J’s Neopolitan Cake

Since I was a kid I have always loved the ice cream that came with three flavors in one carton- chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  So…. with that yummy combo in mind I set to work creating another low carb cake with those same great flavors.

 

I used one layer of the Cinnamon Chocolate Cake, and one layer of the basic yellow cake in my recipe book.

The icing is made with the basic whipped cream frosting( the 2 1/2 cups of cream version) I have shared with you before, only this time I added about 1 1/2 tsps of SF strawberry jello mix to give it a beautiful color and a pleasant strawberry flavor.   I used 2/3 cup Splenda, but you can add as much or as little as you like.  Mine was not a bit to sweet.

The strawberry filling was made by  washing and cutting up about 2 cups of fresh strawberries, adding some Splenda (about 1/2 cup) and set them aside for a while at room temp to make a bit of juice.   Once that happened, I used my hand blender to mash up a bit of them-NOT ALL.  Next, I stirred in 1 1/4 tsp of Guar Gum, then put them in the microwave for about 3 minutes.  The cooking process simulated making jam.  My thought was that they would hold up longer.  We’ll see.

After removing the berries , I let them cool in the refrigerator until they  were thickened .

As before with my other cakes, I sandwiched the thickened berry filling between two layers of the whipped cream frosting.  If you notice, I also used my decorator tip to make ring of shells around the top of the cake edge to help hold the remainder of the berries in place.

We just tested the product and found it definitely eatable.  🙂

*Just a note to let you know that I found that using a bit more baking powder in the basic yellow cake doesn’t hurt a bit.  This time I used  1 tablespoon for the single layer.  I will update the recipe book accordingly.

Happy Baking!

J

Another Chocolate Cake?

Since updating my recipes I have been dying to try my idea for a Cinnamon Mint Chocolate cake, so today I indulged.

This cake measure slightly over 4 inches in height

What changes did I make to the original?

Bake 345 degrees for approx 30-35 minutes.
Prepare 8 inch by 2 inch high round pans with liner(parchment or wax paper.    Do not grease sides. Moisten and fold towel strips. Stretch strip around pan and pin. Set aside.

By the way,  this recipe with make two nice 9 inch layers as well.

Cake
Dry ingredients-
9 tablespoons pure cocoa powder (9)
2 cups of oat flour (Arrowhead flour = 108)
4 tsps baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp Guar Gum
1 tsp salt
2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

1/3 cup of dry milk powder

2 cups – Splenda ( measured then pulsed to fine powder)
6 large eggs
½ cup Bestfoods Mayonaise (0)
½ cup oil(0)
4 tablespoons Sugar Free Maple Syrup (0)

1 1/3 cup  DaVince SF  Mint Patty Syrup
½ tsp vanilla

How to’s-  the cake

Turn on your oven!

Beat eggs, Splenda, syrups, mayo, oil, and powdered milk together for about 1 min.  Set aside.

Sift and measure your flour.  Return measured flour to sifter and add in other dry ingredients.  Sift again.  Place in mixing bowl.

Prepare pans ( don’t forget the towel trick)

Lastly-  make well in center of dry ingredients, pour in liquids, beat no more than one minute.

Pour equal amounts of batter in each pan and bake.

Frosting

2 cups of heavy whipped cream

1 or 2 tbsp of SF vanilla pudding mix ( I use 1 tbsp)

1 tsp of mint flavoring ( or more, depending on how minty you want your frosting)

1/2 -2/3 cup of Splenda ( measured, then pulsed to fine powder)

How to’s- the frosting

Pour about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of your cream into mixing bowl.  Add in other ingredients and stir with a spoon or spatula to blend.   Beat  on high speed until mixture begins to feel heavy.  This will be a true “butter cream.”

Enjoy!

PS – Here is a tutorial for making your own baking pan jackets.

Baking Pan Jackets

 

 

J

 

The Perfect Layer

As you know, as one who is always striving for perfection, I tried the alterations mentioned in the last post when making my Cinnamon Chocolate cake.  I have updated the changes in my e-book (just click on the tab above) so you can try it too.

The cake layer you see in the picture is in a 8 by 2 inch round pan.  I used wax paper in the bottom, and surrounded the pan with my towel on the sides, baking it at 345 degrees for 30 minutes.   I also mix the Splenda in with the liquid ingredients to further insure that it was dissolved.  You can see that the cake  raised beautifully, and there is no mountain in the middle.  I seriously don’t think that I can do any better than this.  At least for me, it is time to stop dink’n around.

