Boston Cream Pie gets a healthy makeover…as a poke cake! This low carb, gluten-free dessert is easy to make and truly delicious.
Today marks my 43rd birthday. That is right, I have been on this earth for 43 long years. And what have I got to show for it? Nothing much, really. Three beautiful children, a loving husband, a wonderful extended family whom I don’t see nearly enough of, a nice house in a great neighbourhood, good friends in many corners of the world, a fantastic job that I love and that I devote far too many hours to, delicious and nutritious food on the table, access to good schools and clean water, an active and inquisitive mind, and a body that is in better shape than it was 20 years ago. Yup, not much to show for the past 43 years. I’d better get working on that.
But I DO have low carb Boston Cream Poke Cake to show for it. That’s gotta count for something, right? I actually wish I was having this for my birthday. There’s a whole lot to love about this cake, with its tender almond flour crumb, the sweet vanilla pastry cream oozing into the holes, and the rich chocolate ganache on top. Alas, I am not having it to celebrate my natal day. I had to make it several weeks ago to get ready for posting today. But maybe YOU can enjoy it and toast my birthday in celebration? Thanks, friends, I appreciate that.
As it happens, I am doing a whole lot of nothing for my birthday. I told my husband that I really didn’t want any presents this year. And I meant really mean it, I am not secretly hoping for some sort of shiny, glittery doo-dad or other. I simply asked him if he would find a way to spend the day with me so we could go out and explore on our own, no children in tow. And when we come home, we will have a big feast of smoked brisket from my favourite Portland BBQ food cart. And if we are craving something sweet, I will whip up an easy treat like my Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookies or my Easy Blender Mousse. Or my new (and not yet posted) Single Serve Brownies (coming soon, I promise).
So those are my birthday plans. 43 ain’t so bad.
Please see my Low Carb Boston Cream Poke Cake on Swerve Sweetener.
Serves 16.
Food energy: 336kcal
Total fat: 29.85g
Calories from fat: 268
Cholesterol: 124mg
Carbohydrate: 7.18g
Total dietary fiber: 3.02g
Protein: 8.91g
Sue says
The link goes to some other website. I think it needs to go to swervesweet.com not swervesweetener.com
Rita Riley says
Thank you for the recipes. I’m a diabetic and it’s been really hard to give up baking. I have tried several of your recipes and you are amazing.
Wilma Collins says
Hi Carolyn, I purchased all of your books and noticed that this recipe (BOSTON CREAM POKE CAKE) is different on swerve than what is in the book. Which is the latest or the best one to follow? I’m sure both are great.
Carolyn says
The one in the book is made with coconut flour. That’s the main difference.
Cheryl says
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Don’t see a way to leave stars but this is fabulous! Each time I make a recipe of yours it is declared the new family favorite! Thank you for all the countless hours you put in to creating awesome recipes that always turn out better than expected. ♥️
Amanda V says
My mom has been low carb/keto for a while now and I always feel bad when the desserts come out… anyways I was going through them because I wanted to give her a special birthday cake that she would enjoy. This cake is a winner! I struggled to put all the custard on the cake because I had a little taste and it was soooo good. I could’ve ate it all with a spoon!!
If you haven’t tried this recipe, I really recommend you doing so. I placed it 2/3 completed in the fridge overnight and added the chocolate topping in the morning.
Christine says
There were no stars to leave, but if there were it would definitely be 5+!! After the success of the Coconut Poke Cake, I had to try this. I may increase the amount of custard next time (because it is sinfully good!!). This cake was excellent. I usually take samples to my sis and BIL, and they loved this as well (they aren’t Keto but after all year taking them treats, they are realizing that this is a sustainable lifestyle and getting more and more onboard). I want more poke cakes 🙂 LOL!!! Thanks again for all the work you put in so that we can maintain this lifestyle. You are awesome!
jackie m says
This link no longer works to the swerve site. Is this recipe available somewhere else? Thanks jackie
spaceranger says
Yummmmm. I really like this cake. The pastry cream part tastes *amazing* but mine ended up a little grainy. I think next time I’ll use like half of the xanthan gum (or maybe even less than that), and I might heat it less. I have no idea if that will help. When I made the cake part I added almost two teaspoons of coconut flour to the recipe because I usually like low-carb cake better when I do that (if there’s not already coconut flour in the recipe). By the time I got to the chocolate topping it was really late at night and I was tired, so I melted 4 ounces of lily’s chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of butter in a ceramic cup in the microwave, stirred, and spread it on top–I kept my expectations low for the chocolate topping speed-hack but I think it turned out pretty good.
Michelle says
This must be the best low carb dessert I’ve tried! My husband and I both loved it! The textures and tastes are great. We’ll certainly be having this again and again! Thanks!
Megan McKinney says
I just made all the separate parts of this and put them together in a keto vanilla ice cream base. I’ve already snuck SEVERAL tastes of it and it’s incredible. The pastry cream adds a lot of richness to the base and the cake pieces are heavenly. Bless you for making my crazy ice cream flavors possible. <3 <3 <3
The M'Academia Nut says
Happy super belated birthday!! Boston Cream Pie has ALWAYS been my hugest weakness, like ever. I followed your recipe, and have a question or two:
My custard turned out absolutely delicious and thickened just fine, but a little grainy. Was this it possibility starting to curdle? And is fixing that just a matter of, well…heating it lower and for longer when I mix it all together? Or something else?
And the second, is whenever I try to make a ganache using unsweetened chocolate and Swerve (as opposed to already sweetened SF chocolate & cream), it never turns out quite right. It’s always a little grainy and crystallized on top, or foamy and too light colored. I followed your recipe and ingredients to the letter (HWC, confectioner’s Swerve, Baker’s unsweetened, etc) and while they all taste great they’re not nearly as pretty and smooth as yours! Any advice?
Carolyn says
I don’t think it’s the curdling that is at issue here, but swerve does tend to recrystallize a bit when heated and then cooled. Mine didn’t do that but if you get it a little too hot, that may be the problem. I just made a pie with a creamy custardy mixture and attempted a new way of doing it (adding powdered Swerve AFTER it was heated and starting to cool). I think that may solve this quirk of working with erythritol sweeteners.
AS for the ganache, please, PLEASE don’t use Baker’s Chocolate. When I say good quality unsweetened chocolate, I definitely don’t mean Baker’s. It’s crap, to be frank, and I only ever use it in a pinch. I mostly use Ghirardelli. I am thinking of changing up the ganache recipe wherein the sweetener gets added at the end too, so that might help with the recrystallization.
The M'Academia Nut says
I suspected the Baker’s may have had something to do with it, quality. HMMM.
And I’ll try doing some ingredient adding in different order, too! And just to clarify – everything tasted FANTASTIC (thanks to your recipe), just a few little kinks to try and work out.
Thanks so much!!