Fudgy low carb flourless chocolate cakes with a sugar-free chocolate peanut butter ganache. A grain-free dessert that will keep you coming back for more!
Yesterday was my husband’s 39th birthday. The poor, poor man. Not only does his birthday come just after Christmas, but he is the last of a multitude of family members to have a December birthday. By the time his natal day rolls around, we are utterly exhausted. We are partied out, we are gifted out, and we are fooded out. It is difficult to make his day special, because even he doesn’t really feel like doing much. In fact, for the last two years, we have spent his birthday traipsing around IKEA, which actually isn’t a bad way to spend your day (especially if you go for breakfast!). Next year will be his 40th birthday and I am determined to find a way to do something special for him. He may or may not read this post, so that’s all I am going to say about that.
So I had it in my head to make something to bake his day a bit more special. I was actually thinking of ice cream cake, for the simplicity of buying a carton of ice-cream, softening it and then smooshing it into a cake pan. Yes, I suppose I could have made the ice cream, but that would be too much work just after Christmas.
Then these pretty little things caught my eye on Stumble Upon and turned my head away from ice cream cake entirely. Dense, rich, miniature flourless chocolate cakes. And since they were already flourless, I was pretty sure I could make them low carb as well, without any loss of flavour. The ones from La Mia Vita Dolce were made with almond flour, which I have on hand at all times now. But something about the way she said that the almond flour imparted a slightly nutty taste got me thinking about the bag of peanut flour I recently picked up at Trader Joe’s. Why not play up the nuttiness of the flour itself? There’s nothing better than peanut butter and chocolate, so why not make it with peanut flour, and then enhance the flavour with a chocolate peanut butter ganache?
The Results: The substitution of peanut flour for almond flour wasn’t quite as simple as I thought it would be. The peanut flour is ground really, really fine and has a drier texture than I expected. I found I had to add some almond milk to get anything resembling a workable batter. But once I did, I could hardly keep myself from eating all of it raw, it was so tasty! I could only hope that the cakes would be as good as the batter was.
And, thank goodness, they were. These are incredibly rich, dense morsels of an almost fudge-like consistency. They are small, to be sure, but you really don’t want them to be any bigger. My older kids both really liked them but neither finished more than half of what was on their plate. The baby went wild over it, and had a fit when I cut her off. I myself was extremely full after eating mine. In fact, I got 7 little cakes out of the batter, but next time I would divvy it up even further, making 8 or 9 little cakes instead.
Flourless Chocolate Cakes with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache – adapted from La Mia Vita Dolce
Cakes:
6 tablespoon butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
¼ cup granulated erythritol
¼ teaspoon to ½ teaspoon liquid stevia extract (depending on how sweet you like it)
½ cup peanut flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
3 eggs
½ cup almond milk (or whole milk or cream)
Glaze:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon peanut butter
2 oz good quality dark chocolate (such as Lindt 85%) OR Lily’s Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate
For the cakes, preheat the oven to 280F and grease 8 (or more) cups of a regular muffin pan.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate together over low heat and stir until smooth. Add erythritol and liquid splenda and stir until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together peanut flour and cocao, breaking up clumps with the back of a fork. Add the chocolate mixture and stir to combine (will be very thick). Stir in eggs, one at a time, and then almond milk until mixture thins out somewhat and becomes a smooth batter.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. Because the batter is quite thick, you will need to press the batter into the cups using the back of a spoon. Smooth the tops.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cakes are just set and the middle is firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the tins, then flip out onto plates for serving.
For the glaze, melt butter, peanut butter and chocolate together in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth. Spoon over cakes and sprinkle with chopped peanuts for garnish. You can serve immediately, with the glaze still warm or let it set.
Makes 8 (or more). Each serving has 12.95 g of carbs and 5.87 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 7.08 g.
Food energy: 252kcal
Polyunsaturated fatty acids: 2.92g
Total fat: 20.43g
Calories from fat: 183
Cholesterol: 73mg
Carbohydrate: 12.95g
Total dietary fiber: 5.87g
Protein: 11.27g
Sodium: 127mg
Tanya says
Would this be an S our am an E for THM?
Carolyn says
Definitely an S.
Donna Hardin says
If I used Swerve, would I need the Stevia drops? I have the drops on hand…just curious.
Tx. Can’t wait to try.
Carolyn says
Yes, for this recipe, I think you would. Or you could use another few tbsp of Swerve.
Jennifer M says
Protein Plus private labeled the Trader Joe's peanut flour. They don't sell directly from their website, but a link on there sends you to southerngracefarms.com.
Catherine H. says
These are one of the first of your recipes I ever made (about a year ago), and I loved them. I saved some of them in the freezer, and even though I had initially over-baked them by about five minutes, when I took them out of the freezer and re-warmed them, they were still delicious and moist! I am definitely coming back to these someday–but you keep putting that day off with your ever-growing archives and new posts that I can't resist trying first!
Mighty Morgan says
Today was the day I planned on going out and picking up ingredients for some of your recipes….but life stepped in with two sick kids and rainy/snowy mix of a day…so now I am just torturing myself reading through your recipe index….lol. Can't wait to try some of these out!!!!
Sara w says
Love your website! It's definitely a fav! I made these today with 86% chocolate, put a tbs of pb in w/ the butter & chocolate per your suggestion. Used espresso instead of milk, hazelnut splenda, and 1/2tsp of cinnamon. I made them as mini cupcakes for portion control. They are absolute heaven! I have u to thank for never needing the "carb version" again!!
kaurandt says
I made these today and frosted them with a vanilla version of your chocolate buttercream frosting (so my husband wouldn't freak out over the dark chocolaty-ness!) I made 12 to stretch out the carbs. SO rich and tasty! I have also made the p.b. ganache from this recipe and used it to drizzle over an almond flour cake. Yours is fast becoming my favorite low carb site to check in on! Thanks for terrific recipes!!
Stella says
I will not lie! I did not read this post (smile). I just stared and drooled at the photos. Yummerz…:)
Becky says
Beautiful little cakes. Love the chocolate and peanut butter combo.
An idea for Hubby's 40th.
Have a surprise party for him at Halloween, or in November sometime. He would be soo surprised. We had a 40th b-day party for a friend whose B-day was the end of Nov at Halloween. She was so surprised!
The Mom Chef says
That has to be one of the most beautiful chocolate things I've seen and I don't even like the stuff. The moistness pops out right through the screen. I'm going to go low carb just to make your sweets!
Cake Duchess says
Gorgeous! This cake looks amazing, Carolyn. I am dying to take a bite right now!!
Sandra says
Well…let me tell you something, I just made your little masterpiece ..it does not look exactly like yours-it's look a like:)) but it was so, so, so good!
Joy says
Heaven. That is all I could say.
A Thought For Food says
This is crack in dessert form! Looks so decadent!
Ruby says
Ha – I spent New Year's Day at Ikea. It was surprisingly not crowded and therefore bearable.
This cake looks amazing and the photos are divine! Happy Birthday to your hubby and Happy New Year to all of you!
Magic of Spice says
This is my idea of a Birthday treat, I am sure your husband loved this..
katie carlin says
Happy Birthday! I want to make this it looks delicious!!!
http://dailycrushes.blogspot.com
Foodiva says
This is decadence personified, without all the bad stuff! Carolyn, how on earth do you DO it??