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)
Ingredients
Cake/Donuts
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup whey protein powder
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 oz greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 15 drops red gel food colouring (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 tbsp butter, softened
- 1/3 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp 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.
Recipe 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
Wow. Your photos are beautiful and I would definitely go for the 18 donuts rather than just 9 cupcakes 😉
I'm also in awe of the new look on the website. Congratulations. It looks fabulous!
The cupcakes and donuts look wonderful even if they aren't the classic red velvet recipe! My favorite part is the cream cheese icing, anyway:-)
I lol'd at this post. Also a fellow Canuck and I know they just weren't popular here until the food network came on tv. Even now finding red velvet here can be a pain. I have trouble getting the true red even when using cocoa. Some people use vinegar which is somehow suppose to make the red correct. I've done them with and without vinegar. I love them as they're chocolate and you can't go wrong with that, ever. But the last time I made them I forgot we all don't like cream cheese frosting so we ended up giving most of them away. So there you go. Mistakes happen. Yours look gorgeous.
THese look incredible! Great post!
I need to give your frosting recipe a try since I haven't been able to perfect a recipe yet. Yummy!
There is nothing wrong with making that error! I think a lot of people probably think the same thing! Now, these still look fantastic and as someone who is trying to eat low-carb and low-sugar, these sound perfect for me. Bookmarking this one!
I love red velvet. The donuts look great.
This post made me giggle! You're adorable. And I think your red velvet donuts sound lovely, who needs cocoa powder!? Buzzed 🙂
I will be tailgating this weekend! I cannot wait…tailgating at PSU (the college I went to) is HUGE on it.
While these might not by traditional red velvet cupcakes or donuts they still look great and I love the recipe. Going to try it!
What a lovely and satisfying recipe!
I think the traditional red velvet cake has buttermilk in it, as the acid in buttermilk is supposed to react with the cocoa powder and give the cake a natural red tinge. The cakes we see with lots of red coloring obviously have red coloring added, but originally I don't think it did. Either way, I've never made one, but I'd like to try.
Loved reading this…I do that kind of thing ALL the time 🙂 Or assume I know better than a recipe. Sometimes works, sometimes massively fails! Your cupcakes and doughnuts both look gorgeous though – I've made red velvet in the past and its come out a little rubbery so you have to be quite careful with the recipe. Bet these are as delicious, if not more so 🙂
Haha, too funny but your forgiven, Like Valerie said the traditional recipe way back in the day had buttermilk and it reacted witht he cocoa. I bet yours was still delicious, you know they were 🙂
Thanks and take care…
Oh my word! These look amazing!
My first thought was, "oh no she didn't" make those red donuts gluten free!
Great job 🙂
That's awesome! And thank you so much for trying this out! I will definitely be making these for the holidays now that I have a recipe! Love your blog!
These are amazing! So pretty too! Love the color! I am full fledged American, but I have never really had Red Velvet cake before! Want to try these!
Wow, these are both stunning!!! I just got my first donut pan and can't wait to try these…but first, the plain cake donuts with chocolate glaze as requested by the hubby. Then all sorts of wild and fun flavors like yours!!!
These look ridiculously delicious! I love the doughnuts! 🙂
Baking hubris gets the best of us all sometimes!
The doughnuts and cupcakes look really cute though, and I bet they taste amazing!
I've never heard of a red velvet donut, but it sure sounds incredible! Great idea & beautiful photo!
They look delicious! It is a great idea Carolyn!
Have a nice weekend 🙂
OMG! I love red velvet and those look fantastic. My Aunt needs GF only, so now I have a treat I can make next time she visits. Thanks! BUZZ!!!!
Carolyn,
Your Red Velvet doughnuts/cupcakes are gorgeous. Who would guess that they are low carb/gluten free? I need to revise my Red Velvet cake recipe.
Your pictures are fantastic!!! Great idea to make donuts too.
You have me drooling! It sounds and looks amazing!
The donuts are such a cute, original idea. I love 'em! Someday soon I really do need to try red velvet. It's embarrassing that I live in the South and still have never had it!
This is a great post. I loved the story. True red velvet or not they still look delicious with that frosting!
Those are a someone unique color, but it's just color, right? And personally, I would prefer it without the cocoa powder. 🙂 I say bravo! I love hearing about what confounds you about the U.S. I guess in some ways I had the same feeling just from moving from the north to the south. We're one weird country.
Thanks for sharing a fantastic recipe, even if it did bloop a little. If you'd not told us, we'd have never guessed.
Chocolate or not, these look great – and a nice change from the traditional cocoa containing versions.
I didn't even know there were marching bands in US high schools! Wow.
Look gorgeous
Yeah, I think red velvet is definitely more southern than American. I had never actually heard of it until I left Mass. Anyhow, details smeeeetails! These donuts and cupcakes have got my mouth watering! 😀
Love love love this idea!!!!
