Before we dive into this delicious recipe, we need to ask ourselves a very important question. A very important question, indeed: What is the difference between a cake and a torte?
When I first created this rich and chocolatey keto dessert, I automatically called it a torte. For no other reason than it simply seems like a torte, rather than a cake. It has a dense richness, unlike a light and fluffy Keto Chocolate Cake. And it turns out I was onto something.
While there really is no clear definition of a torte, it’s usually a dense, rich cake made with ground nuts rather than flour, and with little to no leaveners like baking powder soda. They can have multiple layers with jam or buttercream or they can be a single layer.
This Keto Chocolate Torte definitely falls into the rich dense cake category. Yum!
Why you will love this recipe
If rich, sweet, chocolatey desserts are your jam, then this Chocolate Walnut Torte is for you!
It’s an easy one-layer keto chocolate cake that looks elegant enough for any occasion. And if you don’t like walnuts, you can use pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds. You can even use sunflower seeds if you need to be nut-free!
Prefer dairy-free? You can do that too! Simply replace the butter with any oil and swap the whipping cream for coconut cream.
And this amazing keto chocolate torte has only 3.8g net carbs per slice.
Ingredients you need
- Walnuts: I love walnuts for the base of this chocolate torte, but you can also do pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, or sunflower seeds.
- Sweetener: I recommend an erythritol based sweetener, but any sweetener you like can work. Do be forewarned that the baking time may change if you use allulose.
- Cocoa powder: I recommend a good Dutched cocoa for a deep chocolate flavor.
- Butter: This chocolate torte would also be good with coconut oil or walnut oil.
- Unsweetened chocolate: I use Ghirardelli or Guittard, as I find that Baker’s brand tends to seize badly.
- Whipping cream: Use heavy whipping cream for the ganache, or unsweetened coconut cream for a dairy-free version.
- Sugar-free dark chocolate: This is not the same as unsweetened chocolate so make sure you don’t mix them up. I like ChocZero or Lily’s for this ganache.
- Kitchen staples: Eggs, vanilla, baking powder, salt.
Step by step directions
1. Grind the nuts: In a food processor, process the walnuts until finely ground. Add the sweetener, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt and pulse a few times to combine.
2. Melt the chocolate: In a large saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate together until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the eggs, one at a time, then whisk in the vanilla extract. Add liquid and whisk until mixture smooths out.
3. Bake the torte: Stir in the walnut mixture until well combined. Spread the batter in prepared baking pan and bake 20 to 30 minutes, until the edges are set but the center still looks slightly wet.
4. Make the ganache: In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to just a simmer. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit to melt 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
5. Glaze the cake: Cool another few minutes to thicken, then pour the glaze over the cake, smoothing over the sides of the torte. Sprinkle the top with walnut pieces and chill until the chocolate is firm, about 20 minutes.
Expert tips
Make sure you line your cake pan with parchment so the torte is easy to flip out. But you still want to grease the both the pan and the parchment paper.
Don’t panic if your chocolate seizes and becomes gloppy when you add the eggs. This is very normal! It will smooth out as you add the warm liquid. Add only enough liquid until it’s smooth again.
Don’t overbake this torte. You want the edges to be well set, but the center should still look a bit wet. It will continue to cook a little after it’s out of the oven.
More delicious recipes with walnuts
Keto Chocolate Walnut Torte Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Torte:
- 5 ounces (141.75 g) raw walnuts
- 3/4 cup (136.5 g) Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup (21.5 g) cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1/4 cup (56.75 g) butter
- 2 tbsp walnut oil, (or 2 more tbsp butter)
- 3 ounces (85.05 g) unsweetened chocolate
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 2 to 4 tbsp (2 tbsp) leftover coffee or water, warm, but not hot
Glaze:
- 1/3 cup (79.33 g) heavy whipping cream
- 2 ounces (56.7 g) sugar-free dark chocolate, chopped
- 1/3 cup (39 g) walnut pieces
Instructions
Torte
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and grease a 9-inch round baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the paper.
- In a food processor, process the walnuts until finely ground. Add the sweetener, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt and pulse a few times to combine.
- In a large saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate together until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the eggs, one at a time, then whisk in the vanilla extract. Add liquid one tablespoon at a time and whisk until the mixture smooths out.
- Stir in the walnut mixture until well combined. Spread the batter in prepared baking pan and bake 20 to 30 minutes, until the edges are set but the center still looks slightly wet.
- Remove and let cool 20 in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Remove the parchment paper.
