For the first episode, I decided to taste test 7 keto-friendly cakes. As their names suggest, these desserts are specifically marketed to people who are on a ketogenic diet. This particular diet involves limiting carbohydrates intake and replacing it with fats.
If you’re curious, I did further research on this type of diet and I would like to share with you what I found out before moving on to my food review. Read on below to know the important things about the keto diet and my insights on the keto-friendly cakes I’ve tasted.
Ketogenic Diet: Important Things You Need to Know
A Ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet. By reducing carbohydrate intake and substituting it with fats, your body can quickly and efficiently burn fat for energy. This fat can also produce ketones (hence the name ketogenic) in the liver that can supply energy for the brain. Furthermore, it reduces blood sugar and insulin levels which ultimately has numerous health benefits. As such, this particular diet is perfect for those who have:
- Diabetes – Since a ketogenic diet changes the way your body stores and uses energy, it can ease common diabetes symptoms (dry mouth, frequent urination, nausea) especially those suffering from Type 2. It also improves glucose (sugar) levels on your blood while reducing the need for insulin.
- Epilepsy – The keto diet is originally created in 1924 as a treatment for neurological diseases such as epilepsy. It’s proven to significantly minimize seizures in epileptic children who did not respond well to various medicines.
- Heart Disease – Implementing a ketogenic diet in your lifestyle can reduce levels of body fat, bad cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure. This ultimately lowers the risk of heart disease.
- Brain Injury – Keto diet is shown to speed up recovery after a concussion and traumatic brain injury on animals. Its effect on humans still remains unclear but it shows great potential and it’s completely safe.
- Cancer – Numerous reports have found that restricting the levels of blood sugar in your body can help minimize the growth of cancerous cells. As such, a ketogenic diet may be recommended to cancer patients. However, do consult your doctor before implementing such changes in your eating plan.
- Alzheimer’s Disease – Since the ketogenic diet promotes the growth of ketones in your body, it has an impact on aging brain cells. Thus, it can potentially reduce symptoms and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease.
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome – Commonly affecting women, this disease is linked to obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance. A keto diet significantly reduces insulin levels on the body which is proven to help those with POS.
- Acne – High insulin levels in the body stimulate the production of skin cells, sebums, and androgen which leads to unwanted acne. Thanks to the keto diet, people with acne can cut their insulin.
4 Different Types of Ketogenic Diet
There are actually different types of keto diet based on my research. This gives you various options, especially if you’re just starting out and want to have flexibility. Below, I listed the four most commonly used diet plans by people.
- Standard Ketogenic Diet (SKD) – This diet involves eating low-carb, moderate-protein and high-fat foods. In general, fat consists of 75%, protein is about 20%, and carbs make up only 5%.
- High-Protein Ketogenic Diet – An eating plan that involves more protein intake, compared to an SKD diet. Typically, a ratio of 60% fat, 35% protein and 5% carbs is followed.
- Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD) – Also known as carb backloading, this diet involves 5 days when a ketogenic diet is solely followed and 2 days when it’s acceptable to eat food rich in carbohydrates. As such, it’s intended to be taken by athletes to restore glycogen levels lost during workouts.
- Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD) – This diet is similar to CKD. However, carbohydrates are only consumed during workout periods as it can be efficiently processed by the body as you’re active.
10 Foods to Avoid in a Ketogenic Diet
Like other eating plans, the ketogenic diet has a long list of dos and don’ts when it comes to food choices. To guide you, here are the foods you need to avoid when you’re on a keto diet.
- Grains or Starches – This includes wheat-based products such as rice, pasta, and cereal.
- Fruit – Most fruits are generally prohibited when on a keto diet. Small portions of berries, lemon, and watermelon could be consumed though.
- Root Vegetables and Tubers – This comprises of potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and the like.
- Beans or Legumes – This refers to peas, lentils, kidney beans, and chickpeas.
- Unhealthy Fats -These are often found on processed foods such as cheese, butter, white bread, and biscuits.
- Low-fat or Diet Products – “Low-fat” salad dressing, flavored yogurt, and flavored coffee are all highly processed products and often high in carbs.
- Some Condiments or Sauces – Mayonnaise, ranch dressing, and hot sauce often contain high sugar and unhealthy fat.
- Alcohol – Due to high carbohydrate content, most alcoholic beverages are not good for ketosis.
- Sugary Foods – Since a ketogenic diet is targeted to cut insulin levels on your body, foods such as soda, fruit juice, smoothies, ice cream, candy, and cake should be avoided.
- Sugar-free Diet Foods – Some “sugar-free” food (coffee, soda, jam, canned vegetables, etc.) are actually high in sugar alcohols and may even contain trans-fat. This negatively affects ketone levels on your body.
Ketogenic Diet: Your Dessert Options
Despite the fact that sugary foods are included in the list of “must-avoid” foods during a ketogenic diet, I searched for healthy dessert options as it’s something I really can’t give up. Fortunately, I found keto-friendly cakes online. Here’s my honest-to-goodness food review of keto-friendly cakes from 2 different online bakeshops.
1. Chocolate Obsession Cake (Keto Filipino Bakeshop)
COST: ₱700
REVIEW: I have actually ordered and tasted this specific cake flavor before from Keto Filipino, a bakeshop offering low-carb and gluten-free pastries and I really enjoyed it.
This cake consists of three layers—real chocolate, white mousse, and the actual chocolate sponge cake. It has the right amount of chocolate that is very rich but not overpowering when tasted. It’s also not too sweet, in fact, it has a hint of bitterness in it like an actual chocolate bar.
