Given my passion for mildly sweet desserts, I often get asked: “how can I make a quick birthday cake? But a good, pretty cake that is not super caloric.” To answer everyone, I decided to publish the recipe for the strawberry cake made just like a Viennetta — layered with thin crisp chocolate sheets — which we will see in detail below. Easy, quick and light with only 147 calories, ready in 10 minutes with very few ingredients: unsweetened whipped cream, strawberries and sugar-free dark chocolate. A no-bake cake, with no added sugar, no eggs, no flour, therefore no sponge cake. Suitable both as a spring Sunday dessert and as a birthday cake for 16 servings. It’s so quick to make it will become your favorite strawberry cake.
Low-Carb Strawberry Cake — even if you’re on a diet
The strength of this cake is that one generous slice of almost 100 grams has only 147 calories. Few Calories, Low Glycemic Index, very few carbs (only 10 g) and also gluten-free. Everyone can enjoy it without too much guilt. Of course, you can decide whether to make the strawberries-and-cream cake following the recipe exactly or to add sugar. I recommend using a natural sweetener that sweetens like sugar but is not harmful — suitable for everyone, even those following a controlled diet or people with diabetes. It’s this mix: erythritol + stevia. Try it — zero calories and zero carbs, you’ll love it.
PS: the strawberry cake presented today is also suitable for:
celiacs, people with diabetes, those following a controlled diet, people on a Diet (of course in all cases don’t overdo it — one portion is more than enough); choosing a plant-based cream and lactose-free chocolate can make it suitable for those with that intolerance.
And for you:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 16
- Cooking methods: No bake
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
- Energy 207.89 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 12.28 (g) of which sugars 7.62 (g)
- Proteins 2.43 (g)
- Fat 16.81 (g) of which saturated 3.01 (g)of which unsaturated 1.75 (g)
- Fibers 2.66 (g)
- Sodium 2.79 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 93 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 1 cake — 16 servings (total ~3.3 lb)
- 2 cups whipping cream (you can use dairy whipping cream or a plant-based cream such as soy or coconut; choose according to your habits)
- 2.2 lb strawberries
- 5.3 oz dark chocolate (you can use a sugar-free dark chocolate or a regular one at 70% or, if you prefer, 50%. Decide according to your habits)
- 6.5 tbsp sweetener (I used the ready mix stevia + erythritol but you can use the same weight of sugar if you prefer)
Tools to prepare the cake
Preparing the Cake
To make this Strawberry Cake you only need to prepare about 4–5 thin dark chocolate discs + the strawberries-and-cream mousse.
Let’s start:
Melt 150 g of dark chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler. With this, create 4–5 thin discs (about 10 inches in diameter). Each thin disc is made with roughly 25–30 g of melted chocolate (about 1 oz per disc) spread on parchment paper (draw the circle first with a pen). Place them in the freezer (you can freeze them one at a time — just put a disc in for 1 minute before using).
In a food processor, blend: about 3 1/3 cups (500 g) of strawberries + 1 small cup of liquid cream (about 1/3 cup) + 6.5 tbsp of this sweetener (zero-calorie and zero-carb natural sweetener — or use the same weight of sugar if you prefer). Blend to obtain a purée.
Slice the remaining 500 g (about 3 1/3 cups) of strawberries into not-too-thin slices; set them aside for the final decoration.
Whip the remaining cream with electric beaters, then fold in the purée (all of it except about a generous 1/2 cup). Continue whipping with the beaters until you obtain a thick mousse.
On a serving plate about 11 inches in diameter:
spread 4 tablespoons of mousse, then cover with a chocolate disc.
spread 2–3 tablespoons of mousse, then cover with the second chocolate disc.
Continue like this until you have used all the prepared discs (remember to reserve about a generous cup of mousse for decoration).
Finally cover the top layer with the half cup of strawberry puré that was set aside.
Now all that’s left is to garnish.
Put the reserved cup of mousse into a piping bag fitted with this 1 mm round tip (or you can make a quick cone from double-folded parchment paper with a very small hole to pipe a very thin ribbon of mousse).
Pipe thin ribbons of mousse across the surface of the cake. Also pipe around the entire edge (no need to be perfect — this helps the strawberry slices adhere).
Arrange strawberry slices along the edge, overlapping them one after another.
Finally, decorate the surface of the cake with all the remaining sliced strawberries.
Served in 16 slices of almost 100 grams each, every portion has only 147 calories and 12 g of carbohydrates. The cake isn’t overly sweet — for me it’s perfect this way, you taste the strawberries with a pleasant contrast from the crisp chocolate.
Of course everything can vary depending on the sweetener or sugar used, the type of dark chocolate (percentage of cocoa), the cream (dairy, plant-based, sweetened or unsweetened) and even the strawberries (store-bought ones have a different taste than home-grown ones).
In short, prepare the strawberry cake following the recipe, bearing in mind you can vary ingredient types based on your habits and diet. It remains a very quick and indulgent cake!
Storage
The strawberry cake keeps in the refrigerator for 4 days
