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Tag: cake

Baking Christmas Goodies 2019

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday and the one I prepare/bake for the most. The toughest decision each Christmas isn’t usually what presents to buy (although it is a tough one!) but what to make for each of the 4-5 Christmas’s we celebrate each year. Do we go with traditions? Try something new?

So this year, it was split. We made 2 traditional items, made some new things, and I made a traditional item of someone else who is no longer with us, as well as one in remembrance of her.  It’s always a collective effort to have everything for each Christmas and every year, I’m the sweets girl.

So here is the rundown of what I prepared for Christmas this year:

If that menu doesn’t put you in a sugar coma, I don’t know what will! And that’s only what I made. There will be an abundance of food from everyone else too.

It made so much food, I think we will be eating leftovers for weeks. Why is it there is always WAYYYY too much food every time we get together? Doesn’t matter if it’s a birthday, holiday, or just because. I always over estimate how much I will need.

So here are pictures of all my goodies. The only thing that I wasn’t crazy about was the Snowball cookies. They just seemed to dry and crumbly. I actually added an egg to the dough too, because it was all dry little crumbles. My daughter loves it, but that is something we probably won’t make again.

If you need any tips for your holiday baking, comment below!

Local Business Review: Lexy’s Low Carb Goodies

Being on a low carb/Keto diet can be hard, especially when there aren’t a lot of ‘ready made’ options and you have to make things from scratch to have Keto-friendly food. I personally love to cook and bake, but I suffer from lack of time. So if you’re like me with zero spare time, or you are a little more challenged when it comes to cooking/baking, I only have one thing to say to you —

Lexy’s Low Carb Goodies

If you are anywhere near Warren, IL and you are a low carb/Keto-er, you need to check her out. In fact, go to her Facebook business page here.

She gets an A+ from me. Or 5 stars. Whatever you want to call it. She’s AWESOME. She is not only knowledgable about low carb/Keto, she is incredibly responsive, friendly, accommodating, affordable, and the best part? Her stuff tastes DELICIOUS.

Look at all these goodies –

Lexy's Low Carb Goodies.jpg

Even my non-Keto family ate and enjoyed them! I’ve ordered from her twice already and plan to order more again. She makes all kinds of stuff and her Keto pizza crust is to die for as well! No one could tell the difference!

So seriously – what are you waiting for? Hit up Lexy to try some of her scrumptious Low Carb Goodies!! (Especially the swiss roll OMG!)

Keto Vanilla Almond Cake with Caramel Frosting

While I think Thanksgiving should have some sort of pumpkin dessert (like my yummy Keto Pumpkin Bars w/ Cream Cheese Frosting, my husband is not a pumpkin fan whatsoever. So once again, I took to Pinterest to find a Keto friendly dessert he would like.

Then – I found it – it was a cake with a homemade caramel frosting. Caramel is one of my FAVORITE things, so this one was a no-brainer for me. Luckily, I already had most of the ingredients, I just needed to get some unflavored whey protein powder to make this cake. From what I had researched, the protein powder helps with the texture, making it more like a gluten cake.

I was so excited and nervous about making this cake. It sounded SO good, but I’ve made things in the past that sounded good but were so gross I had to throw it in the trash. The fact that I was taking this to a relatives Thanksgiving dinner had me feeling tons of pressure to take something that even the non-Keto-ers would enjoy. And they did. Everyone that ate it commented how good it was. THANK GOODNESS!!

You’ll need two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans. I like to use either Air Bake (which are hard to find anymore) or a Wilton round cake pan.

You bake the cakes until their are set and while they are in the oven, you can make the caramel sauce and they’ll both cool together. Once cooled, fill, layer, and frost – that’s it!

Cakes out of oven
Cakes out of the oven and cooling – notice how they started pulling away from the sides? Made it super easy to get them out!
Making Caramel SauceCaramel sauce was just about done here. You couldn’t tell it was sugar free at all!!!
Finished Caramel CakeThis is what it looked like when it was done. I just used a regular plate to put it on and then stored it in a Cake Saver.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

So here’s what you need:

Cake
2 1/2 cups Almond Flour
1/4 cup Coconut Flour
1/4 cup unflavored whey protein powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter
2/3 cup Lakanto Classic Monkfruit sweetener
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

Frosting
1/4 cup butter
6 tbsp Lakanto – Golden Sweetener
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/4 salt

* Preheat the oven to 325F. Cut parchment paper to fit inside your round cake pans and spray the top of the paper and the sides with cooking spray.
* In a bowl, put in all dry ingredients and mix.
* In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and monkfruit. It will get fluffy. Then add in eggs, one at a time and mix well after each addition.
* Add in half the dry ingredients, mix. Then add half the almond milk, mix. Repeat.
* Put half the batter in each pan and spread out. The batter is thick. Smooth it out and bake approx 25-30 mins. It will just start getting golden around the edges and may pull away from the sides like mine did.
* Cool in pans about 10-15 minutes, then flip to a wire rack to finish cooling.

* While the cake is in the oven, heat a medium saucepan over medium-medium high heat. Melt butter and add in golden monkfruit. Mix it well. Bring to a boil and boil about 5 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom!
* Take off the heat and stir in the cream, make sure to stir constantly. Sprinkle the xanthan gum over the top and continue to stir until it’s all incorporated or you’ll end up with lumps.
* Put back on the stove and bring back to a boil for 1-2 minutes. Remove and let cool. Once it is cooled, add in two tbsp water and mix well.

Now you’re ready to assemble!

  • Put one cake down and pour about 1/3 of the caramel on top. Spread out.
  • Top with other cake and pour the rest of the caramel on it, smoothing on the top and the sides.

That’s it! It was a super easy cake. Waiting for everything to cool took the longest!

And it was a BIG hit!! Even my 4 year old loved it!
Emma eating cake

Oh, and did I mention it’s only 2 net carbs for a serving??!! You can’t beat that for dessert!! And I found it was very filling!

Caramel cake nutrition.jpg

*Disclaimer: I am NOT a certified nutritionist and your nutritional information may vary depending on exact ingredients you use. I highly recommend you calculate your own and just use this as a guideline. The links for products are affiliate links so I may earn a very small commission if you purchase through them – but it doesn’t cost you anything additional!