Hopefully, no matter how busy you’ve been and how easy or difficult you’ve got it lately, you still get to celebrate those little (or, occasionally, big) things in life. I am not saying that you’ve got to be a whiskey lover to do so, but I do feel that from time to time every one of us needs to take it easy and relax.
This keto-friendly whiskey cake can help you do just that and celebrate in the company of your friends. More than that, it lets you remain on the low-carb path at the same time. No need to gulp down gallons of booze. You can choose either to prepare this cake with just a fragrance of the Irish whiskey or soak the chocolate sponge cake with as much of the liquor (and/or coffee) as you wish to get some serious kick out of it.
Reasons to celebrate
Well, I’ve got at least three reasons to celebrate these days. I’ll let you borrow a couple of them: First, staying low-carb and staying away from junk and processed stuff for quite a while now. Second, St. Patrick’s is just around the corner! And I am not going to have any Guinness. Even if I wanted to “cheat”, the gluten in the beer is a big no-no for me. Irish whiskey hidden inside of a chocolatey cake comes as an awesome alternative!
The third reason is My Sweet Keto celebrating one year of existence! One year of creating keto recipes (some better than the others) and sharing them all (well, not the horrible ones) with you! I have made some pretty good stuff as well as many mistakes in the past year, but I’ve learned a lot and I continue learning. Speaking of learning, my fourth, and most important reason to celebrate is that I have recently successfully gained an MSc degree in Psychology! Now, psychology and cognitive neuroscience research have become the second (but the number one) career in my life, so one more reason to be happy … and feast.
Not a whiskey lover?
Well, do not turn away just yet. If you prefer any other type of liquor, use it instead of the Irish whiskey. Rum should do fine, for example. Avoiding alcohol altogether, use just coffee (1/2 cup more than what the recipe calls for). Want to make the dessert kids-friendly? While I do think the cake kind of loses its point if you get rid of all the “essential” ingredients, I also believe it is possible to make it kid-friendly and keep it good. Instead of coffee, you could use some sort of cocoa drink. By the way, do not be too amazed by the spices: in the end, I always wish I added more of those because they can hardly be tasted at all.
St. Patrick’s Day
Ok, since we are not drinking Guinness but are having some Irish whiskey, with the St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, why not dust the cake with some green matcha powder? Cheers!
Related: Alcohol on Keto Diet
Ingredients
Cake
- 12 tbsp. butter unsalted
- 14 tbsp. cocoa powder (3/4 cups + 2 tbsp., unsweetened)
- 1 1/2 cups brewed coffee
- 1/2 cup Irish whiskey
- 1 cup erythritol
- 1/16 tsp. stevia extract
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper finely ground
- 1/4 tsp. cloves finely ground
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate chopped
- 2 tbsp. Irish whiskey (optional)
Topping
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cups mascarpone cheese
- 2 tbsp. Irish whiskey
- 2 tsp. gelatine powdered
Instructions
Cake
- Heat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
Get all the ingredients ready.
Grease a 10-inch springform pan with some butter (I usually line it with parchment paper as well, just to be on the safe side) and dust with 2 tbsp. of cocoa powder.
- In a medium saucepan, combine coffee, Irish whiskey, butter, and the remainder of cocoa powder. Warm on medium high and whisk ocassionally until butter is melted. Whisk in erythritol and stevia until dissolved. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool completely.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, pepper, and cloves.
In another medium bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk together eggs and vanilla extract. Now, slowly whisk egg mixture into chocolate mixture.
- Add dry ingredients and whisk to fully combine. In the end, fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour (until a toothpick, inserted in the center, emerges clean).
Let cool on a wire rack.
Optional: Pour over another 2 tbsp. of whiskey. I do like this step to make the cake spongier and bring out more of the whiskey taste (as well as its kick!).
Topping
- Soak gelatine in 2 tbsp. whiskey. Let sit for 5 minutes then heat up a little until gelatine dissolves entirely.
- Using an electric mixer, whisk the heavy cream until fluffy. Mix in mascarpone cheese. In the end, add the gelatine and whisk until fully combined. Top the cake and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- Serving suggestion: I like to brew a cup of coffee to enjoy with the cake and to pour a couple of tbsps of hot coffee over the served piece of cake. Yum! In the end, it tastes and kicks like an Irish coffee cake!
Video
Nutrition
Hi there, I am wondering if you think I could bake this batter in a bundt pan, or if you think it may be too delicate for that. I’d like to make your cake with some sort of chocolate whiskey drizzle over the holidays. Thank you!!
Hi, Jenny!
I’ve never tried baking this in a bundt pan, but I’d give it a try, why not. You will probably need to adjust baking time but not necessarily, so make sure to use the toothpick method regularly after 1 hour of baking.
Happy holidays!
Happy My Sweet Keto Anniversary!
Congratulations!
I love your recipes!
It’s past St. Paddy’s Day, but I’m still going to give this recipe a try. Looks amazing! Even the sprinkling of matcha! Love it!!!
Hi, Robyn!
Thank you!
We still love this cake. I think that with a good quality Irish whiskey, it’s a great dessert for any time of the year. 😉