Classic yellow cake gets a healthy low carb makeover. And it’s made in miniature so it’s just the right size! Top it all off with a decadent chocolate buttercream for a special treat.
Anybody who knows me knows I can get a little obsessive about things. A little, a lot, you know, what’s the difference? It doesn’t become all-consuming, I can put whatever my little obsession du jour is away in its own compartment and manage to function pretty well. But it stays there, quietly poking and prodding me, reminding me of its existence until I am ready to let it out again. This happens a lot with recipes and recipe ideas. I may be looking you in the eye and chatting about any number of things, the weather, our kids, current events. I may seem completely present in the moment. But really I am mulling over a recipe idea in my head, thinking how to make it work, what ingredients to use, and what I want it to look like. I just can’t help myself.
Such is the case with these adorable low carb mini cakes for two. This first one, a classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting, was so fun to make and so perfectly delicious, I almost immediately embarked on making a second one of a different flavour. And now I am completely obsessed. I am already scheming what flavours I want to do for my third, my fourth, and probably my 18th too. Maybe even a 100th. There is no shortage of ideas here and I am determined to make them all. I hope you join me on my crazy mini cake journey.
I typically make large cakes that feed 12 or more because that’s what bakers do. Go big or go home, right? But I also receive a lot of requests for smaller desserts, ones that feed just one or two people. I confess, I didn’t see the attraction for a long time because if something is delicious, why wouldn’t you want MORE of it? And more and more and more? But then I realized that this is dangerous territory. If you don’t have a large family to feed or an event to go to, a large amount of delicious and very tempting food can lead you astray. It may be low carb if you have a proper serving size, but it’s no longer so if you can’t help but eat half the cake in one go. And I pride myself that my cakes and desserts are so tempting, you are always going to want seconds.
Let me be clear that this is not a mug cake in disguise. I did not cook it in the microwave, I baked it properly in the oven. Although I did my second mini cake, a seriously chocolate-y affair, in our convection/toaster oven, to avoid heating up the whole kitchen. That worked very well too. I used ceramic ramekins of a larger size (4 inches in diameter, 1 cup capacity), similar to these NorPro ramekins, and greased them well with coconut oil spray, and my little layers just fell right out perfectly. You could also use little 4-inch cake pans as well.
Now, I do call this a cake for two but it is rich enough that it could serve three to four. I ate a quarter at a time, topped with a little low carb ice cream, and it was just the right amount for dessert. But the point of these mini cakes is that if you did fall prey to temptation and found yourself eating the whole thing…you really wouldn’t do much damage in the end!
Classic Yellow Cake for Two
Ingredients
Yellow Cake:
- 7 tbsp almond flour
- 2 tbsp Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tbsp unflavored whey protein powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting:
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 2 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 tbsp whipping cream, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 325F and grease 2 4-inch ramekins or mini cake pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, whey protein powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the melted butter, egg, and vanilla until well combined.
- Divide mixture between the ramekins/pans and bake 12 to 15 minutes, until center is set and edges are just golden brown.
- Remove and let cool a few minutes in the pans and then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting:
- In a medium bowl, beat together the cocoa powder and melted butter. Beat in powdered sweetener and vanilla extract.
- Beat in whipping cream one tbsp at a time until a spreadable frosting consistency is achieved.
- Place one layer of cake on a small plate and spread the top with about 1/4 of the frosting. Top with second layer of cake and spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides of the cake. Let set in fridge 20 minutes, then get your honey-pie or your friend and dig in!
Notes
Total fat: 39.72g
Calories from fat: 357
Cholesterol: 84mg
Carbohydrate: 9.91g
Total dietary fiber: 4.63g
Protein: 10.91g
Erythritol: 30g
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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The classics are the best!
I need to make more dessert recipes for two! This looks like a delicious place to start!!
This cake is too cute! I love the small portion!
I want to make this for a little larger birthday cake. Could I make the recipe and just put it in just 1 pan instead of the ramekins?
Can I double the recipe for an even larger one? I’m looking at a 6-8″
On the whey protein…I don’t have any and live out in the country so sometimes it’s hard to find certain ingredients. What can I use as a substitute?
For a 6-8 inch pan, you need to quadruple the recipe, at least. There really is no sub for the whey. You can leave it out but your cake may not hold together quite as well.
