ORANGE POKE CAKE

ORANGE POKE CAKE
Cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 tablespoon orange zest (from 1 large orange)
6 ounces almond flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 1/2 ounces unsweetened coconut, finely ground (about 3/4 cup ground) *
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum, optional
7 eggs

Gelatin:
1 package sugar free gelatin, orange flavor
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup orange juice (from 1 large orange)
1 cup ice cold water

Cloud Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons heavy cream

In a large bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, Splenda, vanilla and orange extract with an electric mixer. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the eggs. Beat until well combined. Add the eggs, two or three at a time, and beat until the batter is fluffy. Spread in a greased 9x13" baking pan.

Bake at 350?for 25-30 minutes. The cake will be golden brown and firm to the touch when done. Cool the cake on a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling, prepare the gelatin according to the package directions but replace 1/2 cup of the water with the orange juice. Bring the orange juice to a boil along with the 1/2 cup water. Chill until the outside edges are just starting to set up but the center is still liquid. This will take 15 minutes to an hour. Poke the entire surface of the cake every 1/2 inch with a skewer or a chopstick. Slowly and evenly pour and spread the semi-liquid gelatin over the cake. Chill 2-3 hours. Frost with the Cloud Frosting. Keep refrigerated.

Frosting:
Beat all of the ingredients in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Spread on the chilled cake.

Makes 12 servings
Can be frozen

* Do not use commercial coconut flour in this recipe. It won't work because it will make the cake very dry. I grind the coconut in a coffee grinder.

With granular Splenda:
Per Serving: 470 Calories; 44g Fat; 11g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 8g Net Carbs

With liquid Splenda:
Per Serving: 458 Calories; 44g Fat; 11g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 5g Net Carbs

This is a variation of Kent Altena's Low Carb Poke Cake. It turned out great! The only thing I might do differently next time is add a little sweetener to the jello. I didn't realize that adding orange juice would make the jello a little bit tart. It's not bad but I think it could be a little sweeter. In case you haven't noticed, I changed the ratio of cream cheese to butter in the cake batter. The amounts were a little odd before and I wanted to use an even stick of butter and a whole package of cream cheese. It seemed silly to have 2 ounces of cream cheese left over. The new amounts worked perfectly and the cake is very moist. I don't know if the xanthan gum made a difference but I figured it couldn't hurt. My jello set up more quickly than I was expecting so it didn't soak in as much as it should have. That's not a big deal though because it created an orange filling layer between the cake and the frosting. Now I'm wondering if they make sugar free lemon gelatin because I think that a lemon version would be delicious too. Click the photo to see a close-up.

UPDATE 3/28/15: I went ahead and added 2 tablespoons of cream to the frosting recipe and adjusted the counts. That little bit of cream helps keep the frosting soft when cold. Otherwise it would get hard enough that it cracks when you cut a piece of cake straight from the fridge. In any case, it hardly changed the counts per serving much. It added 1 gram of fat and 8 calories per serving.

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