The depth of the layers are about 1 1/2 inches, making a perfectly acceptable cake for a great presentation.  Look’s is everything, you know!  🙂

I hope you with try the recipe.

Both cakes, the yellow (pineapple version) and the chocolate have gotten rave reviews from my family.  No one can believe that they are low carb.

By the way, I think I will add a bit of cinnamon to my chocolate whipped cream frosting when I put it together this afternoon.

Happy Baking!

I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the whipped cream frosting, and sprinkled a bit more on the top.  Yum…….!

This recipe would work just fine in 9 inch pans, although it would be slightly less in thickness- but it’s the taste that counts.

I also think that next time I might try adding some mint extract in the cake and icing, as chocolate and mint go so…. good together.

J

J’s Moist Sponge Cake

I have been working on a recipe for a moist sugar free sponge cake, and I think I finally have it.  Sticking with the Mayonaise idea I share with you in making my Chocolate Cinnamon cake, I blended it with some melted butter and infused it into a simple sponge cake recipe.

Next, I added a sugar free citrus flavor to my whipped cream frosting, and got the fork out.  Yummmmm!!!

My husband just loved it.

Another reason that this is a winner, is that it can be flavored with whatever you wish- lemon, orange, vanilla etc, using zest or extract. You can also add a packet of the Citrus- on the go to your dry ingredients.

The carb count for this creation works out to 6 carbs per serving, or 1/12th of the cake-that includes the frosting.

* One thing that I did for this cake was to grind my Splenda in the processor before measuring it.  It seems to dissolve better with this method.

As for the assembly method, use what ever works best for you to get the most volume from your eggs.  I more or less use the foam cake process here, but you could separate your eggs and follow the American sponge cake method.

As you can see I served it with slightly thickened Manderine orange slices on the side.  I have included how I fixed them in the recipe.

Enjoy!!

J’s Moist Sponge Cake with Citrus Frosting

J’s Low Carb Recipe e-book

J’s Low Carb Chocolate Cinnamon Cake II

This version of the cake is iced with a combo of sugar free vanilla pudding, and whipped cream.  The icing can be made by adding 2 tablespoons of the pudding mix, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup of Splenda, to 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream.  Just blend this mixture with a spatula until smooth then pour in the remaining cream from your pint carton(1 and 1/2 cups), and beat  until fluffy.

Total carb count with 2 tablespoon of mix = 12, adding 1 carb to each portion of cake.

  You can increase the amount of pudding mix to a full package if you want a heavier consistency-either way, it tastes great.

Total carb count with whole package of mix = 24, adding 2 carbs to each portion of cake.

Note **  This time, before making my cherry topping with the can of sour cherries, I actually pour off the amount of water, draining the cherries, and measured the amount.  I found that the can had about 2/3 cup of liquid.  Using 1/3 cup of the water, I stirred in 1/2 tsp of Guar gum, and 1/2 cup of Splenda, returned the drained cherries to the mix, then place it in the refrigerator to cool and set.

If after refrigerating the mixture, you find it a bit runny, don’t hesitate to stir in a bit more Guar gum, just be careful, add only 1/8th tsp at a time, stir it in an let it set in the refrigerator before attempting to add more.  The least you have to add is better.

My husband loves both versions of the cake, and stands in the kitchen waiting for the finished product.  For him, this is afternoon snack and an after dinner treat.

Poor man!!

* Tip- serve this cake at room temp.

Here is an updated version of my e-book which includes this cake recipe for 9 inch pans as well.

J’s Low Carb Recipe E-book

Happy eating!

J

Chocolate Cherry Cinnamon Cake

I have been tweaking this cake recipe for some time and finally came up with a much moister version, so I had to share it with you.

What’s the secret- mayonaise.

It seems that most of the recipes that use artificial sugars are much drier than those that have the “real’ thing as an ingredient.  So….., to solve that problem I found that adding Mayonaise not only makes it more moist but does not add any carbs to the end result.

I works for me!  My husband noticed the difference right away.  In fact, that was his first comment.   He also loves the cherry filling.

Everyone should eat so well!

Here is the recipe.

Chocolate Cherry Cinnamon Cake

Enjoy!

J

Tweaking a Recipe- Low Carbing It!

I recently came across a great chocolate chiffon cake recipe, but needed to down grade the carbs a bit.

Here is a link to the original recipe from “Joy of Baking.”

The first issue was making the cake four.

