half a vanilla cake? I think you’re going to be fine whisking the cocoa powder in after. I’d be afraid the melted chocolate would seize as you tried to mix it into the batter.
sarah says
Hi, I don’t use stevia, should I add more powdered sweetener to make up for it? I will probably use either xylitol or monk fruit to sweeten the cake. Thanks!
Carolyn says
Sure, that will work.
Ginny says
My son is on keto for seizure control, but he’s 4 and we’re always going to birthday parties. I made this one for an upcoming party so that he can have cake too. It’s sooooo good. The best keto cake I’ve had. Still, I had some problems with the icing. It ended up being too much xanthan gum for me and it got very gummy quickly. I doubled-checked the ingredients and I did it all according to your recipe (using Bob’s Red Mill brand). I ended up adding a bunch of cream to get it to spread. Any ideas where I was going wrong? Btw, my daughter, who isn’t on keto also loved it and did not notice that it wasn’t a “real” cake (as she would say)!
Carolyn says
Not sure what went wrong with the frosting. Xanthan gum is tricky for sure and it could be the quality of the chocolate you used making a difference too. I am very glad you were able to rescue it.
Barbara says
How do you measure almond flour? If I do it loosely it is clumpy so should I push it down into the cup to get a full cup measure?
Carolyn says
No, you should always scoop and level, do not pack it. If it’s clumpy, break it up before hand to get the clumps out, then measure it.
Danielle says
Isn’t 3 cups of powdered Swerve more than 1 bag? (Looks like 1 bag is 1.875 cups). That’s the number one reason I haven’t caved and tried Swerve yet— $10 for less than 2 cups. Please let me know if that conversion is accurate.
Sara says
My birthday was over the Memorial Day weekend and I have been following a keto diet (low carb, high fat diet) for over 2 months now and I also have up gluten. This recipe was amazing!! I was shocked to see how nicely my cakes rose in the oven. I used the Bob Mills almond flour and xanthum gum and I did end up getting a frosting that was quite thick but still worked out perfectly. It was able to spread with a cake knife and it was just the right amount to cover the cake and get the inside layers covered. I ended up using a red velvet cake flavored protein powder and I sprinkled Lily’s sweet chocolate’s orange blood chocolate shavings on top. Not only did my family support my low carb celebration but they loved it. I was more surprised that my 13 yr old niece liked it better than the Costco cake (alternative cake for he people that wouldn’t want to try this cake). She actually asked to take a piece home! Thank you for helping me make my birthday cake special. I was really impressed in not only the presentation of my cake but the taste was remarkable.
Carolyn says
Wonderful, I am so very glad you liked it!
Angela says
Hi Carolyn, this recipe looks amazing! Is there anything I can substitute for the Almond flour? I have a tree nut allergy 🙁
Thanks,
Angela
Carolyn says
Can you tolerate sunflower seeds? Sunflower seed flour is available and I’ve found it to be a good sub for almond flour.
Angela says
Sunflower seeds are ok, I’ll give that a try, thank you!
Angela says
If making cupcakes, what would the cook time be?
Annie says
I made this for my birthday yesterday and it was AMAZING. I was a little worried about the texture since I’d read some of the comments about the Red’s almond flour/meal being too heavy, but I didn’t have any trouble with the at all. Thanks so much for this. I’ll be making this cake for me and all my low carb friends from here on out. 🙂
Jennifer says
This sounds amazing. I am wondering about the coffee…My husband hates coffee. Could I leave this out or is it important in the recipe? Is there any coffee flavor detectable?
Thanks!!
Wendell says
Thanks very much for posting this recipe, Carolyn. Just like everybody said, it’s amazing. Been struggling with my sweet tooth on the new low-carb diet, and this is exactly the kind of dessert I was hoping to find. Amazingly good. I happened to substitute Sweet Leaf for pure Stevia and Xylitol for Erythritol, and picked up a peanut butter cream cheese frosting recipe from someone else I used, but it still is amazingly good!
Wendell says
Thanks very much for posting this recipe, Carolyn! Recently gone low-carb and it’s been a struggle so far to satisfy my sweet tooth. Baked this cake today and OMG…just like everybody says, it is delicious. I happened to substitute a peanut butter cream cheese frosting for yours, and I used Sweet Leaf and Xylotol instead of erythitol, and it is incredible.
Leigh says
Can someone tell me, in the frosting ingredients, it say “11/2 tsp. xantham gum”–this must
be “1/2 tsp xantham gun” right?
Leigh
Carolyn says
No, it’s 1 and 1/2 teaspoons.
Sarah Miech says
That cake looks phenomenal! I also love the chocolate hazelnut cake. Thank you for giving me some options to stuck to my diet!
Joe says
Hi Carolyn!
I made the cake yesterday and I am very happy to say that it was great! The batter turned out to be exceptionally similar to wheat flour batter. I am a pretty talented low carb cook myself (my pizza crust fools my relatives ha ha) and I think this will be my go to for cake from now on. I doubt anyone could tell the batter is almond flour based unless they knew to check for it. I will say that the frosting turned out great texturally but the flavor was a bit off. However, thats my fault because I used straight Erythritol that I ground myself. The cooling effect was definitely too strong and it was a bit grainy but still good in moderate portions. Perhaps if I could have gotten it fully dissolved it would have been better. Also, for all of those that are having problems with the Xantham gum three tips: always use less than the recipe requires and check the viscosity yourself as you go along. Then add the rest if everything is still going well. Secondly, measure carefully! Xantham gum is very potent and even a small amount extra can give a rough, slimy texture to foods. Third, it is best to spread the xantham gun around, almost like sifting in order to keep it from clumping.
Andy says
There’s a little trick with xantham (and other) gum. Use a little bit of olive oil (or other oil) to mix the gum in first. Then pour it into the batter. The oil holds the gum in suspension and thus disperses it, preventing lumps.
Carolyn says
Thanks, Andy!
Carolyn says
Yes, straight erythritol will give you that cooling effect. Great tips on the xanthan too. I should perhaps write that into the recipe, and give a range of amounts because I think it can differ depending on brand.
Brittanie says
Care to share your pizza recipe, if it can trick people it must be amazing!
Melissa says
I don’t like sour cream frosting…. I’ve made it before and it just doesn’t do it for me. Do you have another good alternative frosting recipe I could use instead?
Carolyn says
Plain chocolate buttercream would work. The one on the back of the Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder works really well with powdered Swerve!
Elizabeth says
I made this on Monday, and had some trouble with the actual cake batter. After mixing all of the ingredients together the batter was really dry and thick. I tried adding more almond milk, but it was still very thick and I had a hard time getting it into the pans. It came out of the oven a little dry. I actually had all the ingredients on hand, so I am not sure what was up . Any ideas?
Carolyn says
A few questions: what brand of almond flour and what sweetener did you use? What brand/kind of cocoa powder?
Elizabeth says
I am using Hershey’s 100% cocoa, swerve granulated sweetner, and Mama’s Almond Flour (very finely ground). Thank you for the reply!
Carolyn says
Hmmm. Never heard of Mama’s but if it’s finely ground, that’s good. Nothing jumps out at me here as to why it would be so thick and I’ve made this recipe a few times so I know it works. I think next time, up the amount of Greek yogurt OR add some melted butter and possibly another egg. The batter should be thicker than conventional cake batter (gluten-free always is), but it shouldn’t be so thick you can’t spread it.
Elizabeth says
I will try upping the greek yogurt next time I make it! ( I am absolutely going to finish this batch first) Thank you for the help!