The Best Keto Black Forest Cake
The Keto Black Forest Cake is my ultimate favourite cake to make during the holidays and my birthday.
Typically, an Authentic Black Forest Cake consists of 3-4 layers of chocolate sponge cake, filled with cherries and whipped cream. It’s also usually decorated with chocolate shavings, more whipped cream and cherries. Depending on where you buy the cake or who makes it, it’ll usually be made with fresh sour cherries, black cherries or maraschino cherries.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
- 3 9"/23cm springform pans
- Large round decorating tip
- Large star decorating tip
- 2 piping bags
- offset spatula
- hand mixer
- stand mixer
Ingredients:
- 10 cherries (or any other berries if you want a lower carb option)
Keto Chocolate Sponge:
- 8 medium egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 8 medium egg yolks
- 1 cup (170 g) Sukrin Gold
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) refined coconut oil (or butter, ghee, shortening)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar, lemon juice)
- 2 cups (240 g) blanched almond flour
- 1/2 cup (60 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1.5 tbsp espresso (optional but recommended)
- 1/2 cup (85 g) lily's chocolate chips (optional)
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Raspberry Jelly:
- 2 cups (260 g) raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) kirschwasser (cherry brandy) (optional)
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
- 1/4 tsp stevia powder (or monk fruit powder)
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (or guar gum)
- 1/2 tbsp gelatin
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 28 oz (800 g) cream cheese (3.5 Philly cream cheese blocks)
- 1.5 cups (360 ml) heavy cream
- 3/4 cup (180 g) powdered erythritol
- 1/2 tsp stevia powder (or monk fruit powder)
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
Chocolate Decoration:
- 1/2 cup (85 g) lily's chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp refined coconut oil (or butter, ghee)
- 0.53 oz (15 g) lily's dark chocolate bar (1/4 of one chocolate bar)
Instructions:
Chocolate Cake:- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line three 9"/23cm springform pans with parchment paper on the bottom and on the sides.
- In a stand mixer, add the egg whites and cream of tartar. Mix on high speed until soft peaks form.
- In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks, sukrin gold, coconut oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar. Mix well.
- Add the almond flour, cocoa powder, espresso, baking powder, baking soda and chocolate chips to the bowl and mix with a hand mixer. The batter will be quite thick.
- Add 1/4 of the beaten egg whites (meringue) to the chocolate batter. Mix with a hand mixer to loosen the batter a bit.
- Fold in the rest of the egg whites, 1/4 at a time, with a silicone spatula.
- Pour the cake batter into the three prepared cake pans. Make sure you put the same amount of cake batter in each so that each layer is the same height. I personally measured the batter beforehand and then divided it in three.
- Once you've poured in the chocolate cake batter into each pan, place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Take out of the oven once cooked and let cool down at room temperature for an hour before letting them chill in the fridge for minimum 2 hours.
Raspberry Jelly:
- While the chocolate cake is baking, make the raspberry jelly.
- Place all of the ingredients into a small pot and put to boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium and simmer for a good 5 minutes. Transfer to a metal bowl and put in the fridge to cool down at least 1 hour.
Chocolate Decorations:
- Over a double boiler, add the 80g/0.5 cup of chocolate chips and coconut oil in a heat proof bowl. Stir the chocolate and oil until fully melted.
- Add a piece of parchment paper over a baking tray. Pour the melted chocolate over and spread evenly with an offset spatula. This will be the chocolate shards decorating the side of the cake.
- Place the tray into the freezer and freeze for minimum 30 minutes.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Add the cream cheese to a large bowl and cream with a hand mixer. Add the vanilla, erythritol, stevia to the bowl and mix until nice and smooth.
- Add the heavy cream, a little at a time, to the bowl and continue to mix. Mix for a good 2-3 minutes. The frosting will thicken the more you mix.
- Place the frosting in the fridge until ready to use.
Assembling the cake:
- Put the 1st chocolate layer over a cake stand. Cream an even layer of cream cheese frosting all over the first layer. Add some cream cheese frosting to a piping bag attached with a large round decorating tip.
- Pipe a thick boarder (a dam) along the outside edge of your cake. This is so that the raspberry jelly doesn't leak out of the cake.
- Add 1/2 the raspberry jelly inside the boarder. Make sure the boarder is secure and that not jelly leaks out. Add the 2nd chocolate sponge over.
- Repeat. Cream, make a boarder and add the last 1/2 of raspberry jelly. Add the 3rd chocolate sponge over.
- Cream the entire cake with the frosting. There should be more than enough frosting to cream the entire cake. With the last bit of frosting, add it to a piping bag attached with a large star decorating tip and pipe 10 flowers all round the top edge.
- Add a cherry on top of each flower.
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel the chocolate bar over the cake in the middle so that chocolate shreds are all over the top of the cake surrounded by the cherries.
- Take the frozen chocolate out of the freezer. With a knife, cut strips of chocolate and quickly stick them to the side of the cake. *I had to do this part in my fridge because my house was too warm and the chocolate was melting right away*
- Once you've decorated all of the sides with chocolate, the cake is ready!
- I would let it chill an extra hour before serving so that the sponge has time to absorb all of that raspberry jelly and frosting flavours!
NOTES:
- Make sure to use refined coconut oil and not extra-virgin or else it'll leave a coconut taste in your chocolate sponge cake.
- Make sure the chocolate sponge cake and raspberry jelly is completely cool before assembling the cake or everything will melt and slide off the cake.
- Make sure you use sugar free chocolate to decorate it! Lily's, Keto bark, or Coco Polo are all great choices.
- The kirschwasser (cherry brandy) is optional.
- The chocolate chips inside the chocolate cake are completely optional.
- Feel free to use any other type of berries if you don't want to use raspberries. Any fruit will work for this recipe.
- The espresso can be left out, but the chocolate cake tastes much better with it.
- Instead of coconut oil, you can use butter, ghee, or shortening.
- Instead of stevia powder, you could use monk fruit extract powder.
- Instead of apple cider vinegar, you can use white vinegar or lemon juice.