As a home baker, I’m always trying to personalize what I create. Playing with ingredients and measurements can be tricky: it can go really well or really badly so when I find a super tasty base recipe that is simple enough to allow for experimentation, I’m ecstatic! I was thus filled with joy upon finding just such a recipe for bundt cake on Keto Connect. This is a simple recipe ideal for people who are new to baking— you mix, bake and it’s done! Plus, the flax milk can be replaced with any low-carb milk of your preference—almond milk is what I usually choose in such instances and it seemed appropriate here since I was also using almond flour.
The first variation I tried on the cake was the addition of orange essence. I used to make an orange box cake with my dad on weekends when I was a kid, and when I think about my childhood, I also think about that cake. To achieve the perfect orange bundt, I used the zest from two big oranges—I also used two TBSP of orange extract but I don’t think that contributed anything— which added texture as well as flavor. The cake came out a beautiful golden color and each bite tasted perfectly zesty.
The second variation was chocolate. This was a bit riskier because I tinkered with the dry ingredients. I left the almond flour alone but exchanged ½ cup of protein powder for ½ cup of cocoa powder, praying the similarity in their textures would mean they’d have the equivalent effect on the cake. And it worked! The texture and taste were just right for a chocolate bundt. Though I will say the erythritol I used in did have the standard cooling effect—as well as making the cake moist—which did not exist in either the original or orange versions of the cake. In general, I’ve found that cocoa enhances that sweetener’s cooling effect.
Finally, I tried lemon, which I assumed would be as simple as the orange but because lemons are considerably smaller than oranges, the zest of two fairly large lemons did not make the batter taste right. To compensate, I squeezed in the juice of a whole lemon. A big mistake! That altered the dry-wet proportions such that it had to bake longer than usual and became way too dense. So I tried again with more precision, adding the zest of two lemons but only two TBSPs of lemon juice, in which case the batter tasted exactly as I had hoped, and the cake baked up nicely and as tasty as the orange bundt.
All in all, the three variations on this recipe should give you enough room to play and be happy with the results. My next step will be testing out low-carb frosting options that compliment these variations. Once I find these cakes their rightful coatings, I’ll share them with you… stay tuned!