Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake has rich chocolate flavour with a creamy peanut butter frosting and sugar free chocolate ganache. My best low carb chocolate cake recipe yet!
I have a theory and I’d like to share it with you. It’s very deep, very serious, and it requires careful consideration. It may change life as we know it. It may change the way you perceive everything in the world. From this moment forward, nothing will be the same again. I need you to be sure you are ready for it, that you can handle it. If you don’t think you’re ready, it’s best to stop reading now. Just turn away. Or close your mind and just look at the pretty pictures. You are even allowed to scroll straight down to the recipe if you need to; I won’t be offended. Okay, ready? Deep breath, everyone. Here it is, my life-altering theory:
Chocolate ganache fixes everything.
Wait, what? You don’t think that’s earth shattering news? Think about it! Think about the impact this could have! Chocolate ganache, that silky smooth layer of sweetness that drips down the sides of the most delicious desserts. Seriously, this stuff could bring about world peace. It makes people happy. It certainly makes me happy. And best of all, it hides my lousy cake-decorating skills. If chocolate ganache can make my messily frosted cakes look this good, what can’t it do?
Try it! The next time you frost a cake with regular buttercream frosting, compare it to the ones shown in cooking magazines. Then you will realize just how lacking in ability you really are. Then whip up some chocolate ganache, preferably my low carb, sugar-free chocolate ganache, and drizzle it over the top and down the sides. See what I mean? Chocolate ganache fixes everything.
Okay, so maybe I am going a wee bit far with the world peace chocolate ganache connection. But still, chocolate ganache is my go-to cake decorating technique, mostly because it isn’t much of a technique at all. Just pour and go. And when I envisioned a big chocolate peanut butter layer cake with deep dark chocolate layers and rich peanut butter frosting, I also envisioned it with chocolate ganache dripping down the sides. Even if it hadn’t been part of the plan originally, I am sure I would have resorted to it in the end. Because once again, I was came face to face with my inability to frost a cake neatly, no matter how hard I try. So chocolate ganache to the rescue, again!
Creating Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake
This gorgeous low carb chocolate cake recipe has been flitting around in my brain for quite some time. There are any number of high carb, gluten-filled versions out there, most notably this chocolate peanut butter cake from Smitten Kitchen. I’d seen it ages ago and always wondered if I could make it over to be low carb and gluten-free.
My confidence in my abilities has increased dramatically since then, and I was craving a big, rich delicious keto layer cake, so I decided to give it a go. I experimented a bit with my chocolate cake batter this time and used baking soda instead of baking powder, with a bit of cream of tartar and some acid (vinegar) to activate the soda during baking.
If you don’t have these items, you can simply use baking powder instead. But I have to say that this is hands down my BEST low carb chocolate cake batter to date. It is perfectly moist, perfectly light and incredibly fine-textured, with an amazing chocolate flavour. No one would be able to tell that this is not a conventional chocolate peanut butter layer cake.
Frosting the Low Carb Chocolate Cake
For the frosting, I really just took the recipe from the most popular recipe of 2013, my Chocolate Peanut Butter Popsicles, and modified it a bit to make it into a frosting-like consistency. It worked beautifully. It is light and easy to spread. I could, perhaps, have made a little more of it, but I don’t like my cakes with thick layers of frosting. I prefer a light coating that is flavourful enough to complement the flavour of the cake itself. I did find that I needed to refrigerate the cake for a while before it was set enough to spread ganache on top. And this worked perfectly too, as the ganache set quickly on the cold frosting.
More Chocolate Peanut Butter Recipes You Might Like:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Molten Lava Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Milkshake (from She Wears Many Hats)
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Scones
- Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (from It’s Yummi)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Brownies
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake – Low Carb and Gluten-Free
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ⅔ cup dark cocoa
- ⅓ cup Coconut flour
- ⅓ cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda OR 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar omit if using baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter softened
- ¾ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon Stevia Extract
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar omit if using baking powder
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoon butter softened
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter I do not recommend natural peanut butter here
- 1 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache:
- 5 tablespoon butter
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate
- ¼ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease 3 8-inch round cake pans well. Line bottom of pans with circles of parchment and grease parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut flour, whey protein powder, instant coffee, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat butter with sweetener until well combined. Beat in eggs, vanilla extract, and stevia extract.
- Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, and then almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Beat in remaining almond flour mixture until well combined.
- Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans and bake 22 to 25 minutes, until set and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool in pans 10 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and peanut butter until well combined.
- Beat in sweetener, cream and vanilla extract until mixture is smooth.
- Place one layer of cake on a serving platter and spread top with about ¾ cup of frosting. Top with another layer and another ¾ cup frosting. Add remaining layer and spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.
- Refrigerate cake until frosting is firm, about 2 hours.
Chocolate Ganache:
- In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter and unsweetened chocolate together, stirring until smooth.
- Stir in powdered sweetener and vanilla extract.
- Let cool 5 to 10 minutes, until thickened but still pourable.
- Pour over top of cake, allowing it to drip down sides.
- Let set 20 minutes before serving.
Notes
Dan says
I made this and it was delicious! Recipe is way too much sugar alcohol for me, though, so I sweetened with: just over 1/2 cup of truvia in the batter; ~40 drops liquid stevia plus a couple tbsp swerve in the frosting, and lily’s baking chips for the ganache. Great recipe but 20 servings, really? I got about 12 regular-sized cake slices out of this. My macros per slice were: 511 cal, 46 fat, 13 protein, 7 net carbs. And that’s taking into consideration that I only used about 3/4 of the frosting.
Micheal says
Hi there! I’m excited to try this cake recipe out for my birthday this week. Do I need the stevia or can I use extra sweetener? I Don’t typically use it. And I hate to buy it just for one recipe. Thanks so much for this beautiful cake recipe!
