You can’t go wrong with a classic like Devil’s Food Cake, especially when it’s low carb. Tender, rich keto chocolate cake with a fluffy sugar free vanilla frosting.
I have a serious thing keto chocolate cake these days. I just can’t get enough of thinking about it, baking it, and decorating it. I already have any number of chocolate cake recipes, and this Keto Devil’s Food Cake is yet another to add to the growing list.
You might think that having a single chocolate cake recipe is sufficient, but you would be wrong. The joyous thing about chocolate cake is that there is an infinite number of ways to make it. Layer cakes and sheet cakes and cupcakes and snack cakes, oh my!
They can have other flavors or just be pure chocolate. They can have nuts or chocolate chips. They can be big enough to feed a crowd or small enough just for two.
I could go on and on, waxing poetic about chocolate cake. But I recently decided to tackle the classic Devil’s Food, that deep dark chocolatey cake, and make it over to be keto friendly.
You are going to be SO glad I did!
What is Devil’s Food Cake?
If you’ve never had Devil’s Food, get ready for one of the most chocolatey sponge cakes on the planet. It is truly divine. And it’s so named because it is the opposite of the light and airy Angel Food Cake.
I spent some time researching devil’s food cakes before attempting to make a keto version. Like any classic recipe, there are slightly different versions with slightly different ingredients, depending on who you ask.
But the common thread of this cake is that it relies on Dutched cocoa powder for its deep chocolate flavor, and baking soda for a lighter, fluffier consistency. It often also contains brewed coffee, which intensifies the chocolate flavor.
Chocolate or Vanilla Frosting?
While many recipes feature devil’s food with a chocolate frosting, others pair it with vanilla. That’s the beauty of this rich chocolate cake. It has enough deep flavor to stand up to any frosting.
I was tempted to go with chocolate, but then I came across two devil’s food cake recipes that changed my mind. This beauty from the amazing Jocelyn of Grandbaby Cakes, and one from King Arthur Flour. Two of my favorite baking sites!
I admit, I was enticed away from chocolate because of the gorgeous contrast between the dark cake and the white frosting. So I created a light and fluffy sugar-free vanilla frosting. And it was truly delectable.
But if you’re dying to go with chocolate on chocolate, try making my Keto Chocolate Frosting. I’d recommend doing 1.5x the recipe to make enough to frost this cake.
How to make Keto Devil’s Food Cake
This rich, delicious keto chocolate cake really isn’t that hard to make. Here are my best tips for getting it right:
- You want to make sure you’re using dutched cocoa here, as it results in a darker color and a richer chocolate flavor. I really like Guittard but it’s pricy. Ghirardelli sells one, and Hershey’s Dark is a less expensive choice as well.
- Yup, you need the protein powder, as it replaces gluten and helps the cakes rise and hold their shape. You can use egg white protein instead, but don’t use collagen, as it makes cakes gummy and hard to cook through.
- Don’t forget to use both baking powder and baking soda! They both help it rise but the soda helps it be lighter and fluffier. And the apple cider vinegar is the acid that creates a reaction in the baking soda.
- You don’t HAVE to use coffee, although I do recommend it for flavor. But if you really don’t want to, just use plain water instead.
- Grease those pans well and don’t forget the parchment paper circles. It helps the cakes come freely out of the pans.
- The frosting contains cream cheese because it helps make it more white in color. It also helps it have more structure without using ridiculous amounts of sweetener. It tastes like buttercream
- Whipping some of the cream before adding to the rest of the frosting makes it extra light and fluffy.
How to store Keto Devil’s Food Cake
Because of the creamy frosting, this cake is best stored in the fridge and should last 5 to 7 days. But I do recommend taking it out and letting it come to room temperature before serving.
You can also freeze this cake, both before and after frosting. I recommend flash freezing the cake first. This means allowing it to sit uncovered in the freezer until it’s firm. Then you can wrap it up tightly to store for longer, without crushing it.
Ready to make this delicious keto devil’s food cake?
More keto layer cake recipes
- Keto Berry Chantilly Cake
- Keto Margarita Cake
- Keto Ding Dong Cake
- Keto Raspberry Layer Cake
- Keto Death by Chocolate Cake
- Keto Tiramisu Layer Cake
Devil’s Food Cake – Keto and Sugar-Free
Ingredients
Devil's Food Cake
- 2 cups almond flour (use sunflower seed flour for nut-free)
- ⅔ cup Dutch process cocoa powder
- ⅓ cup unflavored whey protein powder
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup Swerve Brown
- ½ cup Swerve Granular
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup freshly brewed coffee, cooled
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Vanilla Frosting
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened (very soft)
- ¾ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream divided
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease 2 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment and grease the parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cocoa powder, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter with the sweeteners until well combined and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Beat in the almond flour mixture, then beat in the coffee, sour cream, and apple cider vinegar until well combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the cake pans and spread to the edges. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until the cakes have risen and the tops are firm to the touch.
