Keto Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake

This keto creation was inspired by my horrible eating habits as a child or teenager I should say. I lost a bunch of weight on weight watchers when I was 13-16. Then got my first job in a restaurant, Bob Evans at 16. They had this Hershey's Hot Fudge Cake on the menu, it was a huge slice served with rich's whipped topping (which I ate a lot of, full of chemicals) and optionally could have ice cream too. I would order this cake as my meal for breaks. I would heat it up and it would get all melty and delicious and scoop ice cream and whipped topping on it and eat the whole thing. It was amazing!!!!

I couldn't find a picture of it on-line but I found the macros, which is just scary at over 800 calories and 103 Net Carbs!!! Now I know I can have my version, but moderation is key! I cut it into 14 slices instead of 8 like they did at Bob Evans and it is still high in calories at 428 but only 4 g of Net Carbs! This is the kinda cake I want for a birthday or special celebration, and my mom agrees. Which is why I made this one for her birthday after she tried my test cake for Mother's Day and loved it.

I can't exactly remember what the cake looked like but I know it had ganache because when you heated it in the microwave it would melt like hot fudge. And I make keto ganache all the time as a hot fudge topping for my keto ice cream. So I decided to do a whipped ganache filling and crumb coat and then enrobe the whole cake in chocolate ganache. Then of course decorate the top with more whipped ganache! This is a popular way to make cakes in a pastry shop, we used whipped ganache in many cakes and to coat many cakes. We would have multiple batches of ganache in bowls on a shelf to use for any cakes we needed to make. So I suggest making the ganache a day ahead or even 2, it will stay fine covered on the counter top until needed. If you don't plan ahead you can make it the day of and put it in the refrigerator for an hour or so until it is stiff, but not refrigerator cold.

I used Lily's dark chocolate chips for my ganache but you can use any kind of chips you want but macros will be different. For best results you should weight out the chocolate chips. Twelve ounces of these Lily's chocolate chips are roughly 2 cups if you don't have a scale. And then to add less carbs to the finished product I used Lily's semi-sweet chocolate chips to make the ganache to coat the cake, they are 0 carbs as appose to 2 carbs an ounce for the dark chocolate chips.

Ganache Frosting

12 oz. Keto Dark Chocolate Chips (I use Lily's)

12 oz. Heavy Cream

Instructions:

1. Make ganache first because you need it set completely before whipping into the frosting

2. Heat the cream on stove or in microwave until just simmering

3. Pour over the chocolate chips, making sure the chips are completely covered

4. Let sit for 5 minutes

5. Slowly start whisking in the middle and slowly working the cream and chocolate together

6. Once a nice silky ganache has formed let harden at room temp for several hours or place in the refrigerator for an hour or so until solid

7. Now make the cake!!!

For the deliciously moist chocolate cake, I started with my Lancaster sour milk cake and just tried to add cocoa powder. This resulted in a dry, bland not so chocolate cake, lol. So I realized I could replace the unflavored whey protein isolate with a chocolate version, which added more cocoa flavor and some more sweetness. And I realized it would need more fat to moisten it a bit, so I upped the butter then just added some instant espresso powder to bring out the chocolate flavor. The result...oh so yummy!

I used Perfect Keto brand for this recipe but ISOpure is cheaper and works well also and has no carbs. I added the link for Amazon if you like to purchase the ISOpure. My boyfriend actually prefers the texture and taste of ISOpure over Perfect Keto for his protein shake.

