Delicious keto chocolate layer cake with sugar-free cookies and cream frosting. The ultimate low carb birthday cake!
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If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you will have seen this awesome keto birthday cake that I made for my daughter as she turned 10 this past week. I was so delighted with how it turned out, I couldn’t wait to share the photos.
Well, I should have known better, of course. It totally BLEW UP on both platforms and everyone was asking for the recipe. So I set aside all of my other priorities and scrambled to get the recipe up as fast as possible. That’s how much I love you.
Who doesn’t love a good keto layer cake? I have so many recipes you may want to check out. There’s my famous Keto Italian Cream Cake, and my well loved Keto Caramel Cake. You might also like elegant and sophisticated Keto Victoria Sponge Cake.
Keto Cookies and Cream Frosting
Maggie is my youngest and she recently told me that she wanted a cookies and cream cake for her birthday. That sent my little keto baking obsessed brain into overdrive.
I knew the cookie part wouldn’t be too hard. I was not about to use real oreos but the chocolate wafers from my beloved Keto Thin Mints recipe was perfect for a chocolate cookie crumble. I chose to use dark cocoa powder, also known as Dutch process, to really mimic the flavor of Oreo cookies.
I also decided to go with an easy stabilized whipped cream frosting (see below). Standard buttercream can be so overly sweet, and I didn’t want to overpower the flavor of cookies and cream.
Then I simply crushed my keto chocolate wafer mixture finely and folded it into my whipped cream frosting. Voila, a sugar-free Cookies and Cream frosting.
How to make Keto Whipped Cream Frosting
Keto whipped cream is very easy to make and is a wonderful dessert on its own. But it tends to soften as it sits and can even begin to liquify over the course of a day or two.
If you want a keto whipped cream frosting that really stands up for a cake like this one, you need to stabilize it. It sounds like a big deal, but I assure you it’s really quite simple.
It’s a matter of adding some gelatin to the cream as you are whipping it. The gelatin first needs to be mixed with water, then heated and stirred until it dissolves. But you don’t want to add it to the keto whipped cream while it’s still hot, so be sure to let it cool to lukewarm.
Then you simply drizzle it in as you whip the cream and sweetener. And you will have a sturdier frosting that will last for up to 5 days.
Assembling a Cookies and Cream Cake
Although the recipe seems a bit complicated, this really isn’t a hard cake to put together. First I made two layers of keto chocolate cake with my Best Keto Chocolate Cupcakes recipe.
I also made a half batch of my chocolate wafers (a full batch would have been too much). I cut out a few small circles as decoration for the top, leaving the rest as one big piece during baking. This saved me some time and effort. Once baked, I crushed it all into crumbs in a plastic bag, rolling over it with a rolling pin.
I then made the stabilized whipped cream, setting aside about half a cup for piping little rosettes on top of the cake. I folded the cookie crumbs into the keto whipped cream frosting as evenly as possible.
After that, it was simple to layer the cake and the frosting, and cover the sides. I decorated the top with the reserved whipped cream and the little chocolate wafers. I don’t consider myself much of a cake decorator but I was immensely pleased with the outcome!
Want to make a nut-free version of this cake? Use sunflower seed flour in place of the almond flour in the chocolate wafers.
Confession Time!
The savvy among you may notice that my cookies and cream cake doesn’t look like a full size cake. And you would be right. I scaled my cake down by one third, and made a 6-inch round. I thought it would be 8 servings but it was so rich, it made more like 10 servings.
Because not everyone owns all the baking gear that I do, and because you may be making this for larger family gatherings, I chose to give you the full 8-inch cake recipe.
Keto Cookies and Cream Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 1 recipe Keto Chocolate Cupcakes (just the batter)
Chocolate Cookie Crumble:
- 14 tablespoon almond flour (¾ cup plus 2 additional tablespoons)
- 2 ½ tablespoon cocoa powder
- 2 ½ tablespoon powdered Swerve Sweetener
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch salt
- ½ large egg (about 1 ½ tablespoon of whisked egg)
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Cookies and Cream Frosting:
- 1 ½ tablespoon water
- 1 ½ teaspoon grassfed gelatin
- 1 ¾ cups heavy whipping cream
- 6 tablespoon powdered Swerve (add more if you like yours sweeter)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 recipe chocolate cookie crumble
Instructions
Chocolate Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease 2 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with circles of parchment and grease the parchment as well.
- Prepare the cake batter according to the directions and divide evenly between the two prepared pans. Spread to the edges. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops of the cakes are firm to the touch.
- Remove and let cool completely in the pans before flipping out onto a wire rack to cool competely. Remove the parchment paper if it has stuck to the bottoms of the cakes.
Chocolate Cookie Crumble:
- Preheat the oven to 300F and prepare a work surface with a silicone mat or large piece of parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cocao powder, sweetener, baking powder and salt. Add in egg, butter and vanilla extract and stir well until dough comes together.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared work surface and top with a large piece of parchment paper. Roll out as evenly as possible to about ¼ inch thick and remove the top piece of parchment.