Carolyn says
You can use extra sweetener. I don’t really use stevia anymore either!
Kate says
Finally made this on Wednesday for my birthday that we celebrated tonight. It was delicious. I actually added some sour cream and a little more almond because it was so thick. I was nervous about the outcome , but so thrilled it came out well. Will definitely make again. If anyone loves chocolate and peanut butter this is a recipe for you!
Kate says
Thank you so much for responding so quickly! I know totally understand about what you mean. After much reading I’m assuming that when you make this cake you used blanched almond flour? I know the difference between blanched and regular almond flour, but a lot of people say use blanched because it’ll come out smooth, if that makes sense. Thanks so much!
Carolyn says
Definitely blanched. It will give you much better cakes and other baked goods!
Kate says
Thank you so much!
Kate says
Hi! I want to make this for my birthday in a couple weeks and I was wondering what kind of swerve you used for making the cake. Granular or powdered? I saw you used the powdered for the frosting, but didn’t know If you used it in the cake as well. Also, I use premier protein flavors vanilla and chocolate. Could I use one of those and which one would be better with this cake? Thanks!
Carolyn says
I usually use granular for cakes and I don’t specify because I figure it’s like saying “sugar” and “powdered sugar”, if that makes sense!
Lisa says
Made this cake for my 54th birthday so my husband with diabetes could have some of my favorite cake with me. This was the worst tasting cake we ever ate! Throwing it out!
Christine says
Wondering about the peanut butter frosting. Could I use peanut butter powder? I found a Lakanto PB powder with monk fruit sweetener in it. If I used this, how would you recommend I adjust the recipe? I made your devils food cake recipe and I think the peanut butter icing on it will be Devine!
Carolyn says
Well I really haven’t tried it that way. I’d probably re-constitute the powder with water until it’s like a peanut butter consistency, and then proceed from there.
Cee says
This cake looks heavenly and I can’t wait to make it! I’m not keto but follow a low carb lifestyle & keep sugar to a minimum. I found out the hard way last night that trying to convert regular sugar recipes to keto doesn’t work well. I made a P.B. sheet cake last night and instead of sugar I used Pyrue. The cake texture came out flat and gummy even after using A.P. Flour & baking soda. I do use almond flour from time to time but can’t get my cakes or breads to rise, even w/ xanthan gum & whey protein? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’d like to pull away from flour completely if I could ever figure this almond flour baking out? 🤔. I’ll make your cake next week after I “gum down” the one I just made. 😁. Thanks for your great recipes!
Allison N says
Hello
I made this but my cake didn’t rise. I followed the recipe exactly. Any clue what went wrong ? Thanks
Carolyn says
I suspect that your baking soda was old or out of date.
Amber says
So I was wondering can I freeze this cake with the frosting and ganache?
Carolyn says
The ganache is likely to discolour and become greyish in the freezer but it will certainly still taste good.
Sam says
Made this 2 years ago as an anniversary cake for my wife. It is hands-down her favorite cake ever. That’s right, the chocolate cake component alone is just as good as homemade standard chocolate cake!
The ganache is a gorgeous finishing touch, if you carefully follow the directions.
However, if you are not a huge peanut butter fan (like myself), plan to enjoy a small slice at a time, the peanut butter frosting (while amazing and perfect for using leftover amounts as a decadent apple slice dip) is very rich and can overwhelm the weak-at-peanut-butter-heart who try to down a big slab in one go. If you do love peanut butter, though, ignore this warning.
Planning to make make another one today!
Andrea says
I just made this cake for my man’s bday and OH MY GOODNESS is it good! the flavors are so so rich and the texture is amazing. I can’t decide which part is my favorite because each layer and element is just so good. Since I can’t tolerate gluten, that means that the whole household is gluten free. I’m sure he has been feeling a little lack-luster about missing out on the deliciousness of things made with wheat, but this cake leaves absolutely nothing to be desired. It is better than any wheat filled cake!
The directions and proportions were spot on and easy to follow. I had almost all of the ingredients on hand already. The addition of the coffee in the cake makes it so rich and really makes the flavors pop.
I think this has become a new household favorite, I can’t say enough good things!
Carolyn says
Delighted you liked it! Thanks.
Michael Girard says
I made this on Sunday and it was another huge hit! The chocolate and peanut butter are in perfect harmony! I have had 100% success with your recipes Carolyn. So far I’ve made the Italian Cream Cake and the Carmel Cake as well – both fabulous! I can’t wait to figure out which cake to make next! Thank you so much!
Carolyn says
So glad you like them. I haven’t made this one in a while… perhaps it needs me to revisit it!
Michael L Sakey says
I followed the cake recipe to the letter and my cakes seem more like brownies. They did not rise likemyour cakes did in the photo. Any suggestion on what went wrong ?
Carolyn says
If you used exactly the same ingredients I did, it should rise. Unless your baking powder or baking soda has been around too long. That’s the likely culprit.
Debbie says
All I can say is OMG!!! This cake was Fantastic! I made this for my granddaughter and my birthday (my first and she was born on my birthday). Everyone raved about it. This will be our new birthday cake. thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
KJ says
This is beautiful. I just made this cake to test for my son’s upcoming birthday. The icing is to die for… And I’m not a huge icing fan to begin with! However my cake didn’t rise, I have flat pancake style layers lol. I followed the recipe to a tee, any suggestions?
EiLL says
Me too. Cakes did not rise at all. I used the baking powder instead of the apple cider vinegar/baking soda option. Everything else turned out lovely. I do not know why the cakes were flat.
Carolyn says
I wish I knew, as I’ve used this cake recipe many times, with both leavening options, and never had an issue.