Ganache
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to just a simmer. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit to melt 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
- Cool another few minutes to thicken, then pour the glaze over the cake, smoothing over the sides of the torte.
- Sprinkle the top with walnut pieces and chill until the chocolate is firm, about 20 minutes.
Video
Notes
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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What’s the volume of the walnuts after they’ve been ground, please? I have some pre-ground walnuts I’d like to use. Alternatively, what’s the weight of the walnuts, please?
Thank you!
Sorry, no idea. I didn’t measure it that way. I’d probably do about 2/3 or 3/4 of the whole nuts.
Hi!
I live in Australia and have just come across your choc walnut Torte and looking forward to making it. Im on a Keto diet because of my bad health and really miss light/or dark fruit cakes,and Im wondering if you had a recipe for a cake and replaced all the mixed fruit with toasted various nuts.I would love such a recipe.Can you help please? Kind regards,
I don’t have such a thing but it’s on my list to make for next year!
My friend made this for me for my birthday! It was amazing!!!
Waiting for mine to cool but it looks and smells incredible! Been meaning to try this for a while and wish I hadn’t waited so long ? thank you so much for all your amazing recipes! I’m in the UK and I now have two sets of cup measures just for your recipes which always work!
Haha, smart. I bet US cups are pretty easy to come by and help with accuracy!
I would recommend using a spring form pan. That worked really well for me.
From my experience, next time I make this I will reverse the order here: “In a large saucepan set over low heat, melt butter and chocolate together until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in eggs and vanilla extract.” I’ll slowly drizzle the chocolate into the beaten eggs.
When I started whisking in the eggs, the chocolate mixture started separating and the eggs started curdling. I was really lucky to be able to rescue it.
That would only happen if your heat was too high and your chocolate mixture too warm. You may want to give your chocolate and butter a little time to cool before adding the eggs. If you have an electric stove-top, the heat is harder to control than gas and that may be why your chocolate was too warm.
Hi, i was wondering if I could dubble this and bake it in a spring form pan?
What do you think?
It will take longer to cook, I am not sure how long.
Do you mean 3gm Carb instead of 300
I don’t mean either. YOu’ are reading the wrong thing. You are looking at the Recommended Daily Values.
Do you mean 3gm Carb instead of 300. Yes. See that sorry
one of my all time favorite cake recipes. Thanks for sharing. Simon
Made this for a family get together, for my non low carb relies. They loved it. So did I!!
Used xylitol. Very rich and decadent.
This is an incredible dessert, so decadent and chocolate-y. Although your pictures are excellent, I’m not sure they quite do justice to just how fantastic this torte is. It’s like eating a piece of fudge-y heaven. And yes, a small piece is very satisfying.
Wow, that’s high praise, thanks!
Thank you for this recipe Carolyn! I love to bake and have made many desserts throughout the years. This one is hands down one of the best desserts ever, and that includes the NON Low Carb variety! A new family favorite. I made this for Christmas day, and then once again just because. I will be making this for the 3rd tomorrow since my dad has requested this dessert for his 87th birthday celebration. Your Blog is awesome and it is one of the first ones I look at when searching out new and delicious recipes! Thanks again!
So glad you like it, Lisa!
Best chocolate keto cake I ever had! I love the moisture and rich chocolate flavour. It was even better after one night in fridge. Thank you for the recepie.
Well, I love hearing that!
I am in love with this cake! I have now made two. So good.
That’s awesome!
I am so glad that I found your site and this recipe, this was/is excellent!
Will this torte freeze well?
It certainly should!
Thank you, Carolyn! My good friend/coworker brought this for me for my birthday, then went home sick, and I want to save her some for next week. I couldn’t wait to try it, though. It is truly amazing!!
I just made this cake to take to a birthday celebration and after cooling in pan 15 minutes, I turned it out to further cool and it FELL APART. The middle is not cooked. I will piece together the outer part and call it earthquake cake! You know, after the big one that is due in the NW!
I cooked mine about 10 minutes longer and you do need to give it adequate time to cool properly before turning it out of the pan. It’s not the kind of cake that can be rushed as the texture improves`as it stands overnight. My husband has been begging me to make this one again 🙂
My kids have begged me to make it again, so I did. So yummy, lol.
Made this today: the batter was a little too dark chocolate for me so I added a half cup of cream to the batter and baked it 7 minutes longer. The cake, once cooled and chilled has such a lovely creamy texture, although a little crumbly. I used Lily’s chocolate chips for ganache over the cake and walnut halves on top. Very tasty and decadent. Thank you for the recipe. ❤️???