Keto Chocolate Cookie Dough Cake

This Easy Keto Chocolate Cookie Dough Cake recipe combines light and spongy fool-proof keto chocolate almond flour cake with layers of rich cookie dough frosting. Gluten-free and sugar-free, this keto chocolate layered cake comes together in under 40 minutes.

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Easy Keto Chocolate Cookie Dough Cake Recipe

This is the BEST keto cookie dough cake recipe EVER created!

Irresistibly rich chocolate sponge cake is layered between cookie dough flavoured high protein cookie dough frosting, studded with chocolate chips. Chocolate almond sponge cake smothered in healthy cookie dough frosting...this cake has it all!

It's like the perfect sunny day, served on a plate!

By taking my easy keto almond cake recipe and modifying it ever so slightly into an easy keto chocolate cake version and combining it with layers of keto cookie dough frosting (a slight modification of my keto protein cookie dough recipe), this keto chocolate cookie dough cake was created!

Easy Keto Chocolate Cake

There is a secret to making fluffy, moist chocolate keto cake.

Eggs.

Eggs are the key to making any keto sponge cake fluffy and sour cream and coconut make this keto cake super moist.

Tip - Make sure that all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start and then start by beating your whole eggs with the sweetener until the volume increases by three times.

Don’t overbeat the eggs, as this will result in a flat cake. You will know when your eggs are ready when the beaters hold a thick ribbon when removed from the bowl.

EASY KETO CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE INGREDIENTS

Almond flour - Make sure that you use superfine almond flour and not almond meal.

Whey protein powder - Using plain whey protein powder helps to add additional protein to the cake recipe which makes this cake light and fluffy. I use Cabot Plain Whey Protein powder but feel free to use any brand. If your whey protein powder is flavoured, reduce the amount of sweetener called for in this recipe. Do not use casein, pea or any other type of protein powder. If you don't have any plain whey protein powder, replace the protein powder with more almond flour. Your cake will not be as "spongy" but will taste just as good!

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - I used Toll House cocoa powder. Natural cocoa powder should list “cocoa” or “cocoa powder” as its only ingredient. In contrast to the acidic ph of 5 of natural cocoa powder, dutch-processed cocoa powder has a ph of 7 or 8. Dutch-processed cocoa powder will list the cocoa powder as “alkalized cocoa powder”, “dutch or dutch-processed cocoa powder” or will state “cocoa powder processed with alkali”. Typically, natural cocoa powder will work best in a recipe that calls for baking soda. If a recipe uses baking powder as its leavening agent, you can use either natural or dutch-processed cocoa powder in your recipe.

Baking soda - You will need 2 teaspoons of baking soda to help lift this gluten-free sponge cake and create the perfect sponge cake texture.

Xantham gum (optional) - Xantham gum is used in keto baking to replace gluten. You can omit this ingredient but your keto sponge cake may be slightly less "bouncy".

Salt - Use regular table salt or if you are using kosher salt, use slightly less than ¼ teaspoon.

Eggs - Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature as this will help to create the fluffiest sponge cake.

Sweetener - I use a combination of allulose and erythritol. Allulose can cause baked goods to brown quickly so if you are only using allulose, check your cakes at the halfway point and cover them loosely with foil if they are browning too quickly.

Sour cream - Use full-fat sour cream and make sure that it is at room temperature. IF your sour cream is not at room temperature, you can quickly heat it in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds.

Coconut Oil - Use refined coconut oil if you really dislike the taste of coconut. I personally do not believe that you can taste the coconut in this recipe but you can always play it safe.

Vanilla - You can not possibly make a sponge cake with the lovely flavour of vanilla. Feel free to increase the vanilla extract by an additional teaspoon if you want a vanilla-forward flavoured cake.

COOKIE DOUGH INGREDIENTS:

Protein Powder - To keep this edible protein powder plant-based, I used a combination of Apollo Cookie Dough Protein powder as well as Orgain Vanilla pea protein powder. You can use ANY plant-based protein powder or casein protein powder. I do not suggest whey powder as it contains enzymes that do not create the thick cookie dough texture that you want.

Butter and Peanut Butter - Since I am a certified peanut butter freak, I used a combination of butter and peanut butter. However, if you do not want your cookie dough to have a mild peanut butter flavour, simply replace the peanut butter with more butter.

Sweetener - I used a combination of Allulose and Brown Sugar Substitute. The allulose dissolves very easily which adds the sweetness necessary. The brown sugar substitute contains erythritol which does not blend in as well. These little crunchy crystalizes of sweetener particles mimick the same texture that you get when you eat raw cookie dough. Instead of using regular brown sugar, I used Lakanto Golden but you can also use Swerve Brown instead.

Salt and Baking Soda -  Even though this cookie dough can be enjoyed raw (unbaked), adding baking soda, makes sure that you can bake the dough. It also adds flavour and makes it taste more like regular cookie dough. If you don’t have it on hand, you can leave baking soda out.