You surely know how to make delicious sweets Caroline! I can't believe these are g-free and low carb. They look amazing!
Even without the cocoa powder 😉 ps- thanks for your honesty- it is hard to post that stuff- i have an "oops" post coming soon too 🙂
fantastic looking cupcakes I will simply die for.
Beautiful cupcakes and I love the idea of red velvet donuts.
Red velvet donuts?? Oh wow! I love red velvet anything…I'm going to have to try these!!
Your 'pink' velvet story had me smiling, I didn't grow up on red velvet so I wouldn't even know it contained cocoa either if I hadn't looked it up! These look so, so cool.
Even if they're not officially Southern, they're beautiful! I've never heard of red velvet donuts, but I like the sound of it.
They look so wonderfull 🙂
What a fun idea, and unique! I don't believe I have ever seen a red velvet dounut:-) You are on to something! They look gorgeous, I will take a dozen:-) Hugs, Terra
And I was thinking i'm the only one left that has never tried red velvet cake…
I love the pinkish color, although I see them bright red. I think I'd pick one donut and one cupcake. They both look great, hard to decide between the two
Congratulations on Top 9, nothing like a delicious edible mistake!
How very "male" of you to decide you already knew to make something before reading the recipe, that's the kind of thing I do LOL.
I love the idea of using the donut pans
Hi Carolyn, I love this post! I agree with you that red velvet is pretty American. I love Steel Magnolias, on of my favorite movies ever! I love your donuts too, they look delicious!
Oh how wonderful those look! I love both cup cakes and donuts..so pretty and irresistible!
I love the new look, Car!
I can completely relate to your post, Carolyn. Tailgating, marching bands and homecoming were all new things to me when I moved to the U.S. I love the look of these pretty donuts!
Beautiful! Especially the frosting. Yum!
LOL, how funny!!! I used to think the same! But nevertheless, they sound WONDERFUL! YOu invented something! PINK velvet!
Congrats on the Top 9, with your beautiful red velvet donuts and cupcakes! Pretty good for a mistake 😉 We love the hot red color!
Brilliant idea to use the batter for donuts! congrats on top 9!
Congrats on the Top 9 today!
Both the donuts and the cupcakes looks so pretty!
Cocoa powder or no cocoa powder, these cupcakes look fantastic! I love the idea of making donuts with the batter :).
Congrats on top 9–the cupcakes look great!
Red velvet donuts and cupcakes….girl you are a rockstar!
I was tickled by the color. 😉
These look great, the ingredients are what scare me. Are these easy to get? I'd love to make them!!
I would love these donuts, no matter the color!
Absolutely must have donuts if this was one of choices…. looks so delicious and I will forget about calorie just for this one. It's okay life is short and this is too beautiful and delicious to pass!
You're forgiven!! The best part is the frosting & those donuts look so cute!!
These are some great cupcakes! I just love red velvet cupcakes! Thank you for sharing the recipe with us!
The presentation is great, no doubt about it. I think the frosting just made the cupcake complete. Good job on the recipe and the photography.
I think the color is beautiful and they look so tasty!
This is perfect!!! My 30th Birthday is coming up next month on the 7th and I'm so making donuts 😀
Low Carb and Gluten Free!! Perfect for my husband and I!! Thanks for sharing. They look delish!
Gluten Free AND Low Carb?!?!! This recipe is perfect for my husband and I. And these loom delish!! Thanks for posting!!
I'm pretty new at this low carbing thing, so I have a question about granulated erythritol. I'm having the hardest time finding it in any form other than powdered. I wanted to make the red velvet cupcakes and the lemon cream cake for Mother's Day, but I don't know if I can substitute powdered for granulated and what the conversion rate might be. Thoughts? Thanks!
Where are you shopping? I get the granulated online, usually from Amazon. But if you can only find the powdered, go ahead and use it in the same amount for this cake.
You do know that when you are subtracting the fiber from your carbohydrates to get your net carbs you only subtract DIETARY fiber correct? Regular fiber does not affect carbohydrates…..just noticed that and figured I would pass it along incase you weren’t aware. Can’t wait to make these!
i think to achieve the red-velvet look the traditional way, you need to buy alkaline “dutch processed” cocoa.
from wiki…..”the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in the cocoa”
I have been posting and sending this recipe to everyone that will read or listen to me!! THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME RECIPE AND RED VELVET RECIPE EVER!! You have given me hope that I can now live in a low carb, sugar free, flour free world. As long as I can make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing – I will survive! Now, as for the recipe – WOW! This is my 2nd batch in less than 5 days. They are moist, they have the perfect cocoa taste (I used Penzy’s dutch cocoa), the icing is perfect, not too cream cheesey – just perfect. There is no almond flour typical taste – just perfect deliciousness in every single bite. I made 6 doughnuts and a tray of mini-cupcakes from one recipe. I did double the icing recipe and added 6 drops of liquid vanilla cream stevia drops too. The mini-cupcakes were done in 14 minutes and the doughnuts were done in 18 minutes. I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to work thru this recipe to make it perfect. I’m a long time baker and have been trying all the other red velvet recipes to only throw them in the trash. Nothing was comparable to the real thing – until now. You are my hero!!!
