I remember my Aunt Ann making a sheet cake that she poked holes in, then poured Jello on top. After it was refrigerated, whipped cream was then added. Whenever we went over to her house, it's something that I looked forward to, that Jello Poke Cake. I never knew what it was called until recently when I stumbled on a recipe through the Internet.
So, to make it low carb was easy, since I already had the cupcake recipe. For the topping I went with my Lemon Cream Cheese pie filling, instead of whipped cream. My husband, who doesn't like my low carb baked goods, loved this!
Monday night we went out to dinner with family, and I brought some of the cupcakes with me to have at their house for dessert. They all agreed that you wouldn't know that they were Low Carb!
It really makes me happy when one of my recipes is well-liked from non-low carbers.
Ingredients for the Cupcake:
1 stick of butter, softened (1/2 cup)
1/2 package of full fat cream cheese, softened (4 ounces)
1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
1/4 tsp EZ-Sweetz Liquid Sucralose
3 Jumbo eggs
1/2 cup Liquid Egg Whites (from a carton)
2 tsps Vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp Almond Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
Zest of a lemon to equal 1/8 tsp
Instructions:
1 - Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare your muffin pan, regular size, with cupcake liners. I use unbleached parchment liners that do not stick.
2 - With a hand-held electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and sweeteners until smooth.
3 - Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix well.
4 - Spoon mixture into the liners about 3/4 of the way full. I got 11 cupcakes out of the mix.
5 - Bake at 30 to 35 minutes. Since ovens are different, start checking at 27 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
While the cupcakes are in the oven, mix a 3-ounce box of Sugar Free Raspberry Jello with 1 cup of boiling water. Keep stirring for 2 minutes to make sure all is dissolved.
When the cupcakes are done, remove from oven and place the muffin pan on a rack. Let them cool for 10 minutes.
After they've cooled, poke holes with a fork, I hit 6 spots of the top and the cupcakes were nicely soaked with the Jello. Okay, pour (or spoon) the Jello carefully over the cupcake tops, it will seep into the holes. There might be some remaining Jello, if you want to add an equal amount of cold water, maybe you could get some servings of Jello. I dumped mine, since there wasn't a lot of it.
Refrigerate the entire pan for 30 minutes. After that time, remove them from the pan.
While the cupcakes are in the refrigerator, you could go ahead and make the Lemon Cream Cheese topping. OR you could whip up some heavy cream with a little sweetener for the tops. It's up to you.
Lemon Cream Cheese Topping:
8 ounces of full fat cream cheese at room temperature
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
You'll need 2 bowls, one medium sized and the other one small.
In the medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, lemon juice, and sweetener with a hand mixer until smooth.
In the small bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream to soft peaks.
Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. (If it seems too thick, just add more of heavy cream straight into the mix. Blend with the hand mixer until you have the consistency you want)
Spoon onto the refrigerated cupcakes, after you've removed them from the muffin pan.
Place in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.
Notes:
Total servings - 11 cupcakes at 24g net carbs with Lemon Cream Cheese Topping
Per serving - 1 cupcake at 2.2g net carbs
If using whipped cream instead of the Lemon Cream Cheese Topping, the carb count drops to 1.5g net carb per serving/cupcake.
