It’s not quite sugar-free, but our low-sugar chocolate star cake is free from refined white sugar, making it diabetic-friendly and better for those trying to lose weight.
We’ve chosen to make it Christmassy by choosing our star-shaped cake tin – we also dug some edible glitter out of the cupboard to finish it off with a light twinkle. This cake will join our star-shaped dessert series, to give you some low sugar and sugar-free ideas of puds to serve your diabetic Christmas guests.
(We chose a star as the supermarkets this year are obsessed with them… as well as nutcrackers.)
Below, you’ll find a shopping list (with prices) so you know how much you’ll need to spend if you’re buying all the ingredients from scratch, followed by the recipe for both the chocolate cake and the ganache.
Shopping list (with prices)
- Plain flour – £0.70, Tesco
- Coconut sugar – £4, Amazon/Ocado
- Cacao powder – £3.90, Sainsbury’s
- Baking powder – £0.57, Tesco
- Bicarbonate of soda – £0.59, Sainsbury’s
- Eggs – £1.95, Sainsbury’s (10 mixed weight),
- Milk – £0.85, Tesco
- Vegetable oil – £1.49, Tesco
- Vanilla extract – £1.30, Sainsbury’s
For the ganache
- Dark chocolate – £2.35, Sainsbury’s (This is the No Added Sugar version)
- Double cream – £1.50, Sainsbury’s
Total: £19.20
For the cake tin, we used ProCook’s new aluminium star cake mould. If you want the same, it’ll add £30 onto your price total. It’s a good quality tin and we know we’ll get a lot of use out of it over the festive season, making various star-shaped puddings and desserts. We’ve already used it to make an Aussie Crunch Cake, a lemon star cake, a lemon and honey cheesecake (with our ginger biscuits forming the base), and this chocolate cake. We’ve only had it for three weeks.
As we always say, you can save yourself some money by using ingredients you already own. Check your cupboards before you load your bags for life into your car and hit the shops. There’s a bottle of vanilla extract stuck somewhere, probably right next to the half open tub of baking powder.
You can save money when you’re out shopping, too. A large tray of 15 eggs (or 30 if you shop at Asda) costs far less per egg than a carton of six. It might cost you more morally, but it’ll make your food bill cheaper. It’ll also mean you’ve got extra eggs to have on toast, or to make more of our sugar-free bakes.
Want your cake dairy-free? Never fear. Just swap the milk, double cream, and dark chocolate to plant-based alternatives. The same goes for the cacao powder.
To note: if you find cacao powder too bitter, you can swap it for cocoa powder, just be aware the sugar content is higher.
Recipe
You’ll need a mixing bowl, a whisk, extra oil to wipe a thin layer around the tin, a big spoon, a set of scales, and a large heatproof bowl.
Ingredients
- 225g plain flour
- Two eggs
- 125ml vegetable oil
- 350g coconut sugar
- 85g cacao powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ bicarbonate of soda
- Two tsp vanilla extract (you can swap for honey to keep the sugars natural)
- 250ml boiling water
For the ganache
- 200g dark chocolate (over 70%)
- 300ml double cream
- Two tbsp coconut sugar
Method – Chocolate cake
- Preheat the oven to 180C and lightly wipe the inside of the tin with some vegetable oil – pat any excess off with some kitchen towel.
- Place the plain flour, the cacao powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, vegetable oil, coconut sugar, and vanilla extract into a large bowl and whisk until combined.
- Gradually add the boiling water, while whisking, until all is added and the mix is smooth and lump free.
- Pour the cake mix into the star cake mould, making sure each corner is filled evenly.
- Put the cake into the oven for 25-35 minutes – it’s a deep tin so might take longer than a regular 8-inch tin. It also contains chocolate and coconut sugar so the bake will appear quite dark. Try not to mistake it for burning. Pierce the cake with a skewer or a knife, if it comes out clean, it’s done.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- While the cake is cooling, make the ganache (recipe below).
- Once cool, remove from the tin. It should slide right out, but if not, give the edges a bit of persuasion by running a knife round. Put it on a wire rack or a nice plate.
Method – Dark chocolate ganache
- Break the dark chocolate into a large heatproof bowl.
- Separately, put the coconut sugar into a saucepan then pour over the cream. Over a medium heat, bring the cream to a simmer and stir until the coconut sugar has completely dissolved. Whack up the heat to bring the cream to the boil, then remove from the heat.
- Pour the cream over the dark chocolate and whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy – like the ganaches you see on Bake Off.
- Once you’ve done step three, pour it over the chocolate star cake. Use a spatula to make sure you get ganache in every crease.
5. Leave the decorated cake to cool and set in the fridge.