FINAL VERDICT: Of course, this chocolate cake would be ranked as my number 1. It was the first keto-friendly cake I tasted and even if I already tried all the other cakes flavors below, it remains to be on the top of my list. I just really love the chocolate sponge cake combined with the white and chocolate icing. This cake tastes absolutely delicious!
2. Yema Cake (Keto Filipino Bakeshop)
COST: ₱650
REVIEW: Yema cake is a Filipino-styled chiffon cake filled with yema, a very sweet custard confectionary. Keto Filipino’s yema cake looks like any other yema cake—with cheese on top to balance out the sweetness.
Upon first taste, I found the cake too sweet for my liking. It doesn’t taste like other yema cakes where the distinct custard flavor overpowers the dessert. This tasted more like that it’s filled with buttercream than the actual sweet custard. Furthermore, the icing or filling on top is too thick and rich which is not really what I’m expecting.
FINAL VERDICT: I ranked this cake the last, or top 7. To be honest, I really don’t like the combination of the icing and the sponge cake inside as it’s too buttery for me. This cake really didn’t meet my expectations as it doesn’t taste like a genuine yema.
3. Carrot-less Cake (Keto Filipino Bakeshop)
COST: ₱680
REVIEW: This carrot-less cake from Keto Filipino has nuts on top of a white-colored icing. The cake layer below looks like an ordinary carrot cake based on its color and texture. However, it’s nowhere near the smell of a normal carrot cake—it doesn’t have that distinct smell.
I’m really not a fan of carrot cake but I really liked this cake! It’s not as sweet as the other carrot cakes in the market. The icing filling on top is also not overpowering, unlike the Yema Cake. I also enjoyed the crunch of the cake, thanks to the nuts on top of the cake.
FINAL VERDICT: I rank this cake as my top 4 as I really didn’t expect to like this particular cake flavor. The distinct carrot smell and flavor is quite lacking but I enjoyed the overall combination of the nuts and icing on the cake.
4. Moist Chocolate Cake (Gianna’s Cookies)
COST: ₱650
REVIEW: Upon my first look at this cake from Gianna’s, I’m actually confused why it’s called “moist chocolate” when it has visibly white icing. But true to its name, the chocolate sponge cake inside looks really moist and wet based on its texture.
My first impression when I tasted it was that it’s an “okay” cake—not too sweet and not too impressive. I guess this cake is really fitted to those who are going on a diet who just wanted to taste a chocolate cake every once or so.
FINAL VERDICT: Since this cake is just fine for me, I ranked this cake top 6 or 2nd worst. It’s indeed moist but it lacks the “wow” factor and unique chocolate taste.
5. Strawberry Shortcake (Gianna’s Cookies)
COST: ₱750
REVIEW: I decided to order a strawberry shortcake from Gianna’s because I know that chocolate cakes are quite ordinary. For this cake’s presentation, it contains real strawberries slices on top of a white cream icing. On the inside, it has the typical white sponge cake with a strawberry filling in the middle.
As for the taste, I found the strawberry too sour for my liking. This fruit flavor overpowers the whole sponge cake but overall, it feels airy and light on the mouth. I think this cake is really the best if you want to eat a dessert that would not left a feeling of being “fed up” or umay in Filipino.
FINAL VERDICT: I placed this cake at rank 5. Unlike the moist chocolate cake, this dessert actually has a distinct flavor. It’s not too sweet and the actual sponge cake is delicious.
6. Quattro Chocolate Cake (Gianna’s Cookies)
COST: ₱715
REVIEW: Gianna’s quattro chocolate cake is topped with a powdered or dusted cocoa. The texture of the cake is a bit hard, probably because of the thick layer of icing. So if you’re a fan of icings and creams, this would be the perfect cake for you.
As for me, I’m not really a fan of icing so I was surprised when I liked this particular chocolate cake! It actually reminded me of Keto Filipino’s chocolate obsession cake with Gianna’s actual sponge cake tasting more delicious than Keto’s. Still, Keto Filipino uses better cream icing. Overall, I think if you combined both of these cakes, it would be just the perfect dream chocolate cake!
FINAL VERDICT: I placed this cake at my top 2 as I really enjoyed the moist and thick sponge cake at the bottom. However, like I said before, I personally prefer cakes with lesser icing so that’s why I didn’t rank this as my top 1. Having said that, there’s nothing wrong with their icing—in fact, it’s actually delicious.
7. Tiramisu Cake (Gianna’s Cookies)
COST: ₱700
REVIEW: For my first impression of this tiramisu cake, I could say that this cake was the lightest in terms of weight compared to all the other cakes I bought. Its presentation is very simple— Gianna’s simply covered the top of the cake with icing using a piping bag’s specific tip. Inside, it has a brown chocolate sponge cake and it’s filled with very thick icing both on the top and bottom of the cake.
Like I suspected, the cake feels very light in the mouth. And although the amount of icing is very intimidating, I did enjoy the taste of this cake! I think it’s like a mix of buttercream and graham-like icing which do not taste overpowering. It also has that distinct coffee flavor found in most tiramisu cakes.
FINAL VERDICT: This is my top 3 cake! I really liked the unique coffee-flavored taste of the cake. And I think that Gianna’s really did a great job with the combination of their icing and the actual sponge cake.
To summarize, here’s my ranking of cakes from worst to best: yema cake, moist chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake, carrot-less cake, tiramisu cake, quattro chocolate cake, chocolate obsession cake.
A healthy diet doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to desserts. So if you’re like me who can’t give up sweets, I hope you find this ketogenic diet guide and keto-friendly cakes review useful for your next foodie adventure.
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