Links for ingredients I buy on Amazon:

Lakanto powdered monkfruit- https://amzn.to/3eHaz7u

Anthony's powdered monkfruit - https://amzn.to/3oqS241

Isopure chocolate whey protein isolate - https://amzn.to/3wczOWw

Instant espresso powder- https://amzn.to/3xEdRkL

Scale - https://amzn.to/339tsKN

(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

Keto Bob Evan's Hershey's Hot Fudge Cake

90 g Powdered Sweetener (3/4 Cup)

1 tsp. instant espresso

102 g Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate (approximately 1 Cup)(Perfect Keto is what I used for this recipe but ISOpure is cheaper and works also)

128 g Coconut Flour (1 Cup)

1/2 Cup Dutch cocoa powder

1 tsp. Xanthan Gum

2 1/4 tsp. Baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

5 Eggs (room temp)

1 1/4 Cup Alternative buttermilk (1 Tablespoon Vinegar + unsweetened almond/cashew/macadamia nut milk or any milk) warmed in microwave

16 Tbs. Butter (melted)

Instructions:

1. Make the homemade buttermilk, pull out eggs and melt butter

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and line the bottom of 2- 8 inch or 9 inch cake pans

3. Weigh/measure and sift all dry ingredients and whisk everything together well

4. If eggs aren't room temperature, soak in some warm water until no longer cold, crack into a large bowl and whip with a hand mixer until light and fluffy, double in volume

5. While whipping, stream in the melted butter then the warmed buttermilk and vanilla

6. Switching to a hand whisk, mix all the dry ingredients into the egg mixture at once

7. Divide batter evenly between the 2 prepared pans (about 570g each) and smooth out the top with an offset spatula

8. Bake on middle rack side by side 25-30 minutes, spinning and rotating them half way threw baking

9. Press gently to see if it is firm in the middle, they both may not be done at the same time

10. Let cool on a wire rack in the pans until cool enough to handle

11. Run an offset spatula around the edge of the cake pan and turn out onto the wire rack to cool completely

12. Cut Both layers in half, gonna only need 3 layers of cake for this fudge cake, you can freeze for your next cake or for cake pops or just to snack on, now onto assembly!!!

Macros for whole cake no frosting:

2924 Calories

240 g Fat

70 g Total Carbs

46 g Fiber

24 g Net Carbs

I only used 3 of the four layers because that's what I remember the cake at Bob Evans being. We do this a lot in the pastry shops because we are making tons of cakes and always have a use for an extra layer. Say if we baked off a batch of 12-8 inch round cakes we could make 8-3 layer cakes instead of 6-4 layer cakes and they are a good height and still look impressive. But you can use all the layers, the macros will just be different for your cake. And you may need more whipped ganache to fill and decorate if you do 4 layers.

Cake assembly:

1. Place one layer of cake on the platter you intend to serve it on and then with a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the ganache until light and fluffy

2. Spread about one quarter of the ganache onto the first layer and smooth to the edges, place the second layer of cake on top of the ganache and repeat, then place the last layer on top

3. With another quarter of the ganache, frost a thin, smooth layer around the edges and on top of the cake

4. Let the cake chill on the counter while you make a silky ganache to enrobe the cake with!!

Coating Ganache:

6 oz. Heavy Cream

6 oz. Semi-sweet keto chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Heat the cream on stove or in microwave until just simmering

2. Pour over the chocolate chips, making sure the chips are completely covered

3. Let sit for 5 minutes

4. Slowly start whisking in the middle and slowly working the cream and chocolate together

5. Keep stirring until it cools to about 100 degrees you don't want it too thick and our keto chocolate gets thick when it gets below 90 degrees

6. Once it is slightly cooled, pour onto the center of the cake until it starts to drip down the sides of the cake, work the ganache over the edges, you may not need all of the semi-sweet ganache, can reheat a few times for a fudge topping on ice cream or can whip up for more decorating or writing on the cake

7. Can leave it just dripped over the edges or smooth out all the way around the sides

8. Place in the refrigerator to set up completely

9. Once set, rewhip your remaining ganache and decorate the cake as desired, I piped 14 rosettes to make it into 14 portions

Macros for 1/14 of cake: Using all of the ganache and 3 layers of cake

428 Calories

37 g Fat

18 g Total Carbs

14 g Fiber

4 g Net Carbs

9.75 g Protein