Tender grain-free red velvet cake turned into delicious low carb cake truffles. No artificial dyes or colors. Have a healthy Valentine’s Day.
I’ve given in, I’ve sold out. I’ve become one of those bloggers who posts seasonally appropriate recipes for holidays she doesn’t even celebrate. But in my defense, there is a demand for these things and I have to appease my audience. I can’t let the low carb masses go without their holiday sweets and treats. That would simply be cruel of me, to set them adrift among all the high carb goodies without any defences of their own. How would they survive? How would they stick to their healthy diets if not for a low carb recipe or two to combat the onslaught of gluten and sugar that surrounds them with each holiday? So you see, it’s all with good purpose that I post multitudes of trendy seasonal recipes. It’s for the good of the people. Plus I just like to bake and an impending holiday gives me a great excuse.
It’s not that I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day at all, it’s really more that I could take it or leave it. If my husband were, say, to lavish me in flowers and expensive gifts and spa gift certificates, I wouldn’t say no. In fact, I’d probably be quite a bit more enthusiastic about this Hallmark holiday if that were the case. But he doesn’t and he probably never will. Which is only fair because I don’t lavish him in flowers, expensive gifts or spa gift certificates either, and I probably never will. Neither of us have ever made much of Valentine’s Day, even when we were young 20-somethings who revelled in grand gestures of love. Now that we are old 40-somethings, we generally let it pass unnoticed.
But that’s not going to stop me from baking up sweets that have a Valentine’s theme. Maybe you want to lavish your loved one in expensive gifts and feed them sweets that won’t derail their low carb diet. Who am I to judge? Or maybe, like me, you just see a convenient excuse to bake!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Please see my Red Velvet Cake Truffles on the Swerve Sweetener blog.
Nutritional Information:
Makes approximately 48 truffles. Serves 24 (2 truffles per serving).
Food energy: 171kcal; Saturated fatty acids: 6.59g; Total fat: 14.00g; Calories from fat: 125; Cholesterol: 44mg; Carbohydrate: 6.26g; Total dietary fiber: 2.62g; Protein: 5.11g; Sodium: 151mg
Mind the Home says
They look so delicious and so pretty! One should always have a tray of these at display at home 😉
Angela says
How do you think these would taste/texture if you subbed mascarpone for the cream cheese? Aren’t they pretty similar?
Carolyn says
I am thinking “why the heck didn’t I think of that”. Do it…and report back please! 🙂
Sarah G says
WOW!! I’m amazed those are low-carb! YUMmmmmmm!
We don’t do too much for Valentine’s either, maybe have steak for dinner or something. To be fair though, Valentine’s (St. Valentine’s) does date back to before Hallmark, although no doubt Hallmark took it to a whole new level. 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day
Carolyn says
No, I knew about St. Valentine, but it has become the ultimate Hallmark holiday and I just can’t get with it! 🙂
Carrie says
These look so pretty and delicious! I’m definitely trying this recipe – like, tonight! :0)
janet says
These look great. I think my daughter would love them, though probably not my husband. He’s just not a chocolate fan. I love the idea of using marscapone too. Yum!
My hubby isn’t big on holidays, cause he hates to be predictable. He gave me a ring for a very strange reason, cause we had been married longer then both of our parents. We just laughed and laughed.
Sarah G says
Too true. One year, though, my husband bought me a dozen heart shaped doughnuts in the bad old days of high-carb and I still look fondly on that delicious gesture! I should make him these as an even more loving, low-carb gesture.
Sarah G says
Oops, reply to Carolyn messed up again. Sorry. I need to get off this tablet.
Ingredient1 says
These are the perfect decadent treat for V-Day!
C says
I used the beets instead of the red gel dye, and when the cake was cooked it went from red to brown. Did I do something wrong?
Carolyn says
Hmmmm, not sure what happened. Let me look at the recipe and see.
Carolyn says
Hi again. Mine didn’t do this but after a little googling, I remembered that it can happen with beets unless you put a little acid in the batter. So I have updated the recipe with 1 tbsp lemon juice. If you need to fix the cake now for the truffles, I might try adding a touch more beet puree or juice now to fix the colour. Sorry about that.
