Rich and delicious low carb chocolate layer cake with whipped chocolate ganache. A heavenly keto dessert in miniature for you and a friend or two. Or just you. Sugar-free!
If you’re craving even more, check out my full size Keto Chocolate Cake.
This is a little cake with a big name and it’s got big flavour to go along with it. I am really enamoured of these little cakes I’ve started making. This is the second in a series and there is a third one, a lemon cake, already made and waiting to be blogged. And I have many many ideas for making more. So many ideas that I think I could probably spend the rest of my life making mini cakes. Can you see it now? I could start a whole new blog: All Day I Dream About Mini Cakes.
I rather love the idea of remaking all of my best cake recipes into mini cakes for two. Which isn’t as simple as you’d think, just cutting the proportions down and throwing it altogether. It actually takes more work than that, since the proportions of larger recipes don’t always work out nicely into even amounts for a small cake. Eggs are the trickiest part, since there are usually only 3 or 4 eggs in a large cake. While I could always tell you to go and purchase pasteurized egg product and measure it out in tablespoons, where’s the fun in that? Besides which, many of these carton egg “products” aren’t real whole eggs and I typically avoid them. Instead, I use a whole egg and try to work around that to get a proper cake consistency.
This recipe is based on one of my favourite ever low carb chocolate cakes, my Chocolate Layer Cake with Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting. It’s a ridiculously chocolatey affair that I created for Swerve Sweetener a few years ago. I still look back on that cake fondly and have wanted to make it again. And now I have, except this time in miniature. Oh it’s so cute! And so delicious.
I’ve decided not to call this one a “cake for two”. I really found it rich and filling enough to amount to 3 or 4 servings. A quarter of the cake with a scoop of low carb vanilla ice cream was just perfect for dessert. While I am presenting the nutritional info for two servings, I know you can do the math if you cut it into more!
Chocolate Cake with Whipped Ganache Frosting for Two
Ingredients
Cake:
- 4 tbsp sunflower seed flour, or almond flour
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tbsp unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache Frosting:
- 1 ounce good quality unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 1 1/2 tbsp confectioner's Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
- 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 325F. Grease two 4-inch ramekins or mini cake pans well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sunflower seed flour, cocoa powder, sweetener, protein powder, baking powder, and salt.
- Whisk in butter, egg, and vanilla extract. If your batter is too thick to spread, whisk in a tablespoon of water.
- Divide between prepared baking dishes and bake 12 to 15 minute or until set. Let cool in pans. If your cake layers have humps, slice the tops off to make them flat and even.
Frosting:
- Place chopped chocolate and powdered sweetener in a medium bowl.
- In a small saucepan, heat cream until just bubbling. Pour cream over chocolate and let sit a few minutes until melted. Add vanilla and whisk briskly to combine.
- Using electric beaters, beat several minutes on medium high until lighter coloured and fluffy.
- Place first cake layer on plate or serving dish and spread with half of the frosting. Top with second layer and spread top with remaining frosting.
Notes
Calories from fat: 321
Cholesterol: 72mg
Carbohydrate: 10.22g
Total dietary fiber: 4.85g
Protein: 10.71g
Erythritol: 26.25g
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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I’m wondering how the recipe can be tweaked for cupcakes? Any recommendations?
I did not make mine that way. You will need to experiment.
Oh yah, I made the whole cake version of course for birthdays. Thanks so much for your recipes.
This is probably the best cake I’ve ever had. I have made it for three birthdays and it’s a hit and makes me look good but I tell them it’s your recipe. Thank you
That’s lovely to hear!
My daughter made this for me for my birthday yesterday. It was delicious! and you are right – I could only eat about 1/4th of it! But it only made one 4-inch layer that was about 1-1.5 inches thick.. It was a bit dense – what could we do differently so it actually creates 2 layers? She used almond flour but everything else was per your instructions.TIA
She should have split it up, as it allows the layers to rise more. Also… did she use the protein powder?
I was wondering if coconut milk could be substituted for the heavy whipping cream for the ganache? Trying to stay away from dairy. Really looking forward to trying this and love the amazon links to products. Super helpful. Thanks!
