Gluten Free Lower Carb Vanilla One Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This is a little cake I made yesterday for my honey and our 7 year anniversary.  I made the cake low-carb and used lower g.i. coconut sugar for a real tasting frosting.  You can grind the sugar in the coffee grinder.  I didn't clean it out perfectly first- a little mocha flavor was a plus!  So - yes, this is a quick and dirty cake.  You can use coconut sugar in place of the erythritol as well- or even do half and half.  I've done all versions of this vanilla cake myself.  You could use erythritol for the icing and grind it the same way but I think it will taste weirdly cool, so it's your call. 

I used an 8 inch heart shaped pan- didn't get a pic of the whole cake but I think you could use any shaped pan sized 7" - 9".  Also, you can make this dairy free.  I used a high quality expeller pressed coconut oil for the frosting since I ran out of butter, and it was fantastic.  Why do I use expeller pressed? Because it has no coconut taste so it doesn't change your recipe.  Also, it's a bit cheaper than the virgin coconut oil. I buy mine from Tropical Traditions, where they use the old fashioned method for extracting the oil.  No chemicals. If you don't yet know the benefits of coconut oils, please go google-crazy on that topic and educate yourself.  It's the only oil I use besides grass-fed butter and lard from pastured animals.
I put effective carb counts for 10 servings, but we really got a lot more than that out of this cake.

Side note: I found that Icelandic brand Smjör butter is entirely grass-fed and a little cheaper than Kerrygold. Go get you some! Score!

TIP: Coconut cakes are more moist the second day and must be kept in the refrigerator or they will get so moist, they will mildew.

GF Low Carb Vanilla Cake, one-layer

18.9 ECC entire cake made with erythritol & milk, 1.9 carbs for 1/10 slice, 8.9 ECC with frosting (coco sugar)

6 TBLS Butter, melted and slightly cooled or or High Quality Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil, semi melted or melted

6 eggs, separated

2 TBLS whole milk, half and half or coconut milk

½ cup erythritol or 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar or mix of two

½ teaspoon NuNaturals stevia or  ¼ teaspoon of another brand

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ cup coconut flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

sifter

parchment paper

Line your 7"- 9" cake pan (if it is not silicone) with oiled or buttered parchment paper (oil both sides).  You can use a pen to mark where it touches the sides then cut it out to make it fit perfectly.   Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 C).

Whip egg whites in a clean and dry bowl until soft peaks form, set aside.  In a separate bowl, whip butter or oil.  Then add the egg yolks, milk, erythritol or coco sugar, stevia, salt, and vanilla and blend.  

In a [gf] flour sifter, combine coconut flour and baking soda and sift into ingredients. Mix well to ensure no lumps. Beat in a 1/3rd of egg whites to soften the batter, then fold in rest.  Pour batter into prepared pan and  bake for 12 - 25 minutes, depending on the size of your pan, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

Chocolate Frosting with coconut sugar

makes enough to cover this cake. carbs with half & half =  7 g carbs per slice (1/10 cake) but lower g.i. than sugar.

 

3 Tablespoons [grass-fed] butter, or expeller pressed coconut oil, soft

1/4 cup cocoa

1/3 cup coconut palm sugar

2 Tablespoons whole milk, half and half or coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

coffee grinder or nut grinder

Wipe out inside of grinder (a little coffee will taste good in the frosting, if you wish).  Pour 1/3 cup coco sugar and grind until powdered consistency.  Set aside.

Whip butter or oil until fluffy (if you are using the oil, you can harden it in the fridge a little before whipping).  Add rest of ingredients including powdered sugar and blend well.  Add more milk if it's too thick.  Spread on cooled cake. Store cake in refrigerator.