Low Carb Devil’s Food Cake Cupcakes with Crème Fraiche Frosting
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Low Carb Devil’s Food Cake Cupcakes with Crème Fraiche Frosting are light, fluffy, and deeply chocolaty with a slightly tangy, rich, and creamy frosting.
Some foods just sound so decadently naughty that the name alone makes you want to devour them (or at least intrigues you!).
Fried mac and cheese, fully loaded mashed potatoes, chocolate caramel peanut butter cheesecake, croissant French toast casserole, to name just a few. But not all indulgent-tasting foods are unhealthy!
These Low Carb Devil’s Food Cake Cupcakes with Crème Fraiche Frosting have a light, fluffy crumb with deep chocolate flavor. The frosting is creamy with a slight tang, and the perfect accompaniment to the rich chocolate cupcakes.
And the best part is, each frosted cupcake has just 3g net carbs per serving!
The Difference Between Devil’s Food Cake and Chocolate Cake
There are so many variations on chocolate cake, it’s hard to keep them all straight! When you think of Devil’s Food, what do you think of? For me, it’s a super dark chocolate cake (I guess I associate it with a black heart or something, lol!).
According to Huffpost, Devil’s Food Cake is more deeply chocolaty and a bit fluffier than regular chocolate cake. This is because Devil’s Food uses cocoa powder (instead of melted chocolate) and has a little more baking soda added.
The Best Low Carb Devil’s Food Cake Recipe
This recipe is a low carb version of a classic Devil’s Food Cake.
I use a combination of Swerve Confectioners and stevia glycerite as the sweeteners. I find that stevia helps reduce the “cooling effect” that erythritol (which is in Swerve Confectioners) can have. Additionally, erythritol helps minimize stevia’s bitter aftertaste.
For the dry ingredients in this recipe, I use a combination of almond flour with a touch of coconut flour. Cocoa powder also acts as a dry ingredient here, in addition to providing deep chocolate flavor.
Like a classic Devil’s Food, I used a touch more baking soda in this recipe than normal to help make the cake fluffy.
Devil’s Food Cake Frosting
When it comes to choosing frosting for this cake, the sky is the limit, and you can go with whatever your personal preference is.
If you don’t want to make Crème Fraiche Frosting, here are a few more delicious low carb frosting recipes:
Crème Fraiche Frosting
I used crème fraiche as the base of my frosting because I like the subtle tang that it adds.
I find that crème fraiche frosting is similar to cream cheese frosting, but with slightly more of a bright, tangy flavor.
Additionally, I find that crème fraiche frosting doesn’t set as stiff as cream cheese frosting.
Pro Tip: I recommend storing these frosted cupcakes in the fridge until about 10 minutes before serving because the frosting is quite soft at room temperature.
What Can I Substitute for Crème Fraiche?
If you can’t find crème fraiche, you can use the same amount of sour cream. However, the end result will be slightly tangier if you use sour cream.
Alternatively, you can make homemade crème fraiche with heavy cream and buttermilk.
Low Carb Devil’s Food Cake Cupcakes with Crème Fraiche Frosting
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Total Time: 55 minute Yield: 12 cupcakes
Low Carb Devil’s Food Cake Cupcakes with Crème Fraiche Frosting are light, fluffy, and deeply chocolaty with a slightly tangy, rich, and creamy frosting.
Ingredients
Devil’s Food Cupcakes:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- ⅔ cup Swerve Confectioners
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (dissolved in 1 teaspoon boiling water)
- ¼ teaspoon stevia glycerite
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural, not Dutch-processed)
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Crème Fraiche Frosting:
- ½ ounce organic cacao butter (melted)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- ¼ cup crème fraiche
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- ¾ cup Swerve Confectioners
Instructions
- For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325F and line a muffin tray with 12 paper liners.
- Cream together the butter and Swerve Confectioners in a large bowl, and then beat in the eggs, water, heavy whipping cream, vanilla, dissolved espresso powder, and stevia glycerite.
- Whisk together the almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and let the batter rest for 2 minutes.
- Divide the batter into the lined muffin wells. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just a couple crumbs, about 25 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, mix the butter and crème fraiche into the melted, still warm cacao butter. Stir in the salt and vanilla bean paste, and then the Swerve Confectioners. Cool to room temperature, and then place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the frosting and chill 30 minutes in the fridge (the frosting will stiffen a bit).
- Beat the frosting with a handheld electric mixer until smooth, and then frost the cupcakes.
- The frosting will soften at room temperature and stiffen in the fridge, so store the cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Let them sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.
NOTES
Net Carbs: 3g per serving (1 frosted cupcake = 1 serving)
Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Category: Dessert Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 198 Sodium: 118 Fat: 19 Saturated Fat: 9 Carbohydrates: 5 Fiber: 2 Protein: 4 Cholesterol: 61
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Hi, I'm Sarah! I believe you can have your cake and eat it too. For breakfast. If you're looking for healthy dessert recipes that are gluten free, refined sugar free, paleo, vegan, low carb, and/or keto, grab a spoon and pull up a chair!
Very delicious cakes!
I also add some vanilla cream it’s really yummy.
Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★