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Since starting a blog, I’ve started a tradition of making my own birthday cakes. Having a birthday gives me the excuse to make a recipe that’s a little more indulgent than normal. For my 18th birthday I had a peppermint cheesecake with a brownie crust (which I want to remake and make a few tweaks to for the cookbook I’m working on), for my 19th birthday I had a mocha cake, and for my 20th birthday this past Tuesday I made myself a chocolate cake with whipped chocolate buttercream. Note the common theme: chocolate.
The cake I made for my most recent birthday was actually a tweak on the basic chocolate layer cake I used for my mocha cake last year. This year I tested it with my Baking Mix and it turned out great! I tried to make a truffle-like middle filling for the cake layers, but that part didn’t turn out like I was hoping so you don’t get to see it yet. The frosting was everything I wanted, though, so that’s the recipe you’re getting today. It’s a whipped chocolate buttercream that is melt-in-your mouth awesome.
I asked my mom to get Breyer’s Vanilla Carb Smart to eat with the cake in interest of easy (I was already making my own birthday cake and I didn’t want to have to make ice cream too). Carb Smart is approved on the Trim Healthy Mama plan for occasional use; it’s sweetened with Splenda so I don’t like to make a habit of it (and I like my homemade ice cream better anyway), but it’s nice to be able to just pull it out of the freezer on a special occasion.
For my birthday meal I marinated deer steaks (backstrap, if you know what that means) and my mom grilled them. The marinade was great, and it might get posted eventually. It’ll definitely go in the cookbook. We also had roasted green beans and some butternut squash (stick within ½ cup portions with an S meal, Trim Healthy Mamas). Yummy!
I royally screwed up the candles on my cake. I didn’t want to put TWENTY candles on it (set the house on fire!), so I was going to just make the shape of the numbers on the cake with candles. I ended up using seventeen candles, so I probably would’ve just been better off making a more normal pattern with twenty candles instead of getting my numbers extremely off center on the cake. Haha… In the picture below, you may notice that the cake has a slice taken out of it already. That’s what happens when you’re a food blogger. Between dinner and dessert, I ran downstairs and photographed the cake. 😛
Have you made yourself a healthy birthday cake? Do share in the comments below!
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 1½ sticks (12 T) salted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. THM Sweet Blend (or more, to taste)
- 1 doonk THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream (let this sit on the counter for thirty minutes before making the frosting so it's not super cold)
- Beat the butter, cocoa powder, sweeteners, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the whipping cream and beat until fluffy and thick. Leave the frosting at room temperature until you're ready to frost your cake as the frosting will firm up once refrigerated. This makes enough frosting to cover the outside of a two layer cake. If you want enough frosting for a filling layer as well, make a batch and a half.
Suggested products:
THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder and Sweet Blend can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
Omg! this is so delicious, I have tried this recipe and everybody just loved it especially my kids. Will definitely share this with my friends too. Thanks for sharing a delicious recipe.
Would this single recipe be enough to frost 24 cupcakes?
I’m sorry – I’m really not sure about that! I would probably make a batch and a half to ensure that you’d have plenty. You can always use the leftovers on single serve muffins/cakes, on ice cream, in yogurt, off a spoon, on waffles/pancakes, etc. 🙂
A bit rough look but its look like a really tasty and a must try cake, best way to have it with ice cream which make it a perfect desert, hope you had tasty birthday, secondly keep baking and sharing, as small bakers or cakes lover like me like it.
Is the whipping cream a must? Could I sub almond milk? I’m trying to avoid a trip to the grocery store during these chilly temps! 😉
Yes, I’m afraid the whipping cream is a must. Almond milk won’t thicken the frosting.
Hi Briana! I just made your chocolate buttercream icing and realized I should have waited at least 30 minutes after pulling the heavy whipping cream from the fridge. Will the texture change if I just leave it out of the fridge now that it’s made?
It’s probably a little late to be answering your question (I don’t usually check blog comments over the weekend) – I’m sorry! The frosting needs to be refrigerated eventually or it will spoil, but if you let the completed frosting sit out at room temperature, you may be able to beat it up again if things didn’t incorporate like they should’ve.
Briana do you think I could make this a lemon buttercream by subbing protein powder for the cocoa powder & then adding lemon juice & zest?
I’m guessing you would taste the protein powder quite a lot if you did that. I’m sure if you look on Pinterest, you could find low carb white buttercream recipes that you could more easily turn into a lemon flavored buttercream. 🙂
thanks!
Hello Briana:
I made the chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream frosting this morning. Loved the texture and creaminess, but I have a couple of questions about the frosting. I made it exactly as written, but I was wondering if I could make it sweeter, and now that I’m back to your recipe on line, I see, I could have added more sweetness. The other question involves the butter. There is so much butter in it, could I use maybe only 1 stick of butter in the frosting, and perhaps add more whipping cream? The butter is separating from the frosting somewhat now that it’s on the cake. Really nice cake though, and I appreciate you so much for developing these recipes for the THM community.
Hi Jan! Yes, definitely always feel free to adjust sweetness to your own taste (taste buds vary a lot, especially when it comes to alternative sweeteners. When I make other people’s recipes, I usually leave some sweetener out…lol.). As far as the butter goes, I’ve found that using more butter than whipping cream gives me a more stable product. I’m not sure why yours is separating. You’re welcome to experiment with using more whipping cream instead of butter though, if that’s what you prefer.