- Use a small round cookie cutter (1 to 1.5 inches) to cut out 14 small wafers. Use a sharp knife or offset spatula to wiggle underneath and place the wafers around the silicone mat or bottom parchment.
- Transfer the entire silicone mat or parchment with the wafers and the rest of the dough to a large cookie sheet. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until the dough is firm to the touch. Remove and let cool completely on the pan. It will continue to firm up as they cool.
- Set the 14 wafers aside (for the top of the cake). Crumble the remaining baked dough with your fingers into small pieces. You don't want any big pieces, it should be very well crumbled. (You can also place chunks of it in a plastic bag and roll over it with a rollign pin).
Cookies and Cream Frosting:
- Pour the water into a small microwave-safe bowl and sprinkle with the gelatin. Let sit for a few minutes to bloom.
- Warm gently in the microwave for about 20 seconds, then whisk to dissolve the gelatin. Let cool to lukewarm.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream, sweetener, and vanilla with an electric mixer until it begins to hold medium peaks.
- Continue beating while slowly drizzling the gelatin mixture into the bowl. Beat until it holds stiff peaks. Set aside about ½ cup of this mixture for the top of the cake.
- Fold the chocolate cookie crumble into the remaining whipped cream mixture.
To assemble:
- Place one layer of chocolate cake on a serving platter. Top with ⅓ of the frosting, spreading as evenly as possible to the edges.
- Place the 2nd layer of cake on top and top with another ⅓ of the frosting, spreading to the edges. Spread the remaining frosting all over the sides of the cake.
- Use the remaining whipped cream to pipe decorative florets on top of the cake and top each of these with the mini chocolate wafers.
Barb says
can i use monkfruit instead of swerve?
Carolyn says
If you mean “monk fruit sweetener” which is mostly erythritol, then yes. Please look at the back of your bag and identify the ingredients.
Barb Demetralis says
O the back of the bag it states Erythritol and Monk fruit extract. Also.. if i make the cake a couple days in advanced should i keep it in the refridgerator?
Carolyn says
Because this has a whipped cream frosting, I wouldn’t make it more than a day in advance (tends to dry out as it sits). Do you have a powdered version of your sweetener for the frosting? And yes, definitely fridge!
Sarah Davis says
I’m having trouble with the stabilized whipped cream frosting. I thought everything was the right temperature, but I ended up with strands of gelatin throughout the batch. Do you know what I did wrong to get that result? Thank you for the help. 🙂
Carolyn says
What kind of gelatin were you using?
Sarah Davis says
Grass fed unflavored beef gelatin. It is Amandean brand. The ingredients say “bovine hide gelatin”
Carolyn says
I just wonder if it’s the issue and it didn’t dissolve properly. Mine never makes strings of gelatin. I use the Great Lakes Brand.
I wouldn’t have thought any brand would do that but… can’t say for sure!
Nadia says
How essential to the frosting’s structure and stability is it that the gelatin be grass fed? I ask because I have some standard gelatin at home, and I would have to make special trips for the grass fed gelatin. Certainly, I prefer products from companies that treat animals well. However, sometimes special trips are a difficulty with recommendations to socially distance.
Carolyn says
It doesn’t need to be grass-fed but the Knox kind in envelopes is a bit stronger, with more gelling power. It’s very little anyway for this recipe so follow as is…
Pam says
Hi Carolyn,
My question is not about this cake, in particular, but since it’s a cake question, I’ll ask it here. Yesterday I made your coconut layer cake from the cookbook. While it tastes delicious, it did not turn out with the light and fluffy texture that yours appears to have in the photos. Actually all of your cake photos look perfect. Mine turned out dense and moist. Could it be because I refrigerated it for a few hours before we ate it? (I did that due to the whipped cream icing, which was wonderful, btw!) Most of the time, my attempts at Keto cakes, brownies, etc. turn out similarly – very good taste, but dense, moist texture. I know it must be something I do wrong, or maybe a wrong brand of ingredient. I would like to figure it out, so that I can get results like your pictures. (I use Costco Kirkland brand blanched almond flour, Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour, normally swerve for sweetener.) Thanks for any help you can give! Love your cookbook!
Carolyn says
Are you using the protein powder? If things are too dense, it’s often because people skip it. Also try weighing your flours, as you may be packing them in too much to the cup.
Marissa Howard says
In the text at the top, you like a dark cocoa powder, but in the recipe, a different one is listed. Which should be used? We had cookies and cream cake (not keto) for one of the layers for our wedding 6 years ago. Looking to make this for our anniversary soon!
Carolyn says
Hi Marissa, unfortunately the way my recipe card works, it only allows me to link to one cocoa powder. Both of those work, although the Valrhona is darker. They are both Dutch process, though.
Marissa Howard says
Thank you!
