Low carb grain-free red velvet cake in donut (and cupcakes!) form. With a delicious sugar-free cream cheese frosting.
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!
Swith Bell says
We made these yesterday and they were amazing – especially the frosting.
The only problem was that 3 TBS of cocoa ended up completely overpowering the red food colouring. We had to add 35 drops to even see a little red through the brown chocolate.
Also, we felt like the bitter cocoa needed much more sweetener to compensate. The cake taste was earthy and a bit bland – not really chocolatey, not really vanilla. However the consistency was AMAZING. It could be our unflavoured whey protein powder making the cakes so dull. So I think we will try this again – probably double the Swerve, less cocoa powder, possibly some chocolate extract and more vanilla extract in the cake.
Would love to hear if anyone else had this issue and how you perfectly solved it! Thanks again Carolyn.
Carolyn says
What kind of cocoa powder idd you use?
Carolyn says
And um… Swith Bell. I knew a girl from my high school by that name. It’s an unusual name… Curious… 🙂
Christine says
I had the same issues – wish I’d seen your comment before making this recipe, there was just no way to get the red I was hoping for once I mixed the batter, even with tons of food coloring. It’s sort of a dark brown red. Adding more sweetener was less of an issue, I just mixed in some drops of ez sweetz. Definitely less cocoa and more sweetener next time.
Michelle says
How can I make this into a full size or layered cake? Would I need to change anything other than cook time?
Carolyn says
I am sure you can but I haven’t tried it. 🙂
Ashley says
I was just coming to ask the same thing! Michelle – did you end up trying it?
I’ve tried many of Carolyn’s recipes and many low carb cake recipes in general, and I was just blown away at how great the texture of these are! Even puffed up with little holes/nooks and crannies in the center like a real cupcake. So many of the other low carb cake recipes I’ve tried before have been so dense and mealy. These were perfect. I know this recipe is from quite a while ago, but thank you from the future 🙂 I only wish I’d found it sooner!
Kristeena says
Carolyn, I just love your sweets recipes and have started making donuts as a special weekend treat. Do you think sour cream could be substituted for the greek yogurt? Thanks!
Kristeena says
Oh, and also, if I half the recipe, should I use 1 egg or two?
Meghan says
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?
Carolyn says
Your frosting will be very gritty. You can skip the protein powder but they won’t rise as well.
Jean says
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!
Carolyn says
That’s wonderful to hear!
Eliz says
Oh and calories in each serving as well! Thank you so much! 🙂
Eliz a says
Hi there, your cupcakes look amazing!!! May I know how many grams of protein and fat is in each serving? 🙂
Carolyn says
You will need to calculate these yourself, with something like MyFitnessPal.
Aline says
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?
Carolyn says
Vanilla.
Aline says
Would it be ok to use chocolate? i have this at hand.
Aline says
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.
Carolyn says
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.
Aline says
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
DEE says
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 🙂
Carolyn says
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?
Charlotte says
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!
Carolyn says
I am so glad to hear it, Charlotte!
Liz says
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!!
Carolyn says
No, I mean stevia extract, to help sweeten the frosting.
Holli says
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!
Carolyn says
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.
Eva Mattox says
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?
Carolyn says
They don’t need to be refrigerated for a day or two. After that, yes, I would.
Mindy says
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??
wren tidwell says
I found the right link for the lemon cream cake: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/lemon-cream-cake-low-carb-and-gluten-free/
Donna Hardin says
Oh, lastly…in frosting liquid and powdered stevia?
Carolyn says
I always use liquid stevia.
Donna Hardin says
Can I powder erythritol myself with a clean coffee grinder?
Carolyn says
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!
Belenda says
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???
Carolyn says
Thanks, Belenda!
Sandy says
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!
Sandy says
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!
Carolyn says
No, no need to whip the cream. What sweetener were you using?
Jennifer says
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
Carolyn says
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.