Chocolate Skillet Cake {Keto/Low Carb}

This Keto Chocolate Skillet Cake is perfectly chocolatey and rich! With a few simple swaps, you can enjoy the low-carb chocolate cake of your dreams. Top this moist chocolate cake with whipped cream and sugar-free chocolate shavings, grab a fork, and dig in!

The Best Keto Chocolate Skillet Cake

When I first started to follow a Ketogenic Diet in May 2017, I did not go off plan for over 100 days. Lots of people do dirty keto or have cheat days, and while I completely understand those choices, felt like I needed to stay away from carb overloading until I got the cravings out of my system. It really didn’t take that long and before I knew it I wasn’t even thinking about them. At the end of that 100 days, I felt great, lost inches, and slept incredibly well.

There are times when I get hankering for chocolate. While I don’t feel the need to eat dessert every night, there’s no denying that my sweet tooth very much exists. In the past, I’ve tried several different mug cakes, but they were all dry and spongy. 

How to Make Chocolate Cake Keto Friendly

Since my hubby and I both wanted something sweet the other night, I decided it was time to experiment. To be honest, it is impossible to create a keto/low-carb cake that tastes exactly like a sugary, chocolatey cake made with regular flour. Yes, I run a Keto food blog and love the diet, but these are the facts: cauliflower doesn’t taste like potatoes, nor does coconut or almond flour bake the same as regular flour. They are great alternatives but are NOT the same.

With that being said, after several tries, I created a recipe that yields a chocolate cake that is moist, fluffy, and delicious while staying low carb and Keto friendly. You can cook this Skillet Keto Chocolate Cake in the microwave in a glass dish in a pinch, but I think it tastes much better when mixed properly and baked in the oven. I used a 6″ cast iron skillet and divided the chocolate low-carb cake into 8 servings. 

Ingredients for Keto Chocolate Skillet Cake:

If you’ve baked Keto before, you probably have some of the ingredients for this recipe in your pantry.. By swapping flour and sugar out for Keto-friendly alternatives, you can enjoy fudgy chocolate cake while staying on track with your diet! Here are some key ingredients that you’ll need:

• Coconut flour — While almond flour is probably the more common Keto flour substitute, we used coconut flour in our household because my oldest daughter has an almond allergy. You only need 1/4 cup of coconut flour for every 1 cup of almond flour due to its high absorbency.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder — You can’t have a chocolate cake without the chocolate! Using a high-quality cocoa powder really takes this cake to the next level. It gives a rich depth of flavor that is a must for all chocolate cakes.
• Cream cheese — A common ingredient in Keto cooking, the cream cheese in this recipe adds a subtle richness and helps keep the cake moist.
• Coconut milk — Coconut milk is great for adding richness to Keto baked goods without the carbs in regular milk. Make sure to use unsweetened canned coconut milk in this recipe. Otherwise, the added sugar will throw off your Keto diet and make the cake too sweet.
• Lily’s Sugar-Free chocolate chips — These chocolate chips are my all-time favorite Keto chocolate! You can find them on Amazon and might be able to find them at a specialty grocery store. The chocolate chips really kick the chocolatey flavor up a notch.
• Granulated Swerve or BESTI Monkfruit Sweetener with Allulose — Whether you prefer to use Besti Monkfruit Sweetener with Allulose, Swerve or Lakanto Monkfruit is up to you. I used granulated Swerve in this recipe to perfectly sweeten up my chocolate skillet cake.

How to make Keto Chocolate Skillet Cake:

Step 1: Add 1 tablespoon of butter to a cast-iron skillet and place in the oven while mixing the rest of the ingredients together. You don’t need to preheat the oven before doing this step.

Step 2: Combine coconut oil, 1 tablespoon of butter, and cream cheese. Either melt on the stove or microwave.

Step 3: In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Whisk until combined.

Step 4: Add your eggs, coconut milk, sweetener, and vanilla to the coconut oil, butter, and cream cheese mixture. Beat on low/medium for 1 minute or until smooth.

Step 5: Next, add the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder mixture to other ingredients and beat until just combined. Finally, stir in the chocolate chip cookies.

Step 6: Remove the cast iron skillet from the oven and swirl the butter around so that it greases the bottom and sides of the skillet.

Step 7: Pour the batter into the skillet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Insert a knife in the middle of the cake to test doneness. Avoid overbaking your chocolate skillet cake at all costs! Doing so will result in a dry texture. Keep in mind that the cake will continue to cook for a bit while it cools and every oven bakes differently.

How do I know when my cake is done baking?

Baking times for this chocolate skillet cake can vary, depending on your altitude and your oven. I would check on your cake at the 12-minute mark just in case, and continue to check every minute or so afterward. You will know your cake is done when a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it. If the knife comes out with wet batter on it, the cake needs a couple more minutes to finish baking.

Can you bake this chocolate cake in a muffin tin?

You can definitely use a muffin tin! Although I haven’t tried it, I’m confident it would work well. They would make great cupcakes or muffins, especially if topped with a Keto-friendly icing. The baking time may be different, so check on them often to test doneness.