Low-Carb Angel Food with Buttercream Roses
Light, airy and sweet, this low-carb angel food cake with whipped cream frosting and buttercream roses is perfect for keto or Atkins or just eating!
This post is sponsored by Nielsen-Massey maker of fine vanillas and other flavorings. I am helping them spread word about the baking lessons in their “Better your Bake” series.
Thanks to Nielsen-Massy, I (who can’t draw a straight line) just learned to make buttercream roses. All to top off a low-carb angel food cake.
I can’t believe it all worked!
Yes, I often describe myself as the original kitchen klutz. If you check around my blog, you aren’t going to find anything like cute Christmas sweater cookies. So I was pretty nervous.
Without going into “how” I did this (since Nielsen-Massy does it so well in both words and video), let me tell you that my even first rose was usable. And each one got better.
The only “special equipment” required is a petal piping tip and optionally a piping nail (or you can use a wine glass) both of which I discovered I had (surprise) when I got down my (underused) decorating tin.
And you can use a zip loc bag if needed for a piping bag. (Which Nielsen-Massey also teaches you to fill.).
For the cake, I started with my vanilla lavender angel food cake, sans lavender, and switched out the flour and sugar. In the end, I had to reduce the sweetener, but then it worked fine. I topped it with whipped cream.
I love working with Nielsen-Massey because they push me (always successfully) outside my comfort zone.
And who doesn’t love roses! Including buttercream roses
Low-Carb Angel Food with Buttercream Roses
Ingredients
Vanilla Buttercream:
- 1 cup zero-calorie powdered sweetener
- ½ cup butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Couple drops red food coloring
Whipped cream:
- 2 ½ cups heavy cream
- ¼ cup zero calorie sweetener or to taste (granulated will work here)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Cake:
- 1 ½ cups egg whites from about 12 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup zero calorie sweetener blended in blender
- 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup whey protein powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- To prepare buttercream, mix all ingredients until well blended. Fill a piping bag with mixture and pipe 12 roses on to wax paper. Store in refrigerator.
- To prepare cake: preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut parchment to fit the bottom of a 9-inch tube pan and fit into the bottom of the pan. (Do not spray the pan or use a non-stick pan--the cake batter must "cling" to the sides to rise properly)
- Blend sweetener in blender to create a powdery texture.
- Using a sifter or fine mesh strainer, sift together the flour, whey powder, 1/2 cup sweetener, and salt.
- Whip the egg whites until foamy, then add the cream of tartar.
- Continue to whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Whip the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar into the whites, 1/4 cup at a time, until they form stiff but not dry peaks. Mix in the vanilla.
- Gently fold the flour mixture into the whites, about 1/3 cup at a time.
- Spoon the batter into the tube pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes. To be extra sure it is done, you can check for an internal temperature of 205-209 F.
- Remove from the oven and immediately invert the tube pan. If the pan doesn’t have “feet”, you can set it over the neck of a heavy bottle until cool.
- To prepare whipped cream, whip cream to soft peaks, then add vanilla and sweetener and whip to stiff peaks. Taste and adjust sweetness. Frost the cake.
- Remove buttercream roses from the refrigerator and divide them evenly atop the cake. Store any left overs in refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
- Mango Margaritas
- Beef Stir Fry with Rice Noodles
Will CARTON egg whites work?
Yes, they will.
Can any of this (½ cup coconut flour, ½ cup whey protein powder) be substituted for egg white protein powder with similar results? I hate using coconut flour and have egg white protein powder on hand! Thanks!
You know, cooking low carb can be so touchy it’s really risky to make substitutions. I’m thinking that coconut flour and egg white protein powder are probably pretty different.
That said, unless you experiment you won’t make great new discoveries. But you have to understand your ingredients and be willing to accept (sometimes a lot of) failure. I have spent the entire summer working on a mostly sugar free, frozen yogurt that’s as good as ice cream. Worth it in the end but frustrating at times. So I’ll leave it up to you what you want to underetake!
Oh my goodness! A keto frozen yogurt?!??! Will you share it with us?!?!!
As for this cake…I will experiment with egg white protein powder. I make “bread” with it all the time and it comes out EXCELLENTLY…so maybe just adding sweetener will work 🙂 God bless!
Wow–a decent bread was the bane of my existence when I did keto. I haven’t actually run the carbs on the frozen yogurt to be honest. To get it as low as possible, you’d want to make the yogurt yourself (recipe here: https://artofnaturalliving.com/sous-vide-yogurt/) and use half and half instead of milk. Then my frozen yogurt recipe has been tested using (mostly) an allulose sweetener which doesn’t crystalize like some other sweeteners do. Good luck with your cake experiment and I’d love to hear how it goes if you get the chance.
Omg!! I have been craving angel food cake it is one of my favorite things I had to give up on keto!! So to my surprise, you are the only recipe I found so thank you for your experimentation..that to me is way ahead of the game, compared to piped roses lol!! And I thank you immensely.. Lisa 🙂
I sooo know how hard keto can feel sometimes! Hope you enjoy and best of luck!
This cake looks so pretty Inger, super elegant with the pick roses…and love the idea of low carb.
I generally crave sweets less on carb, but I sure like to have the option!
your roses look amazing! Well done 🙂
Thanks Tandy. Totally breathed a sigh of relief when this worked!
Very, very impressing rose-making, Inger! I once made them out of marzipan, which was pretty easy compared to piping! Do you know, I have never iced an angel food cake before. Looks fabulous!
Alas, I am not an almond flavor lover David. Which is kind of sad because there are a lot of beautiful things to do with it–have a couple cousins who’ve done some fantastic work! (Though i do have that kitchen klutz thing going on…). Would love to have seen your roses.