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let them eat cake

 
Posts: 80
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Marie Antoinette had a good thought there ... at least for keto diets, in my opinion.  
Over the past couple of weeks, I've had a keto almond/coconut flour cake stashed away in the fridge, eating a slice when I get hungry and just want to eat SOMEthing.  Surprisingly, I've found having a two-layer keto CAKE available is good for breakfast, lunch, dessert at dinner.  
The other nice thing about a keto cake as an instant keto snack food, is that it can be homemade, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and a two-layer, 9" cake lasts quite a while even eating slices whenever.
The almond flour provides protein;  the coconut flour provides fiber;  a couple eggs are also in there, and from what I've been learning with keto cakes made with almond and coconut flour, they tend to be dry (at least, mine have tended so), so a ground-up vegetable amongst the ingredients, like carrots (carrot cake), zucchini, or pumpkin (canned) makes the cakes more moist and cakelike.  
I modified a carrot cake recipe I'd found online to use pumpkin and spices instead of carrots;  it was "okay," but still kind of weird.  So, today I'll try chocolate + zucchini.  
Just thought I'd mention this "have a cake" idea, rather than trying to make wraps or mozzarella-dough, over the span of a week or so, a cake seems to be a less time-consuming, more ... (hunh) ... sustainable option.    If you have room in your fridge, of course.  

Oh yeah, frosting ... cream cheese seems the best keto choice.  I was remembering a kind of frosting I used to make where you made a pudding with cooked flour + liquid, let it cool, then added confectioners' sugar and butter;  it was really a delicious kind of frosting.  Another thing I used to do, making frosting, was just to use half confectioners sugar, half dry milk.  So ... why not try making a pudding and then add cream cheese and stevia (extract)?  
This guy mentions xanthan gum can make easy puddings, but important to use the right amount:
https://www.myproana.com/index.php/topic/3811119-xanthan-gummake-any-liquid-into-pudding-vegan-im-obsessed/

I tried making a thick pudding with xanthan gum.  First in biggish bowl, whip up 2 8-oz cream cheeses and 4 oz. butter (slightly heated in microwave), then, in a separate bowl, make a xanthan gum pudding (1-1/2 tsp. xanthan gum, about 1 cup evap. milk), then pour pudding into mixture of cream cheese and butter ... add stevia extract ... whammo, explosion!  it expanded.  and was too thick.  I added some cream.  End result, odd textured frosting, very damp, as the guy in the link above mentions, texture kind of mucus-ey.  (sigh).    (one thing I've read about xanthan gum is, things made with it will thin out with SHEAR ... (there's a word but can't remember what it is for that);  then when the SHEAR (as in whipping it) stops, it will thicken up.  So it's tricky.

anyhoo.  Today will try chocolate.  Less xanthan gum for the frosting, or maybe try glucomannan (which I like for fiber, anyway).  

anyway.  The biggest point I'm trying to make is, if you can bake a keto cake you like, it's a quick and easy keto thing to eat and even pretty healthy, that lasts a reasonably long time.
 
gardener
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Have you tried using agar agar as a thickener for your pudding? Another alternative might be chia seeds if you don’t mind the crunch?
 
master pollinator
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Psyllium husk works well, too, provided it's whole husk, not powder. The powder goes gritty, the husk just thickens things nicely.  It looks high in carb, but it's almost all fiber, and you only need a teaspoon or so.
 
gardener
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My sister makes stabilized whipped cream by adding a little gelatin.  It makes a very good substitute for cool whip in her recipes. I suspect it might work better than xanthan gum seems to. Gelatin is actually very healthy for your joints and skin, too.
 
