We love birthdays. They are a time for celebrating, but for people living a low carb lifestyle by choice or by doctors orders (like diabetics), it's a tough time because they tend to feel left out since cakes with sugar can either spike their blood sugar or kick them out of ketosis.
In this post, we talk about how to have a celebration while on a keto lifestyle and a celebration cake that saves the situation. It’s low-carb, with zero added sugars but tastes just as amazing as regular cakes. Intrigued? Let’s dive in.
What is keto and why does it have to feel like you have limited choices?
The keto diet is a diet that involves consuming very low amounts of carbohydrates and high amounts of fats with the aim of inducing a metabolic state known as ketosis. Ketosis: it's a natural metabolic process where your body burns fats for energy instead of carbohydrates. When you restrict your carb intake to 20-50 grams per day and increase your fat intake, your liver begins producing ketone bodies which act as an alternative fuel source. As your body adjusts to this new fuel source, it starts burning stored body fat instead of the carbs you eat.
Cake is usually high in carbs due to the flour and the sweeteners used (sugar). Cutting carbs and reducing them to 20 – 50 grams per day means that cake will have more than the allowable amount of carbs per day. Which risks kicking you out of ketosis.
In this article, we look at what makes the ketogenic diet different.
Do a quick Google search and you’ll find a bunch of recipes teaching you how to make your own keto-friendly cakes at home. While most of these are pretty easy to follow no matter your skill level in the kitchen, what happens if you just want a delicious keto-friendly cake delivered straight to your table?
That’s where we come in. Not too long ago, we attended the celebration of a child who was diabetic and realised how out-of-place it was to not be able to particiapte in cake-related celebrations for a child. How do you explain to a child that cake is dangerous for them and if it is, why can all their friends have some? That’s when we came up with the idea for celebration cakes which taste just as delicious as regular cakes so no one ever has to feel left out again.
The two major ingredients in cake which makes it so high-carb and unhealthy are the flour (which is the largest ingredient in cake) and the sugar.
As a flour replacement which is high in carbs, we decided to use almond flour which comes from ground almonds which are sifted into a fine powder. It’s gluten-free and can help in reducingbad cholesterol and increasinggood cholesterol. It also reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and contains a healthy amount of Vitamin E. 1. Also, did we mention? It’s very low-carb. 1
Next, as a sugar replacement, instead of regular sugar, we used the sugar replacement–erythritol which contains almost zero calories (0.24 calories per gram vs regular sugar’s 4 calories per gram 2) and doesn’t spike blood sugar.
The result? A cake that can be enjoyed by a diabetic child and a cake low-carb enough to be enjoyed by someone on a keto diet.
Different Flavours
So how many different flavours can you make in a keto celebration cake?
We’ve got a few:
Naked Birthday Cake (Flavours: Lemon, Victoria Sponge and Chocolate)
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