You are going to think I’m crazy…but I don’t see the recipe anywhere on this page. I’m sure it’s here since others have made it according to the comments…but it isn’t showing up for me for some reason. I have looked on my desktop computer and also my phone….I had my husband and also my 16 year old look just to make sure I’m not overlooking it and they can’t find it either. Any help would be greatly appreciated. : )
It’s not you. My site is having issues and we are trying to get it fixed ASAP.
It’s showing up now! Can’t wait to make it! Thank you so much!
Yes, I’ve been having issues all day with my website…we’re working on it!
just wanted to leave my feedback that you can make this amazing cake in 6oz ramkins if you just increase the baking time a little. makes for a taller cake but works with the equipment I have on hand! I’m thinking of making it as a poke-cake soaking in some of those lovely sugar free coffee syrups for a hit of flavor some time…
Good to know!
I don’t have protein powder. Going to try subbing that for coconut flour….cross my fingers and pray.
I am going to try this , looks amazing, Thank you. One request put a print button on your recipies.
There is a print button. Right at the top of the recipe, under the title, to the righthand side.
Hi Carolyn, love your recipes! I need to make one of these to fit a 9×13. Any idea on what to multiply the measurements by? Thanks!
It’s really not quite as simple as multiplying upwards…you would end up with too many eggs for a large cake and it won’t be as good. But take the cake from this recipe and use that instead (baking time won’t be as long if you are doing it in 9×13) https://swervesweet.com/recipes/boston-cream-poke-cake/
Then use THIS recipe to frost it. https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/low-carb-chocolate-frosting/ Depending on whether you are just frosting the top or doing the sides as well, you may need to do 1.5 times the frosting.
I just made this. Looks great, smells great, the only thing I can’t quite figure out is that both of my layers came out MUCH thinner than yours appear to be in the pictures. I used all the same ingredients you listed in the same quantities. The only thing I can figure is that my unflavored protein powder is different than yours and it didn’t help my batter rise as much? I was kind of bummed about that, but I’ll try it again and see if I can tweak it. Suggestions would be welcome if you have any.
I’ve used many brands of protein powder and never had that issue. I suspect your baking powder more than the protein powder! Also…how wide are your ramekins?
Yes, it could be the baking powder. I’ll try replacing it and see if that makes a difference. I used two, 4″ ramekins. Thanks!
Cake was delicious. Nice and moist. did’t need a long cooling time either…just a few minutes. Couldn’t get the icing quiet right, most likely because i did not want to use cream and could not balance the right amount of almond milk , but maybe next time. But the cake recipe was great. I’m going to double it to make a larger cake for a family desert this fall! I made the brownie cheese cake recipe and it was a big hit and I’m the only low carb person in my family
Can you replace the whey powder with wheat gluten?
I have no idea, I don’t use wheat gluten.
Hi Carolyn, i wonder whether i can substitue whey protein powder with physillium husk powde. Thanks.
I am highly doubtful that it will produce light and fluffy cakes. Psyllium tends to make things very heavy and dense. The protein powder here is to make it lighter.
This was the best cake I’ve had so far! I’m so glad I bought a double pack of Swerve recently! I will DEFINITELY be making this more often!
Carolyn do you have a full size cake version of this cake? I’m trying to ketofy a cake that calls for a yellow cake box. I figured using the dry ingredients only would work for a recipe but this is for a full bundt cake. Thanks!
I don’t have one but was thinking of working on one. That said, this little cake is based on this larger cake recipe and presumably you could use it for your ketofication. Just use vanilla extract in place of the almond extract. https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2012/01/almond-crusted-butter-cake-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html
What a wonderful cake! Seriously, no one would ever know this is a LCHF. I don’t own the mini baking pans, so I doubled all the ingredients and got 6 cupcakes. I baked them for 18 minutes. The were fantastic!
New to gluten free, been doing low carb for awhile. My question is what other flour could I use besides almond flour? I want to be able to make this for my daughter to take to school parties but her school is a no-nut zone. I live out in the country and sometimes find it hard to find coconut flour. What would you recommend?
Have you tried sunflower seed flour? The only problem here is that it has a greyish colour and can turn green in reaction to the baking powder so you need to offset that with a tbsp of lemon juice. So it won’t really be yellow…more grey in colour.