Orange-Cardamom Tea Cakes

While looking for keto friendly tea service food recipes I stumbled upon this one and thought the flavor combination sounded good so I decided to try it.

Notes:

• I used butter to grease the muffin tin instead of spray oil because I didn't have spray, and it worked pretty well. Some of them had some trouble releasing from the tin but none got significantly ruined. You can run a plastic knife around the edge as they're cooling to help them come out more easily. I would not use paper liners because I think they'd just stick to the paper.
• I ended up with 11 cakes using a muffin tin. The recipe does not give a yield; it only said she used a mini bundt pan with space for 12 cakes, and I think with holes in the middle like a mini bundt cake you probably would get 12 cakes.
• I was a bit worried at the small amounts of fat and moisture in the recipe and the batter was indeed pretty thick, but it still resembled thicker muffin batter and they turned out fine.
• I used Truvia erythritol/stevia granules and it turned out well. Not too sweet tasting, and no excessive browning.
• I used unsweetened, unflavored almond milk. 
• My cakes took exactly 20 minutes to bake.
• I made a glaze out of a small amount of powdered sugar substitute, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a sprinkle of cardamom but I don't think I'd do it again as it was too sweet. I think a cream cheese based one would be really nice, or the coconut cream based one they suggest.

Verdict: Overall they turned out better than expected, and I would make them again. I might add some more cardamom in a future batch or consider grinding it fresh for a more intense flavor. I also think a lemon-poppyseed variation would be really good. My partner tried them and liked them, and  thinks other people would not know it's gluten free/keto unless you were to tell them.

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RECIPE: Low-Carb Orange Cardmom Tea Cakes (Annissa Slusher, Simply So Healthy)

Weight equivalents:

• 2 cups almond flour = 200 g
• 1/2 cup sweetener = 105 g
• 2 tbsp coconut oil = 28 g 

Tiramisu Cake

We visited a gluten free bakery and cafe on vacation in Florida that advertised keto friendly baked goods. When we arrived there was a long line to order, and then when it was our turn we were informed they were not actually able to make any of the hot food we wanted (disappointing). They also didn't have any keto friendly sweets in the bakery cases as far as I could tell while we waited about 15 minutes in line to be served. We asked anyway and the cashier looked confused, but then someone working there said the tiramisu cake was keto friendly so we said we'd get one. I had only seen gluten free ones specifically labeled as containing regular sugar in the case, and I'm pretty sure she just gave us one of those that I'd seen. This was all immensely frustrating but there was a big line behind me and I didn't want to make a stink so we paid $35 for our tiny fucking 4" cake and brought it back to the condo. I ended up eating it anyway and even if it had sugar in it (which I'm pretty sure it did because it felt a LOT more filling than keto baked goods), it was quite delicious and didn't really throw me off ketosis, so no harm done I suppose. But I'm not going back there.

Anyway, I was hungry for tiramisu cake after getting home and decided to try to make my own that I knew would be actually keto friendly.

Notes:

• Another NO for Swerve products. The powdered sugar substitute weighed down the frosting on the outside and made it taste grainy. I attempted it again with 100% erythritol as the sweetener with better results but still a little grainy. I would like to try it with the erythritol-monkfruit powdered sugar substitute next.
• I sprinkled cocoa powder in between the layers before putting the second one on and that was nice. 
• I tried dipping the cake layers in cooled brewed coffee before assembling and frosting for some extra coffee flavor (like you do with the ladyfingers in regular tiramisu), and it did NOT work. Didn't soak in at all and made a big mess and was risky because the cake is already a little crumbly. Not worth it.
• I made a 6-inch round cake the first time with 2 6-inch springform pans, and the second time because I wanted something less fussy to line and clean, I baked the layers in two rectangular metal loaf pans. Both turned out nice.
• I want to try putting chocolate shavings on top sometime instead of cocoa powder.

Verdict: I have tried it twice now and like it, but will need to keep working at it to make it exactly what I want it to be. I also think a matcha variation would be delicious, with prepared matcha instead of coffee and matcha powder instead of cocoa powder.

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RECIPE: Keto Tiramisu Cake (The Hungry Elephant)