I have made ganache with coconut milk but I have not tried whipping it. You should experiment! No matter what, you will end up with something delicious. You may need a bit more chocolate and sweetener to thicken the ganache.
I use often coconut cream for ganache, prefer it to normal dairy one and it always works. Use it the same way, as whipping cream but avoid the water. If too watery anyway add pinch of arrow root or other thickener. I know that arrow root is not keto but literally a pinch is used and it’s natural. Xantham gum is keto but made in factory. I guess natural is always better to artificial ones (better for digestion as well)
I could never get the frosting to become fluffy and wondered if it was the chocolate I used (Lindt 95%)? I ended up having to add over 1/2 cup of powdered Swerve! I also ended up adding 4 oz of softened cream cheese just to give it some substance. It was way to thin. I’m not giving up even if both cakes fell. I’m thinking I need to try this again and again and again, until I get it right! LOL!
Hi Marla… yes it is the chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate has no sweetener altogether, and because it is just the cocoa solids, it has a lot more fiber than any sweetened chocolates. That’s why it was so thin. Don’t use Lily’s or any other chocolate than baking chocolate. I recommend Ghirardelli
Thank you!!! I will look for the Ghirardelli next time I am out shopping for baking chocolate.
I love this cake! I’m going to make the large version for an upcoming party. I know traditional ganache is ok to sit out of the fridge – would that be ok for a day with your recipe? Just trying to plan a bit thanks.
Yes, it holds up well for a day or so.
I have 2 6″x2″ cake pans for my daughter’s birthday. I looked at your full size recipe, but it is for 9in pans. How would you adjust the ingredients and time for a 2 layer 6in cake?
Nevermind. I just remembered I asked this on another cake post of yours. Lol! Thank you!
I used almond flour. The cake by itself was good, but the ganache made it AWESOME! Thanks for the recipe!
Just made this for my post morning workout snack. Wonderful! I used organic raw almond butter instead of peanut butter.
This is the best keto dessert recipe period! So perfect and delicious. Thank you for this amazing yummy treat!
So glad you liked it!
Good morning, I was wondering If would bake it in 4 , 3 inch mini cake pans ( to got 2 nice round cakes:) how would it turn out? Is the batter enough ? Should I adjust the bake time? I would greatly appreciate your advice!
This looks amazing!! I’m sorry to ask about the whey protein powder after so many others…. but I have some Vital Proteins Gelatin, do you think that might be a replacement for the whey? I try to stay away from Whey powders. Or maybe the Collagen peptides would work better? It’s mainly a “protein powder.” I’ve been wondering this for awhile. Thank you for any help you could provide!
No neither of those will do, they make things very gummy. Just leave it out or buy egg white protein powder.
Hi Carolyn,
Just curious why you used sunflower seed flour for this – is it preferred over almond flour? I have both, so just interested in your thoughts.
Thanks,
Linda
Not at all preferred, it’s just nice to do some nut-free recipes for people! You can easily use almond flour here.
Just made this now and it turned out really well! For a keto recipe, I’d rate it 7 out of 5 stars! Compared to carb-filled recipes, I’d rate it 4 out of 5 stars, which is still really high! The cake turned out perfect–my husband, who is not thrilled with the flavour of almond or coconut flours, felt the cocoa really masks that. And the cake was fluffy and moist! The icing didn’t whip for me, probably because my bowl was too big, so we had a thick glaze that somewhat ran down the sides but solidified. We needed up not making a layer cake and just each had one of the cake layers with the ganache on top. For people who haven’t made it yet–you will love this is you like dark chocolate. If you prefer milk chocolate, the frosting is a bit strong (but maybe it’s less strong when whipped properly??). I think I might try 3/4 oz of the chocolate next time to see if the ganache is less strong.
Geez, typos. “You will love this IF you like dark chocolate”!!
This Cake looks soooo good, can I use a chocolate flavoured whey protein powder as I already have this at home?
Sure, that’s fine.