Donna Hardin says
These were good! I tried mine out with the mascarpone someone mentioned. Very happy….I learned I was having a diabetic guest visiting our tearoom this weekend. Regular ‘regular’ truffle cake balls were on the menu; now she can have one too instead of just fruit!
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Angela says
I still haven’t tried these yet but I got to thinking, I plan on using my idea of the mascarpone instead of cream cheese and I found some Red Velvet Emulsion that I’ve had that I need to use. It gives a red color and has some flavor to it. It’s a little thicker consistency. I haven’t looked at the bottle so I don’t know how natural it is but just a thought if you need to add a little more red color and maybe even a hint of flavor. I used it once a long time ago for a recipe that I found on another low carb site. Just an idea I’d throw out there!!! 🙂
Carolyn says
Is it the Lorann brand? I’ve heard good things about it.
Angela says
Ok so I checked out the Red Velvet Emulsion and it’s not the healthiest thing ever but it’s still an option.
Angela says
Yes, it is the Lorann brand. I still like it.
Pam Bressette says
These are awesome. I added Rum flavoring along with the vanilla and used the beet juice as you suggested. They get better as they age in the fridge, if I can keep them hidden they may last until Valentines day. I know they will last if I put them in the vegetable bin, that isn’t where my crew forages for treats.
Eileen says
Yours came out so pretty! I wish I could say the same about mine. I don’t know what I did wrong! The flavor was excellent, and in all other ways delightful. But the color? Mine came out more like … ground sausage!! (sort of golden brown). I used beets, pureed from a can — since the alternative was almond milk, I went ahead and pureed in the liquid from the can as well, and maybe that was part of my problem? I also tossed in a healthy dose of natural food coloring, thinking it would boost the reddish color. Did you use any in yours? Sometimes natural food colors change when they react with other ingredients, so maybe that did me in as well. The batter was a dusky rosy brown color, so I was surprised when it baked up so brown! The final result was pretty enough, and certainly very tasty, but just not anything that could be called “red velvet.” Any suggestions?
Carolyn says
Hmmm…I wonder if it was because the beets were canned? Did you put in the 1 tbsp of lemon juice?
Carolyn says
How about adding a bit more of the dye now as you crumble it up and add the cream cheese?
Eileen says
Heh. It helps to read all the comments to see if anyone else had the same experience. Sorry about that!! I used the lemon juice, so that’s apparently not the solution, at least in my case. I’m wondering if it was the food coloring after all. I’ve had the red turn some things kind of peachy-colored in the past, and that could explain it.
Carolyn says
Oh you did. Hmmm. I really don’t know because I used just pureed beets. Could be a reaction with the natural food dye but that seems like it would be strange.
Donna says
I just made these tonight! I’ve had the recipe in my binder for a long time but I kept forgetting to buy the beets. Mine also came out brown but that’s ok because they’re DECADENT! I also added confectioners swerve to the chocolate coating to reduce the chalky-ness taste.( maybe it’s just me but my chocolate has to taste sweet!) love them! I’m taking them to a Christmas party tomorrow night if they’re not all gone by then!!
Thanks Carolyn!
Carolyn says
Wonderful!
Jessica says
Considering the chocolate coating any idea if these could be frozen?
Carolyn says
They will be fine!
Lisa says
Hi Carolyn! I have a few questions but first….your link to the Swerve Sweetener blog for this recipe does not seem to be working any longer. I went to the blog directly and searched through the sweets and found the recipe but you might want to fix the link. Question, when you pureed your beets, how thin did they end up? I’m thinking that when I puree the cooked beets in the food processor, I’m going to need to add some water so they are not like paste but how much? How watery or thick should the puree be? Am I to aim for the same consistency as almond milk? One more question….can I use the coating ingredients and instructions from the German Chocolate Truffles for all your truffle recipes (adding in any flavoring like mint for the Thin Mint Truffles)? The German Chocolate coating seems to be the simplest. I’m making an assortment of truffles to take to a quilting retreat to share with everyone!
Carolyn says
The beets are pretty thick puree. And yes, you can use the coating from the German Chocolate Truffles, that should work well.
Katie says
The link isnt loading or it’s getting an error message.
Chemaine says
The link is not working for the recipe – could you please share the recipe again?