As most of you know I am pretty dedicated to my keto lifestyle. I have been in nutritional ketosis for over ten years now. Every now and then I will take a week off to re-stimulate my system’s production of insulin. When you don’t eat carbs, you don’t use your insulin much. But you need insulin for more than just processing carbs and sugars. You also need it to stimulate the production of proteins in the body. Insulin is the main anabolic hormone of the body for building tissue.
A solid keto lifestyle does not mean eating zero carbs, but it does mean keeping the carb level below 20 grams a day for the first few weeks then slowly creeping that number up to as much as 50 grams (almost 2 ounces) per day, depending on individual tolerance. I use a Ketonix breath ketone monitor to tract my stability. The idea is to deprive your body of carbs so that it will burn fats in the form of ketones for energy. The big plus for this is that your brain and body always has lots of energy available to get the job done. With sugar you are always having to refuel every few hours to keep yourself going. Blood sugar balance is a major problem for most patients I see. Staying in nutritional ketosis solves that.
That’s all well and good, but what about cake? Long ago I created Dr. Dave’s Miracle Bread plus flavor enhancers to meet the need the taste buds have for a bread and loaf cake replacement. I use the same product but with a little more water to make pancakes and waffles – all very low carb and high protein. One loaf of Miracle bread has as much protein as a two pound chuck steak. Well with the Paleo movement building a consumer base, we are seeing more products and recipes in the cake and cookie family showing up in mainstream publications.
Last week my front desk person, Susie, copied a recipe for Chocolate Fudge Avocado Cake out of the Costco flyer. The recipe was Paleo, but not sugar free as it used a cup of honey for sweetening. That is an easy fix for us as I also created my Double Sugar ten years ago – a mix of erythritol and stevia as a sweetener. I selected erythritol as a base because it is the only zero calorie sugar alcohol that does not stay trapped in the intestines where bacteria can make it into gas like other sweeteners like xylitol or mannitol. Instead erythritol is passed out through the kidneys. In order to maintain the moisture in the cake, I substituted ½ cup of vegetable glycerin and ½ cup of Double sugar for the honey. This cake is super moist and fudgy – so here is the recipe…
Chocolate Fudge Avocado Cake
3 ripe avocados, mashed (1 ¼ cups)
4 eggs (pastured if possible)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup almond flour
½ cup vegetable glycerin
½ cup Dr Dave Double Sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon Balanced salt
Blend everything together until smooth and pour into two spray-coated cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes. I use avocado oil in a spray bottle to coat my pans. Once cool remove the cake layers onto a serving plate with frosting between the layers and on top.
The frosting the Costco flyer suggested looked like the same recipe as for the cake without the eggs or almond flour. I wanted a little different flavor for my cake so I made some of my super simple yam frosting. It sounds weird, but it is really good tasting.
Take the cooked insides from a couple medium sized yams while hot and blend it up with a package of 60% dark chocolate chips or some squares of even darker chocolate. As the chocolate melts and blends in with the yam it produces a lovely fluffy frosting. Spread this frosting generously on the cake layers and you are ready for a really yummy treat. The best part is the carb level is so low you will stay in ketosis even after a good sized piece.
Later that week I made almost the same recipe into some brownies by leaving out the baking soda and using only 3 eggs. This was also a hit at our place. I could have even increased the health value by adding a half cup of psyllium seed husk powder to the brownies to increase their fiber level.
One of the big bonuses to being in nutritional ketosis is it makes dipping into a few days of fasting really easy. The big fear and truly unpleasant side to fasting for most people is the two to three days it takes to get into the fasting state, because you have to go through a low blood sugar time to do it – unless you are already in nutritional ketosis. All the bad feelings involved in getting into a fasting state are just not there. We have made it even easier by taking the antioxidant drink bai and adding coconut milk to it to drink while we fast. This drink is delicious and healthy as it is sweetened with the same erythritol and stevia mixture I use in my Double Sugar. The coconut milk actually helps you be in ketosis more easily so it supports the goals for doing the fasting. My body never feels as good as it does when I fast. It just stops inflammation in its tracks. I am thinking of it as the intervention of choice for most chronic pain conditions and diseases. It is not for pregnant women or little kids, but most anyone else could benefit from a simple 5 to 7 day fast every so often.
But even if you have no interest in nutritional ketosis, Paleo eating, or anything even remotely healthy, this Avocado cake recipe is delicious. The chocolate flavor is intense and the texture is moist and fudgy. So enjoy…