Wow, now that’s what we call a rave review!
Hi, firstly, this website looks awesome – can’t wait to try your recipes. I have a few questions, though.
1. Why do I see so many low carb recipes that use a sugar alcohol for a sweetener, but also include another type of sweetener like Stevia? For instance, in this recipe – why not just add a little more erythritol?
2. Why do recipes which include flour also call for whey protein powder? What does this do? Couldn’t I just add more flour?
3. On this recipe, can I substitute heavy cream for the yogurt?
Thanks again – can’t wait to try these and like 10 other recipes I have bookmarked so far!
1. Erythritol is on the expensive side so combining with stevia helps keep my readers costs down. I’ve also found that the two enhance each other’s sweetness and some people are very sensitive to the cooling effect of erythritol so it helps there too. Swerve has much less cooling sensation, but some people still feel it.
2. Gluten is a protein so gluten-free baked goods need a little additional protein to help them rise and maintain their shape. That’s why the whey is in there. More flour will make your batter heavy and dense, but won’t help it rise.
3. Greek yogurt has far more protein and is far thicker than cream. You can try it and it will probably taste great…but it might not rise and it might be overly moist. If you’re going to do this, I’d go with about 2/3 the cream and I might up the whey protein powder. You have to get the protein in there somehow!
Great, thanks! I have some Optimum Chocolate Whey Protein, so I’ll use that. And 4oz of heavy cream is what you recommend? Should I whip it? Also, I have some Kal Stevia Pure Extract, do you know how much I need to use to equate to 10 drops? Thanks again for the help!
For the frosting – I think you meant 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract – you put Stevia twice.
1/2 tsp stevia extract
8 drops stevia extract
Well, I just made some and they turned out perfect. However, apparently I’m allergic to erythritol! This is the first time I’ve ever tried it… I bought some Zsweets and after tasting the batter and frosting, which were both delicious – I put the cupcakes in the oven – and then ate a little more frosting while I waited, hehe – and my throat started itching and my chest felt heavy and I sneezed a couple times. I’ve never had an allergic reaction to anything in my life, I can’t believe this! 🙁
I am REALLY sorry to hear that, that sounds awful!
Carolyn you are awesome! I too am a Canadian supplanted in the USA as a hockey wife and a fellow low-carb baking fanatic. I just love reading your posts with Canadian sentiments, especially this one. I feel like I have spoken everything you have written at one time or another! I had never heard of red velvet until we moved to the midwest and have been too scared to try it til now (ie., What is “red” supposed taste like?…weird…), but…if you can do it…so can I! The only thing I must say is missing from this post is shout-out to Tim Hortons…you know, being donut related and all 😉
Just saw this rather old post, but I’m curious. Do you think using beet juice instead of red food coloring would work?
I can’t see why not! You may need more of it than the food colouring I put in.
Ever try using Red Velvet Emulsion in the recipe? I bought some online for something else which I still haven’t tried so was just wondering. I’m not sure what the red velvet emulsion does or is really but just wondered….
I’ve never even heard of it until now!
Love how these look. I’m such a visual person when it comes to food and these are so pretty!
I’m going to make them next week but turn them blue instead of red for a gender reveal party on the 4th. I’m “team blue” and think I should support my team with some low carb sugar free blue velvet cupcakes.
Great idea!
Carolyn I made these today and they are just lovely. The cake especially is the best “low-carb” cake I’ve ever tasted.
The batter was thick, as you describe above. When the cupcakes rose, their tops stayed pretty irregular and bumpy — which is not a bad thing at all! — but if I wanted nice serene smooth-topped cupcakes to frost, would it help if I thinned out the batter with more almond milk?
Best wishes,
Jenn
You can thin it out, but you will need to add more protein powder to make it rise properly. I’ve gotten better results lately as I’ve developed newer recipes.
I just made these and the cakes smell divine! The frosting was a flop, though 🙁 It is super runny. Any chance I was supposed to whip the cream before adding it into the frosting? Thank you!
No, no need to whip the cream. What sweetener were you using?
My husband wanted yellow cake with chocolate frosting for his birthday so I substituted the cocoa powder with coconut flour, added an extra splash of almond milk, omitted the food coloring and topped with a double batch of your chocolate buttercream frosting… delish! Thank you for making my husband’s birthday low carb special!