Maybe it separated because the cake was still a bit too warm when I iced it. I must say though, I cut the cake up into small pieces today and wrapped each piece in wax paper then put each individual serving in a freezer bag. Now I have desserts – yummy desserts for future dates. One thing I did last night was to put some strawberries on the side, and that seemed to take over the lack of sweetness needed. I really like the texture of the cake, and am glad I used my THM baking blend instead of the coconut flour and other substitutes. It really does make a difference.
Briana do you have any good crunchy snack ideas that are THM approved?
I’m glad you found a way to enjoy it! For crunchy snack ideas, pork rinds are always a favorite of mine. I never thought I would like them till I got brave enough to try them. They’re actually quite good, and they’re a good source of protein and collagen. Wasa crackers are another crunchy option. I like to pair them with this chicken salad and dill pickles: https://www.briana-thomas.com/5-ingredient-buffalo-chicken-salad/
Oh my, this was AMAZING!!! Did it with the Basic chocolate layer cake, and it was fab. My older brother who is an EMT declared that is was fantastic! “Best THM thing you I have tasted yet” he said. 🙂 My Parents both loved it, and my Mom and brother fought over the last piece. 😉 We had some laughs and I am very happy that they enjoyed it so much. 🙂 Thanks Briana!! Your recipes are the best. 😉
Oops! Didn’t mean to put the “you” in that sentence. Whoops! 😉
Awesome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!!
I wonder how this would be if I left out that doonk? Will it make that much of a difference?
You would need to add a little extra Sweet Blend (or whatever sweetener you’re using) in that case. 🙂
Hi Briana,
I am going to make your chocolate buttercream frosting tomorrow! (yay!) I was wondering if whipping cream is acceptable. Your recipe states heavy whipping cream. Will it be okay with the regular? My store sells both and I grabbed the one not knowing if there was any difference. I hope not! 😉 Lol
Thanks for your delicious recipes!!
Hi Amanda! I’ve only ever bought heavy whipping cream so I can’t speak from experience, but I found this info on line: “Heavy Cream has slightly more milk fat (36%) so it produces a thicker whipped cream that will hold its shape a little longer once whipped,”…”Whipping cream has slightly less milk fat (30%), yielding a lighter whipped cream that is a bit more time sensitive.” (from here: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/tips/19208_what_the_difference_between_heavy_and_whipping_cream/)
I would stick with heavy whipping cream so the frosting holds up better.
We made a caramel cheesecake that was Heavenly! LC caramel was SO good! Then used cream cheese, whipped topping/cream, and gentle sweet! I don’t mind the Coolwhip- could use homemade though!
Kathy’s Heavenly No-Bake Cheesecake
4–8 oz. pkgs. Cream Cheese (32 oz. size)
2 cups Sugar–I used GENTLE SWEET
Beat until creamy.
Fold in 8 c. thawed Cool-Whip (2- 8 oz. tubs + 1 cup)
Fold in LC caramel.
Pour into 9×13. Chill at least 3 hours. Omit caramel and top with favorite fruit!
This is my personal recipe altered from a ‘regular’ recipe!
NOT 2 cups gentle sweet! The comparable amount!!!
Sounds delish! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, nevermind, I just read the previous comment about it. 🙂
Could I omit the cocoa powder to make white frosting that I can color with food coloring? Do you think it would pipe well?
I have a white buttercream recipe that I need to post!
Just made this recipe. Does the cocoa powder make a difference? I made it without so I could color it for my son’s cake. The butter and cream separated. What could I have done wrong?
Yes, the cocoa powder is a big part of the volume in this recipe, and it helps bind everything together. I haven’t found a good low carb buttercream that isn’t chocolate and haven’t really tried to create one yet because I always do chocolate. 😛 I’ll have to work on that though, and you might want to check Pinterest for non-chocolate buttercream recipes to get you started in the right direction.
Happy Belated Birthday! This looks amazing and I am going make it this weekend!
I just wanted to say Happy Birthday and also “thank you” for all your wonderful recipes! will add this chocolate buttercream frosting to THM notebook of fave recipes!
Aw, thank you!
Blessings to you on your birthday! You look lovely in the picture with you and the cake. Thank you so much for this recipe, and all that you do for the THM community! I look forward to your cookbook, as I also am printing out lots of recipes. Any idea when it might be out? (Seriously, no pressure, just curious)
I just crossed the half way point in recipe creation, and I’m hoping to finish this part of the process in April-May of next year (it’s gonna be a big cookbook…). I honestly have no idea how long it will take to put it all together, but I’m hoping to be able to release it in the fall sometime. 🙂
Happy Birthday, Briana! I made your white cake this afternoon and used this frosting recipe on top. I’m still trying to get my sweeteners tweaked to my taste, but it was yummy. The texture is perfect! Thank you for all the work you do!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!
Happy Birthday!!!! 20 is not a lot of candles…..wait until you are in your forties 🙁
Talk about “house fire” LOL!
Haha!
Happy Birthday!!!!. Your cake and frosting look so yummy. Just curious…what tweaks did you make to the cake recipe? Thanks.
I used my baking mix to make the cake – my tweaks can be found in the Notes section of the Basic Chocolate Layer Cake recipe I linked to in the post. 🙂
And happy 20th birthday! 🙂 Hope it was a good one!
Thank you!
It’s a good thing you’re making a cookbook! I keep printing out so many of your recipes (and slipping them in sheet protectors in a ring binder). Can’t wait! And this frosting looks wonderful, by the way!