Heather says
Girl, I don’t know how you bloggers do it! The comments on all your posts are 99.9 % ridiculous! Asking you for subs and blah blah blah! Most of the time you guys answer with grace, but I can tell this post you cracked ????????????!
On another note, you are one of my favorite Keto bloggers! Your recipes are spot on amazing! Thanks for working so hard to keep us all well fed with your delicious creations!!
Angela says
Going to make this for hubby’s birthday this weekend was going to make it into cupcakes and freeze so he can take them out and enjoy them… Will they freeze okay with the cookie and cream frosting? I really hope they will
Carolyn says
I honestly can’t say, I didn’t try freezing them. I am not sure the whipped cream frosting will fare that well.
MJ says
Can I sub Xanthan gum for gelatin in the cookies and cream frosting? Is there anything else I can use instead of gelatin?
Carolyn says
Xanthan gum would be dangerous because it could over-thicken it very quickly and make it clumpy. You could try beating a little bit of cream cheese (softened), thinning it out with a bit of cream, and then folding it into the whipped cream to help give it more structure.
Renee says
I have loved all the recipes from this site and had great success with them but this one didn’t turn out the greatest for me. That being said, I probably did something wrong. My cake turned out so dense that it made your mouth tired to eat it. I wonder if whipping the egg whites first would help? Could elevation have anything to do with it? My favorite part was the frosting. Also, my cookies baked in 12 minutes flat (my range is fairly new).
Carolyn says
Definitely something went wrong for you. This is one of my standard chocolate cake recipes and is typically loved by all so I am confident it’s not the recipe that’s at issue here. But yes, elevation can be a serious issue and you need to make some of the same changes you make for regular recipes.
Audrey Banada says
Can I use almond flour instead of coconut flour, if so how much? Also, can you list some options for dairy-free options, my kids have dairy allergies and I would love them to enjoy this when I do make it.
Audrey says
Sorry forgot to say just for the whipping cream and cream cheese? Can I use the vegan cream cheese and coconut milk whipping cream?
Carolyn says
I’m sorry, I really don’t think this is the recipe for you. You are basically asking me to overhaul the whole thing. I have plenty of dairy free recipes and desserts for you to check out. Try my dairy-free hostess cupcakes.
Alana says
how can we prepare the gelatin without a microwave?
Liz says
Hi Carolyn, I only have 2 9-inch cake pans. Do you think it will still work if I just reduce the baking time?
Carolyn says
No, that wouldn’t be a good idea, you’d have very thin, fragile layers. The area of a 6-inch circle is 28 sq inches, so 2 times that is 56. But a single 9 inch round pan has 63 square inches. So you are much better off making a single layer 9-inch cake with this recipe.
Dina says
It seems that the cake batter would not be enough for 2 8 inch cake pans. Should I double the recipe?
Carolyn says
It is enough. Sounds to me like you’ve never worked with coconut flour before. Try it as written please.
Suzy says
This is so amazing! Love the flavor and love how it’s homemade!
Lyne says
I just can’t wait for your baking book! I already reserved it with amazone.ca since I’m from Quebec!
Carolyn says
Thanks so much!
Kathy Whitcraft says
Gorgeous cake! I made the cookie dough cupcakes which everyone loved. But the batter was so thin that I had to add 1/4 cup more of coconut flour to the 2/3 asked for to get a “scoopable” and not “pourable” consistency. Did I miss something or was it just me?
PS. I pre-ordered the baking cookbook. Can’t wait!!
Many thanks,
Kathy
Carolyn says
Hi Kathy – what brand of coconut flour are you using? This is likely the issue since they can vary significantly in absorbency. I make this particular chocolate cake a lot and always with Bob’s Red Mill.
Kathy Whitcraft says
Thanks for responding! I use Bob’s Red Mill. Next time I will be very careful with measuring. I may have used more cocoa powder too which can create dryness. This Cookies and Cream Cake is going to a Halloween Party with chocolate bat wings and whipped cream ghosts! Happy Halloween!!
Carolyn says
Could have been the cocoa powder too, yes. 🙂
Toni says
This was so good!! My kids really enjoyed this!
Valerie says
This cake looks and sounds delicious! I love the flavor of cookies and cream. and I totally love whipped cream, it’s so much better than buttercream.
Capreuna says
Wow so great.
Betsy says
Delicious! Great to have a keto recipe for chocolate cake!
Kristen says
Just wondering if the amount of sweetener for the Chocolate Cookie Crumble is correct. Seems like very little sweetener (only 2.5 tsp). Is it supposed that be tbsp instead? Thanks!
Carolyn says
NO! Sorry, it’s supposed to be 2.5 TBSP. Thanks for catching that.
Trang says
I love how you can’ tell or taste that this isn’t keto!
Robyn says
Wow! This cake recipe is definitely going to be a keeper. Thank you, Carolyn, for creating such deliciousness! ????