Vanilla Extract — I use imitation vanilla extract in this recipe. Using real vanilla extract means that it contains alcohol. When you bake with real vanilla extract, the alcohol burns off and so you don't taste it. However, since we are not baking this cookie dough, imitation vanilla works best

Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips - You can use either dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate chips in this recipe. My favourite brands are either Lily's or ChocZero. You can also chop up a sugar-free chocolate bar and use it instead.

For detailed directions, click here for my amazing cookie dough frosting recipe.

EASY KETO Chocolate CAKE INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven and get three bowls - Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. making sure that the rack is in the middle of the oven. In one bowl, place the eggs and the sweetener. In the other bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and in the third bowl, combine the sour cream and coconut oil (this bowl can be fairly small).

Whip the eggs with the sweetener - As I stated earlier, you will want to beat the eggs with the sweetener for about 5 minutes or until the eggs have tripled in volume.

Alternate the dry and wet - Beat in half of the dry ingredients, followed by the sour cream/coconut oil mixture and then add in the remaining half of the dry ingredients. Beat until everything is incorporated.

Divide the batter - Grease 4 9-5-inch rectangular cake pans (I used Wilton pans) and divide the batter evenly between the four pans. You can also only use 1 13 x 9-inch baking dish instead and simply slice the large cake into 4 even-sized layers. If you do so, you will have to add additional baking time. Tip - Make sure that you grease your pans REALLY well or use parchment paper.

Bake! - Bake for 10-11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not overbake the cake. These layers are very thin so it will not take much to dry them out.

Allow to Cool - Remove the cake pans from the oven and place them on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes. Invert the cakes to remove them from the pan. Allow the cakes to fully cool.

Keto cookie dough frosting instructions

This recipe comes together in under 5 minutes. The longest part of this recipe is allowing the butter to soften. Seriously, that is the hardest step!

Step 1: Combine the butter, peanut butter and protein powder

Step 2: Add the powdered sweetener, vanilla, salt and baking soda

Step 3: Taste and add additional brown sugar substitute

Step 4: Fold in the sugar-free chocolate chips

Click here to view the entire post and detailed recipe for making this keto cookie dough frosting.

Assembling the Keto Chocolate Cookie Dough Cake

This is the easiest part! To assemble the cake, simply take a layer of the keto chocolate almond sponge cake and slather on some frosting. Repeat this until all the cake layers have been covered with the delicious cookie dough frosting. Use any leftover frosting to frost the sides of the cake and sprinkle with additional chocolate chips if desired.

Keto Chocolate Cookie Dough Cake Tips

• Make sure that the eggs and sour cream are at room temperature before you make the cake. Room temperature eggs beat better!
• Grease your baking pans REALLY well or the cakes could stick.
• Beat the eggs with sweetener for at least 5 minutes. The texture should be airy, yet stiff.
• Mix the xanthan gum with the almond flour to ensure that the xanthan gum does not clump together and form a gel.
• When adding flour, carefully add only half into the egg mixture. Lightly adding the flour will ensure you don’t overmix and compromise the fluffiness of your beaten eggs.
• Test to see if the cake is fully baked by pricking it with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, you’re good to go!
• Do not overbake the cake layers as they will turn out somewhat dry.
• If baking a single cake layer, make sure that you only cut the sponge cake when it's fully cooled to room temperature.
• If baking a single-layer cake, you may need to adjust the baking time.
• When making the cookie dough frosting, start with the lower amount of sweetener and add additional sweetener AFTER adding in all the ingredients. Different protein powders have varying levels of sweetness so you will need to adjust accordingly if you do not use the exact products listed.
• If the frosting is too loose, add additional protein powder or almond flour. If the frosting is too stiff, add some heavy cream. Make sure you are happy with the consistency BEFORE adding in the chocolate chips as it is much harder to incorporate ingredients once the chips have been incorporated.

MAKING GLUTEN-FREE SPONGE CAKE IN ADVANCE

This is the perfect cake to make a few days in advance. Store it for a few days on the counter in an airtight container. Or, it can be refrigerated for up to a week.

You can also freeze this cake for up to 3 months. Just make sure you store it in a flat box so it doesn’t lose its shape! 

You can also easily make the keto cookie dough frosting ahead as well and then simply assemble the cake whenever you wish.

Pro-Tip

Frosting frozen cake is easier than freshly baked cake. Also, if you have stored your frosting in the fridge, make sure to allow it to soften before trying to frost your cake. This should only take about 30 minutes at room temperature.

Storing this Easy Keto Chocolate Cake

This cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature (as long as your house is not too hot!) for 5 days and in the fridge for 7 days. I like to slice and store this keto cake in the fridge and then let a slice come to room temperature for about 15 minutes. Mr. Grumbles prefers the frosting firmer so he likes to eat it directly from the fridge.

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