Low-Carb Festive and Experimental Baking
Just after last Christmas, I purchased some festive pans at a reduced rate. Yay ... a sale. Christmas in July, but January, a little too clingy, and so I put the beauties (there were two) into a box with some imprisoned elves, and began to dream of the turn of the season and spring blooms.
I thickened a turkey pumpkin stew a couple days ago with egg yolks, and so I had the whites and half a baked Japanese pumpkin left open. Japanese pumpkin, for the know of those of you counting carbs, is much lower it sugar than orange pumpkin. You still get a lot of orange colour in the flesh, and if you ask me a better flavour ... sweeter, despite less sugar, and milder, less of that dirty earth flavour ... never really liked the flavour of orange pumpkins. The Japanese pumpkin also has hints of caramel and toffee when bruléed. An all around better squash.
Also known as Kabocha. Japanese pumpkin is my go to for cooking and baking, but of course, they aren't as pretty as the orange ones and certainly a lot less fun to carve, but otherwise it is easy enough to substitute Kabocha into any recipe that calls for pumpkin. Do so. They are available year-round.
For a decade now, every Christmas, I have made my version of a low-carb, almost carnivore yule log, bûche de Noël for you Madeleine fans. (Not making that today but it will come soon.)
My results generally turn out pretty good. The cakes definitely look the part, but it never gets that almost pudding texture the traditional recipes gets.
A sponge cake, with all that sugary meringue, takes it to that level in traditional baking. It just does. My low-carb heart just as to admit that. I will give the devil its due, but never surrender. So I decided to go for it. I found a recipe online and proceeded to modify for pumpkin sponge cake and cut the sugar and flour.
Pumpkin Sponge Cake
Ingredients
2 eggs, separated
1 cups collagen
1/2 cup Japanese pumpkin purée
1 tablespoons of cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
Stevia drops to desired level of sweetness (I had some gingerbread flavoured drops ... so good)
3/4 ground lightly baked and dried chaffle
You'll find lots of different takes on chaffle recipes online. Go with a cream cheese one, but most recipes will be improved with powdered collage and gelatin. It is easy enough to make a pseudo flour from any one of them. Just pour your batter on a parchment lined cooking sheet and bake it lightly. If you have a dehydrator, throw it into for a few hours and you will have crackers. Take those crackers and grind them as fine as possible and voilà, you have low carb, almost carnivore flour.
Blend yolks with half the collagen, spices, stevia and pumpkin purée in a separate bowl and place aside.
Whip egg whites to a foam and then incrementally add the second half of the the collagen to the whites and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks ... becomes a meringue.
Fold the meringue into the pumpkin mix until well blended, but be gentle, so as not to collapse the meringue.
I usually use parchment to line my baking pans, but that was not going to work with my festive pans. I was very naughty and got a pan spray. You could take the time and grease with butter, tallow, or lard to stay more carnivore. But sue me, I was lazy.
If you are using a full sponge cake pan ... 350 for 35-40 minutes will work for you. My cakes were a lot smaller and I probably would have done better with 325 (next time). But they were still super delicious and spongy ... maybe just a little chewier on the sides, but it should work really well in a Yule log ... stay tuned, I am stoked to try all sorts of meringue recipes now. There will be no stopping me.
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