- Remove and let cool completely in the pan. Then run a sharp knife around the edges to loosen and flip the cakes out.
Vanilla Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together until very smooth. Beat in the sweetener until well combined, then beat in the vanilla. Beat in ¼ cup of the cream until smooth.
- In another bowl, beat the remaining ¾ cup whipping cream until it holds stiff peaks. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the butter mixture until well combined.
To Assemble
- Place one layer of cake on a platter and spread with about ⅓ of the frosting, all the way to the edges. Top with the second layer of cake and spread the top with about ⅓ of the frosting.
- Spread the remaining frosting over the sides. Refrigerate 30 minutes to help firm up the frosting.
- Sprinkle the top with cocoa powder and shaved dark chocolate, if desired.
Tara says
hi carolyn! love your recipes thank-you for always coming thru with the best treats! I’ve been trying to go back and forth for a couple days on what cake to make. I need to make it now today and I’m still undecided. what Is the difference btwen the cake portion of this cake and the cake on the dark chocolate peanut butter cake? (toppings and frosting notwithstanding) can you tell me which one is lighter and fluffier? also do you think adding in a small amount of vital wheat gluten or oat fiber would be ok?
thank you again. i appreciate you more than you know
Carolyn says
I don’t add gluten to my cakes so I can’t say how they would fare – and not sure what the purpose is? I plan on updating the PB one so I think you should do the Devil’s food.
Jane says
I love this cake. I was wondering. If you can turn it into a. Red velvet cake. Or do you have a red velvet cake recipe. I haven’t found one yet.Thanks so much for all. Your awesome recipes. You share. I also have 4 of your cookbooks. There are so many yummy things to try. Thanks again…
Carolyn says
I have not made red velvet cakes because I don’t want to use artificial red food dye and unfortunately, natural food dyes just turn a muddy brown during baking.
Sharon says
The froating doesnt cover the cake…
Carolyn says
It does, actually… I don’t post anything that isn’t exactly as I made it! But I am sorry you had trouble.
Adri says
Can I use regular egg whites instead of powder protein? And Erythritol instead of Swerve? Thanks I need a sugar free cake for my b day!
Carolyn says
You cannot sub liquid egg whites for protein powder, no. Because you throw off the wet-to-dry ratios and will have a huge mess on your hands. The erythritol is fine for Swerve but it’s not as sweet.
Leesa Wilson-Townes says
Keto Devil Food Cake: Where have you been my whole life…taste amazing. I was sure to have all ingredients on hand so I wouldn’t have to substitute anything. My family just couldn’t believe the taste as it was not just beautiful to look at but scrumptious to eat as well. The frosting was perfect with no splitting at all. Directions must be followed to the recipe so cake can turn out perfectly…as mine did. Tip: Fold in whip cream into butter mixture, just as Carolyn stated. I love this cake and other recipes, I’ve made from {alldayidreamaboutfood.com.} Thank you Carolyn for allowing my keto journey to be successful with various food choice ideas, creating fresh healthy meals and desserts for me and my family.
Carolyn says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Kay says
Can you use pea protein instead of whey
Carolyn says
That should be fine.
IKR says
This is an excellent recipe-the best keto chocolate cake. The flavor and appearance will not disappoint. I prepared a cream cheese and whipped cream frosting and the cake looked tall and gorgeous-the contrast of white frosting to the dark chocolate looked bakery quality. The only variance from the original recipe is that I increased the sweetener a bit as we like sweet desserts. A must make.
Carolyn says
Thanks!
Melissa Mess8ck says
I can’t locate unflavored whey. Can only find Vanilla flavored. Would I be zblecyo use this and just omit the vanilla extract?
Carolyn says
Yes, that’s your best bet.
Amy says
When I need a chocolate hit, this is my go-to. Just perfect!
Mary says
I’m curious how this would do as a Bundt cake?
Pam says
Hello!
This was my first Keto chocolate cake and it did not disappoint! I used all the ingredients you suggested and it turned out nice and moist when served at room temperature. The only question I have is it possible to reduce the amount of cocoa powder so the chocolate isn’t as strong? I used Ghirardelli Dutch process premium baking and the brewed coffee.
Thanks so much!
Carolyn says
Sure, feel free to reduce it by a few tablespoons.
Chloe Harden says
So good! Tastes exactly like any “regular” devil’s food cake I’ve ever had and I haven’t even made the icing yet. Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes!
Rhoda says
This is a delicious cake and very simple to make
Anne says
Im pretty good at following recipes. The cake was fine but the icing split. Seems i’m not the only one.
Carolyn says
I’m sorry? I don’t see any other comments that the frosting split on this. Perhaps I am missing it but I’ve made this kind of frosting many many times without issue. Was your cream cheese soft enough?