I substituted Arrowhead Mills oat flour for the 2 cups, sifted it, removed 1 tablespoon, and replaced that tablespoon with one tablespoon of cornstarch.  I replace the sugar with 3/4 cup of Splenda, then sifted all the dry ingredients together to get it as fine as possible.  With only these 2 changes, I followed the cake recipe adding the second half(3/4 cup) of the sugar(Splenda) to the egg whites.

The next major change was baking the cake at 325 for only 45 min.  As most of you know, using sugar substitutes sometimes requires altering the baking time.

The cake turns out great.

For the icing I used 4 ounces of unsweetened Bakers chocolate(broken into small pieces), with 3/4 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup Splenda, 1 tsp vanilla.  I microwaved it for 1 minute, gently stirring the mixture to melt the chocolate.   After adding 1 cup of Erythritol, and 1 tablespoon of butter( to replace the corn syrup),I return it to the microwave for 30 seconds, then stirred it again until it was smooth.

While the chocolate glaze was cooling, I mixed the chocolate whipped cream filling–here, again just substituting the sugar.

I assembled the cake as directed, but used all the cream filling in the center instead.  I finished it with the cooled sugar free chocolate glaze (Ganache).

Here is a photo of the finished product.

Total carbs for 1/12 of cake is about 10-11 carbs per slice.  Not bad!!

My husband thought it was really yummy.  He did suggest that the next time I make it (soon he hopes)that I double the filling recipe and ice the whole cake with it.  And….this is a guy who doesn’t especially like whipped cream.

*Note- I stored my cake in the refrigerator because of the whipped cream filling.  I always remove it when I am cooking dinner so that it come to room temp before I serve it.  This way the icing isn’t too hard.

Happy cooking!

J

Fluffy Low Carb Frosting

One of the things that keeps us from sticking to the “low carb” way, is that it takes a real effort, and some added expense to keep those “special” products in the house.  It is my hope that my recipes will be such that except for a very few items, you will be able to tweak your own recipes with as little effort as possible.  One of these options is keeping Guar gum on hand, and using it to replace part of the cornstarch in your recipes.

Case in point-  I used 1/2 tsp of Guar gum to replace 1 tbsp of cornstarch in the recipe below.

This afternoon I wanted a recipe for a fluffy buttercream frosting, so I pulled out my mom’s recipe which had a flour and milk base.  As an experiment, I mixed

2 Tbsp of milk powder (2.25 per Tbsp = 4.5 carbs)

1/2 cup water,

1Tbsp cornstarch (7 carbs per Tbsp)

1/2 tsp of Guar gum(0).

I cooked it to a paste, cooled it to room temp, press it through a sieve, then beat it together with 1 cube of room temperature butter, 1/2  cup Splenda and 1/2 tsp vanilla, on high until it was fluffy- about 5 minutes.

It turned out great- the formula worked.  This of course is a half recipe.  So by doubling this you end up with about 23 carbs for the entire frosting recipe.  Spread over an entire cake, divided by 12, you are only adding about 1.9 carbs to each slice.

Next time I make it, I will dink around with the milk portion, maybe substitute half of it with heavy cream and water.  I have learned to be careful with this, as in some puddings it has a tendency to change the texture.  My husband doesn’t like it, as it dilutes the flavor considerably-especially chocolate pudding.  I will let you know if it works well and update this post as to the results.

This is a yummy butter cream without the cream cheese taste.

Yes, you can use 8 ounce of cream cheese, 1 cup of butter, along with Splenda(or your favorite substitute) and vanilla.

My husband prefers this version, especially as I use it to make a SF black forest cake with SF cherries on top.  Yumm!

J

One Muffin to Another

I came home from church today with Bran muffins on my mind, so starting from the recipe I developed for my “Almost Cornmeal Muffins,” I began to tweak a few of the basic ingredients and came up with this.

The recipe yields 10 small muffins, which have 6.6 carb a piece.  They are great with SF jam, or peanut butter. I also believe they would be wonderful with a ham dinner, or perhaps your Thanksgiving feast.

You could make 6 larger ones, but will have to count them at about 10 carbs each.  However, they are still much less than the originals.

You might notice that I have Guar gum in the recipe.  I use it as a binder for the dry ingredients.  I personally use Bob’s Red Mills brand of this product.

Upload recipe here. J’s Oat and Bran Muffins

J’s Low Carb e-book

I’m on a roll!!

Enjoy!

J

PS- By the way, that jam that you see is Mock Strawberry made from my green tomatoes.  Yum!

** If you are a knitter, don’t forget to check out “Creative Knitting” via the link in the left hand column of this site.