Red Velvet Donuts and Cupcakes (Low Carb and Gluten Free)

Low carb grain-free red velvet cake in donut (and cupcakes!) form. With a delicious sugar-free cream cheese frosting.

As someone who grew up outside of the United States, there are certain things that to me seem quintessentially, and quaintly, American. High school marching bands come to mind, I suppose because it’s fall and I’ve seen the tryouts taking place at the local high school. We had school bands in Canada, but I don’t know of any that marched while they played. Tailgating is another of these things, particularly the huge tailgating parties organized for college sports. Canadian schools simply don’t pay enough attention to their sports teams to warrant this sort of intense devotion, and our university football “stadiums” are little more than fields surrounded by a few bleachers. And red velvet cake. The first time I ever heard of such a thing was in that classic American movie, Steel Magnolias. And the first time I tasted it was, well, never. Until now.

But those of you who know their red velvet cake are probably wondering at the rather lurid pinky-red colour of my red velvet cakes and donuts. Ah, well, there is a funny, and somewhat embarrassing, story to go along with that. See, this recipe was requested by a reader, Carla, when I opened the floor for requests. I saw her comment and thought to myself that it would be an easy one. I thought I knew what I was doing. It’s a classic case of baking hubris, I believe. I knew that my cake batter recipe from the Lemon Cream Cake would be perfect for modifying into red velvet. And I knew that it took cream cheese frosting, which I have perfected over the past year. And I thought I would get all fancy and inventive, and put some of the batter in my donut pan for fun. No problem, easy peasy.

I didn’t even really look at any conventional red velvet recipes, since I was so very certain I knew what I was doing. I made up my batter and added my red food colouring, and even then, it didn’t really occur to me that anything was wrong. It literally wasn’t until I was taking the cakes out of the oven that I thought “Gee, these are a really ugly colour”. And then it hit me that maybe, just maybe, red velvet was supposed to take some cocoa powder to give it a much deeper, darker red. I quickly ran to my computer and looked up a few red velvet recipes and yup, cocoa powder is a key ingredient. I looked at my pinky-red cupcakes and donuts in dismay. They were perfectly good little cakes and I wasn’t about to throw them out, so I decided to go ahead with them as planned and tell my readers the truth…I thought red velvet was simply white cake with food colouring and cream cheese frosting. I thought I knew what I was doing.

T he Results: I figure you will forgive me, given my foreign upbringing and all. I can’t be blamed for my ignorance! I will say that the cakes were delicious just as they were. This cake recipe is so very, very good and infinitely adaptable and as such, I am very confident that it would be just as good with a few tablespoons of cocoa added into the mix. So, for those of you who really want true red velvet, I am writing up the recipe to include the cocoa. The frosting was spot on, there were no complaints there! My pictures show some of the donuts with sprinkles…that was just to make them fun for the kids.

Since I did some as cupcakes and some as donuts, it’s hard to tell exactly how many these would make. My donut pan doesn’t hold much in each hole, so two donuts would probably be the equivalent of one cupcake. Which would amount to 9 cupcakes or 18 donuts, whichever you want to go with!

Red Velvet Donuts and Cupcakes (Low Carb and Gluten Free)

A low carb, grain-free spin on classic red velvet cake in donut (and cupcake!) form, topped with a delicious sugar-free cream cheese frosting. 

4.67 from 3 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Dessert

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: 9 cupcakes or 12 donuts

Calories: 346kcal

Ingredients

Cake/Donuts:

• 2 cups almond flour
• ½ cup Swerve Sweetener
• ¼ cup whey protein powder
• 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 6 oz greek yogurt
• ¼ cup butter softened
• 3 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup almond milk
• 15 drops red gel food colouring (you can use natural vegetable dyes for this but it will take a lot more to achieve the right colour)

Frosting:

• 4 oz cream cheese softened
• 2 tablespoon butter softened
• ⅓ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the cake:

• Preheat the oven to 325F and grease a donut pan and/or line a muffin tin with paper liners.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, protein powder, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, breaking up any clumps with the back of a fork. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat yogurt and butter together until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until just combined. Add half of almond flour mixture and beat until combined, then beat in almond milk. Beat in remaining flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Add food colouring and mix until colour is uniform.
• Spoon batter into prepared donut pan and/or muffin tin. Bake donuts for 18 to 20 minutes, and cupcakes for 25 to 30 minutes. The tops should spring back when lightly touched and a tester inserted in the middle should come out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:

• Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in powdered sweetener, cream, vanilla, and stevia until fully combined. Pipe or spread frosting on cooled cakes and donuts.

Notes

Serves 9 to 12. Makes about 9 cupcakes and 12 donuts. NET CARBS for 9 servings = 5.43 g. NET CARBS for 12 servings = 4.08 g.

For 9 servings:
Food energy: 346kcal
Total fat: 29.30g
Calories from fat: 263
Cholesterol: 112mg
Carbohydrate: 8.79g
Total dietary fiber: 3.36g
Protein: 12.00g

For 12 servings:

Food energy: 259kcal
Total fat: 21.97g
Calories from fat: 197
Cholesterol: 84mg
Carbohydrate: 6.60g
Total dietary fiber: 2.52g
Protein: 9.00g

Nutrition Facts

Red Velvet Donuts and Cupcakes (Low Carb and Gluten Free)

Amount Per Serving (1 cupcake)

Calories 346 Calories from Fat 264

% Daily Value*

Fat 29.3g45%

Cholesterol 112mg37%

Carbohydrates 8.79g3%

Fiber 3.36g13%

Protein 12g24%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.