I still love this recipe! I made the mini cupcakes a few months ago and froze them. I’ve been on a cream cheese icing kick on red juicy strawberries, but remembered I had the red velvet mini-cupcakes in the freezer! Thawed them in fridge overnight and slathered cream cheese icing on 3 of them w/coffee & cream, for breakfast! Wow! So moist, and dreamy! I love this recipe….did I mention that???
Thanks, Belenda!
Can I powder erythritol myself with a clean coffee grinder?
People do it and say it works but I think you will have some remaining grittiness. It’s worth a try, though, when Swerve is out of confectioners!
Oh, lastly…in frosting liquid and powdered stevia?
I always use liquid stevia.
I must make these asap! You have a link for a lemon cream cake above but it doesn’t go anywhere! I’m a sucker for any cake with lemon, sounds lovely for Easter, is there somewhere I can find it??
I made these today and it yielded 6 donuts and 10 cupcakes. They tasted AMAZING! Super glad I tried this recipe.
Note: I put the frosting in the freezer while the donuts/cupcakes cooled so it wasn’t quite so ‘melty’ when applying.
Also, does anyone know if these need to be refrigerated?
They don’t need to be refrigerated for a day or two. After that, yes, I would.
Hi Carolyn, I am wondering if you might know of another sweetener to use in your recipes besides erythitol, swerve, or splenda. I don’t like swerve, sorry I just don’t. I don’t want to use splenda anymore and regular sugars are out. What about stevia powder or whatever that is? Have any ideas? Have you heard of any other sweeteners used in your recipes? Thanks for your time!
Sure, lots of people use xylitol or stevia powder. The issue with stevia powder is that I don’t know what the amounts would be, it’s really concentrated. And there are some recipes which really rely on the structure of erythritol so those might not work.
Hi!
These certainly so look wonderful even with the small slipped detail of cocoa powder. ;). Thank you for posting such lovely recipes for everyone to use!
Just wanted to point out there might be an error in the frosting ingredients it says there 1/2 tsp stevia extract–do you mean vanilla extract?
Again thank you for all the hard work and hours put in to updating the site and trying out different recipes for everyone!!
No, I mean stevia extract, to help sweeten the frosting.
I’ve been searching for a tasty low carb baked treat ever since I started low carb. And thanks to you, I believe I’ve found it!! The texture on these cupcakes is better than some traditional recipes! I’ve tried so many other low carb baking recipes and yours are always perfect. So thank you for all of the time you spend in the kitchen creating these wonderful recipes and then sharing them with the world!
I am so glad to hear it, Charlotte!
Hello – I’m banting in Belgium & it’s not that easy to get hold of some ingredients .
Can I use anything else for these 2:
whey protein powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
Thank you 🙂
In this recipe, you can skip them both but your donuts won’t rise as well without the dry protein powder. Can you get powdered egg whites?
these look awesome! wanting to make them for valentine’s day for my very allergic daughter. one question though, the whey, is it chocolate or vanilla?
Vanilla.
Would it be ok to use chocolate? i have this at hand.
I went out and bought some vanilla one. It tasted soooo good everyone really enjoyed it! But I have a question, is the batter supposed to be super thick? Mine was very thick. Not like a regular cake batter. So the final product was a very uneven top with lots of bumpiness. Still tasty though.
Gluten-free batters like this are typically much thicker than what you’re used to with wheat flour. And you may have used a coarser almond flour, which does result in a bumpier top.
I bake grain free all the time. My daughters cannot tolerate starch or sucrose. But this was a lot thicker than the “normal” thick ones. I use the finest ground almond flour from wellbee’s and also honeyville. Either way, they were tasty. Just a pain to get in the pan and baked bumpy. Thanks for this recipe. We all enjoyed it
Hi there, your cupcakes look amazing!!! May I know how many grams of protein and fat is in each serving? 🙂
You will need to calculate these yourself, with something like MyFitnessPal.
Oh and calories in each serving as well! Thank you so much! 🙂
I know this is an older posted recipe but I just made these a few days ago and they are AMAZING. I am not kidding. The cake in these is so moist and delicious…quite possibly the best I’ve ever had. I didn’t powder my granulated erythritol enough do my icing was a little sugary but the taste was great! My 8 year old nephew loved them! Red velvet is very popular here on the states. In fact it’s a choice when you order a cake…vanilla, chocolate, marble or red velvet. Thank you for this website!
That’s wonderful to hear!
Would it still work if you just used a regular sugar substitute rather than powdered? Would this effect the consistency of the frosting?
Also is there anything that can be substituted for the way protein powder?
Your frosting will be very gritty. You can skip the protein powder but they won’t rise as well.