Jessica says
My frosting split at the point of adding the liquid whipping cream to the butter/cream cheese/swerve mixture. It was a nice texture and at a warm room temperature, and had whipped up lovely. I added the (cold) whipping cream and it curdled up because the butter/cream cheese got cold too fast. I tossed it. There was no saving it. I remade it just skipping that step and then only very slowly folding in the already whipped cream instead. It worked fine that time.
Carolyn says
Never ever add cold cream to any kind of frosting. FYI… absolutely NO need to toss something like that. It can be rescued in multiple ways. Add to crumbled cake for cake balls, or warm it up slightly and place in a blender to work out the lumps. Keto ingredients are much too pricy to be thrown away and there is ALWAYS a way to rescue things.
Jessica says
Thank you for the rescue tips! I appreciate all that you do. As soon as I poured the cold cream in I knew it was a bonehead move! I just wasn’t thinking ahead.
Carolyn says
I will edit the recipe to point that out. Cold cream can really mess up frosting. On the occasion that a frosting doesn’t go well for me, I stick it in a tub, pop it into the freezer, and sometimes I add it to an ice cream base when making ice cream (once I thaw it of course). That’s another good used for it!
J Le says
Was trying to search online and looks like Walmart has an inexpensive unflavored whey protein isolate the brand is Nutricost. Anyone use this for this recipe or other recipes?
Carolyn says
I haven’t but it should be fine. Any whey protein or protein isolate generally works.
Betty says
This cake is delicious. My family loved it. Took some to work to share with coworkers and they loved it too. Thank you for a great recipe.
Barbara Lamey says
Do you have plans to make this recipe into a mini version or could you help me out on how to reduce the ingredients to make this for two?
Rhonda says
I made this recipe a couple months ago to test it out and I halved the recipe amounts. I also used my muffin top pans and made about 5 mini cakes (10 muffin tops with frosting in between). It was perfect! And very delicious! I gave a couple away to see how they liked it and they loved it! I am making the whole cake tonight to take to a dinner Wednesday and can’t wait!
Carolyn says
Fantastic!
Maggiesara says
It was my oldest friend’s birthday, and she requested something chocolate that was both sugar-free and gluten-free. And, for me, it needed to be low-carb as wel. Tall order? This recipe to the rescue! I made the cake as stipulated, although I subbed Sukrin Gold and BochaSweet for the Swerve (not a Swerve fan). I overbaked it a little, so to combat dryness I brushed it with a syrup I made from a little citrus juice and some homemade sugar-free orange liqueur. I then spread on homemade sugar-free marmalade (made with Allulose), and then a fudge frosting — very close to a ganache, made with BochaSweet. I pushed pieces of fresh orange (making this low-carb rather than keto) into the frosting, stacked everything up, and frosted the whole shebang with Carolyn’s vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. I piped rosettes of chocolate ganache on top, with some more of the fresh orange segments, which I had macerated overnight in the boozy syrup.
My friends, most of whom are not keto, not gluten-free, not low-carb…..DEVOURED it. And in truth, it was easily one of the best cakes I have ever made.
Jan says
Yum! Sounds absolutely fabulous. Any photos by any chance?
GWYN Alison GILKESON says
Can I substitute vanilla bone broth powder in place of eggwhite powder? Or can I substitute Ener G egg replacer for eggwhite powder?
Carolyn says
Definitely not bone broth powder, it makes things very gummy. Not sure about the egg replace and how that would work.
Anu says
Wow, this is crazy good, thank you again, you made this chocaholic very, very happy. The only thing I would change next time is to use a chocolate frosting/ganache and reduce the sweetness in the frosting, as it was a bit too sweet for my taste. Or alternatively, use the vanilla frosting in the middle and a dark chocolate ganache drip on the top and sides. Gosh, I’m drooling just thinking about it. I decorated with cacao nibs on the top of the cake, and it looked lovely, although the actual frosting seemed to split when I added the bit of cream to the butter-cream cheese mixture. I’m not sure what went wrong there, everything was at room temperature and I didn’t over-whip anything, as far as I can tell. It was more lumpy rather than smooth, but really the cake itself was so delicious, it didn’t really matter. I wouldn’t skip the coffee, it adds so much to the flavour profile, and it doesn’t taste like coffee at all.
Roberta says
Which of the following, if any, could work instead of sour cream: cream cheese diluited with some almond milk or a dash of heavy cream and made “acid”with a bit of lemon juice, or some greek yogurt diluited the way written above, or heavy cream with some leon juice or apple cider vinegar…? In my family sour cream is not appreciated, and aside this point the only brand sold in the stores I live near by is of poor quality and I would be afraid ithis could affect the result of this mouthwatering recipe… Thanks if you’ll help me to solve my problem and enjoy this recipe 🙂
Carolyn says
Greek yogurt, no real need to dilute it at all.