Rusticator
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My favorite keto mug cake (started with a couple other people's, but I modified it so much, it's nothing like the originals) is a flourless chocolate one, that's yummy on its own, but I often play with it, adding (stevia sweetened) chocolate - or other flavored chips, nuts, cinnamon, or whatever strikes my mood, and it's the only reason I've any interest in keeping my microwave - but it could be done in an oven, too. I've topped it with a lightly textured cream cheese frosting for it, or whipped cream, lightly sweetened clotted cream, strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry glaze, or keto ice cream (rebel is my favorite brand, or I'll make my own). But, you need at least a 16oz mug, or you'll be scrubbing your microwave. T = tablespoons, t = teaspoons, C = cups

2T butter, melted in the mug, swirled & added to
1 jumbo egg, 1 duck egg, or 2 smaller eggs
3T unsweetened cocoa or cacao
3T powdered Swerve
1/2t vanilla (or other flavor - orange, cherry, almond, etc) extract
1/2t baking powder
1 pinch salt
Up to 1t spices (100% opt)
Mix very well.
Add up to 1/2C other add-ins (choc chips, nuts, dried or freeze dried berries, etc), if you like, and pour back into mug. Microwave 60 seconds. I much prefer eating it warm, so I usually only give it 10 minutes or so to cool, so ice cream or a thick syrup-type topping, if anything, works best. I mix up the dry parts ahead of time, so it comes together quickly, when I'm in the mood.
 
Jenn Lumpkin
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Oh!  Cool!  a bunch of replies from y'all, oh boy oh boy yay!!!
I've never used agar agar;  mainly because of cost.
I really like gelatin.  Mostly lately I've been using it in homemade yogurt.  Whipping cream, even stabilized, doesn't seem like it would be thick enough to hold up the top of the cake, in between the layers, though  I've never done it.  
This is the thing with keto ... you're using a bunch of ingredients that are new-ish that you haven't used before 'cause of high fat which you didn't think was healthy ... before keto.  Whipping cream is delicious, at least I've always thought that in the PAST, but I've been whipping up a small cup of it for "dessert" several evenings in the past few weeks, and even whipping cream can get old!  (sort of) so I've started whipping less of it and eating it slower.  I still want something sweet after dinner;  it's probably life-programming but, like coffee first thing in the morning, it's one of the things I just don't want to give up.  
I just don't know about xanthan gum, is it healthy?  My go-to doc I read online is Mercola;  on here says:  
". . . xanthan gum, made by fermenting corn sugar with the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris. This gummy substance has a strange viscosity—it thickens and stabilizes a mixture, but when shaken or poured, it behaves more like a liquid.12 Xanthan gum is made using carbohydrates from corn, wheat, dairy, or soy, all of which are considered allergens, so I recommend avoiding this ingredient.

" As an aside, also steer clear of pet foods that contain xanthan gum, as your pets can suffer negative health effects from it as well. . . . "
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/08/joseph-mercola/dont-eat-these-ever/

oh, shoot.  
and I've had odd little pains in leg muscles lately which MAY be related to eating ... could it be the xanthan gum?  dunno.
so.  I think I'll try whipping cream + gelatin next time;  I like psyllium husk too;  might try that.  Chia?  I've made puddings with it;  but for frosting?  I just do not know!  
BTW, I looked at the ingredients in my two brands of cream cheese;  both of them have xanthan gum in them!  

btw, looks like there's a "disturbing trend" of food processing plants being attacked here in the U.S.  
https://www.bing.com/search?q=food+processing+plants+attack&cvid=d755487f2380406fbd63749f8137ef75&aqs=edge..69i57.11397j0j1&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=U531
 
Jenn Lumpkin
Posts: 80
Location: northern Arkansas
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BTW, I had made a chocolate-zucchini cake a few days ago, but again used xanthan gum/evap milk pudding + cream cheese + butter + stevia (extract) for the frosting.  

The chocolate-zucchini cake stuck to the pan pretty determinedly ... if making choc-zucchini cake in future, grease pan REALLY REALLY WELL I note to myself (and y'all).

Avoid xanthan gum in future I note to myself.  Though of course, y'all can just follow whichever "science" you prefer!   It's the American way!  

My pref. for cake is full-size;  ... one point I've been making is, a full-size cake can be refrigerated and eaten for quite a long time, cutting down on ...
getting out ingredients
opening ingredients
having to make things more often
closing and stashing away ingredients
having to think about and do the thing more often ...

The meme below is my current favorite, even applies to keto!  




questioning-science-IS-science.jpeg
[Thumbnail for questioning-science-IS-science.jpeg]
 
Or we might never have existed at all. Freaky. So we should cherish everything. Even this tiny ad:
A rocket mass heater is the most sustainable way to heat a conventional home
http://woodheat.net
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