When I was a kid, we weren't exactly rich. That included not having much choice of a dessert after lunch. Had a horrible sweet tooth, though. Well, I still do, apparently. I was brought up by my grandmother, and she would bake a cake for me for each birthday. But she would never ever bake chocolate and coconut-covered sponge cake squares. I absolutely adored those.
Now that I have been an adult for a while, I bake keto sponge cake quite often.
I would run into the original black and white sponge cakes back in the days when visiting friends for their birthdays, usually. I had no idea the dessert was Australian and that it was called Lamington.
When this black and white sponge cake is freshly baked, it has a distinctive yummy aroma of chocolate and coconut. If you ask my childhood memories, the aroma is incomparable to anything else.
How the keto sponge cake came to life
This recipe isn't trying to imitate Lamington squares. Well, it could happen that in a while I will try and bake keto Lamingtons, too. The Black and White Keto Sponge Cake squares just happen to remind me of my childhood. The aroma does it all! Did you know that smell is the only sense whose pathway doesn't travel through the brain's relay system, called thalamus? Instead, it travels straight to the brain. That is why smells can so quickly bring out seemingly long forgotten memories.
And that, dear reader, is why I am in love with these simple to make black and white squares. On a lazy weekend, I had an urge to bake, so I combined what I had at home at the moment. When done baking and realizing the aroma reminded me of Lamingtons, I decided to melt some more chocolate and sprinkle the squares with shredded coconut. I highly recommend you do the same!
How to make keto sponge cake
The basic procedure is pretty straightforward:
- Beat the eggs with sweetener on high speed until they get dense and creamy,
- Keep beating on medium-high and slowly add vanilla and nut butter until well incorporated,
- Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold in the sifted flour,
- Pour into a baking pan and bake at 320°F (160°C) for 20 minutes.
When baking black and white keto sponge cake, first take approximately ⅔ of the batter and bake it for five minutes. In the meantime, incorporate cocoa powdered into the remaining ⅓ of batter. Pour the dark batter onto the white (draw in some shapes if you wish) and bake for another 15 minutes. I urge you to top the cake with chocolate cream and shredded coconut when cooled!
Recipe tweaks
Keto sponge cake rules them all
Anybody just looking for a nice keto sponge cake that will serve as a base for any cake they desire, this might be it. Don't complicate any further, take those eggs, beat them creamy, add in nut butter, and carefully fold in the sifted flour. In this case, one can use almond flour alone. I like a nice portion of coconut flour in this recipe because it is meant to have some coconut aroma and texture.
If you are looking for the cake base only, have a look at how Keto Black forest sponge cake or Pistachio matcha sponge cake are made. It is quite simple, really. Take that springform pan and start baking. Plus, I can't stress enough how important it is to have runny nut butter. Thus, I love using macadamia butter which is runny enough by itself, especially when homemade. You can easily make your own macadamia butter. Almond butter is usually too dense, so you need to mix it with some more dairy butter or coconut oil, heat it up, mix, and make it runny. Cool to room temperature before adding to beaten eggs.
Recipe
Black and White Keto Sponge Cake
Ingredients
Sponge cake
- 6 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 dash salt
- ½ cup erythritol
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 4 oz macadamia butter - room temperature
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/16 teaspoon stevia extract - optional - to taste
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder - unsweetened
Chocolate cream filling
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3.5 oz 90% dark chocolate
Instructions
Sponge cake
- Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C).
Prepare the ingredients. Line the bottom of a baking pan (8" x 8" for example) with parchment paper.
- Using a stand electric mixer, beat the eggs and salt with the whisk attachment for 1 min on high speed. With the mixer on, gradually add ½ cup erythritol and continue beating on high speed a full 8 min. Halfway through, add cream of tartar. It will become thick and fluffy.
- After 8 minutes, bring the mixer speed down to medium-high and add vanilla extract, and macadamia butter. Mix until incorporated. Add sifted flours and fold in with rubber spatula just until incorporated. Do not over-mix. Watch for flour possibly sitting at the bottom of the bowl.
- Pour approximately ⅔ of the batter into the baking pan and bake for 5 minutes. In the meantime, add cocoa powder to the rest of the batter and mix on medium-high just until well incorporated.
- Take the baking pan out of the oven and pour in the cocoa batter in whatever pattern you desire. Bake for another 15 minutes or so. Do not worry if the toothpick, inserted into the center does not come out completely clean (but shouldn't be too sticky, either).
- Let the sponge cake cool on a wire rack. When cool, spread the chocolate cream topping on the cake.
Chocolate cream topping
- It is recommendable to prepare the topping in advance.
In a medium pot, heat the heavy whipping cream to near the boiling point. Take the pot off the heat. Add pieces of dark chocolate and mix with a spatula until the chocolate melts and dissolves completely. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and let it cool completely in the fridge.
Wait for at least an hour for the cream to become cold, so that it can mix well. When completely cold, whip it with a hand electric mixer and use it to top the cake.
Sprinkle with some shredded coconut and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
MORE KETO BAKING RECIPES TO TRY!
If you love this low-carb keto recipe, I recommend you also try my other recipes:
Robyn says
Oh my goodness! ❤️
Yasmin says
For your Black and white cake , your ingredients state 1/2 cup erythritol but you directions say 1cup. Which is correct?
My Sweet Keto says
Oops! Thank you, Yasmin, the typo is gone now: 1/2 cup is correct. I need to employ an editor soon. 😉