Nora is 8 years old! She had a fabulous birthday celebration with friends. Her artistic side is shining through, with musical theater as her birthday party theme and top summer activity. With a little moxy and a lot of help from our friends, we pulled off an impromptu version of Suessical the Musical, with Nora playing Gertrude McFuzz and singing the songs herself. Her birthday wish came true and she was fabulous!

The birthday week also brings check up time: we paid a visit to her regular pediatrician, who finds Nora in perfect health and 50th percentile in height and weight. The keto diet did not seem to slow her down after all of those years. We also visited the dentist who gave her a clean bill of dental health. Back in the keto days she got several fillings, which I still wonder about–could it be that her saliva was more acidic like her blood at that time? Because it certainly was not related to sugar consumption!

Nora is now over 4 years seizure-free and it has been about 1 year since she officially moved on to the Modified Atkins Diet (MAD). She still eats like she is on MAD, but we don’t weigh or measure food. Our new rule is to restrict all refined sugar and carbs, which is how we should all be eating for health anyway. As a matter of fact, it’s how our whole family has learned to eat – almost, her 11 year old brother doesn’t restrict himself in all settings – but at home we eat whole fruits, veggies, nuts, eggs, meats and dairy.

This Chocolate Poundcake recipe has been our go-to cupcake recipe for about a year now. I make a big batch and frost them with cream cheese whipped with a drop of vanilla and a splash of cream, then freeze them for birthday parties. I also make sure to keep several in the school freezer for those days when a classmate brings in a treat. Nora’s teacher sends her down to the teacher’s lounge to take one out of the freezer in the morning, then she’s ready to celebrate with the rest of her class when they have a special treat at school. These cupcakes are moist and chocolatey, just as rich and delicious as a cupcake should be.

The MAD version is 1.45:1 ratio, but topped with whipped cream cheese the ratio is even higher – which is great! To make the keto version with a higher ratio, I have included substitutions and nutritional facts below. We’ve also made these in other flavors, for example, omit the cocoa powder and add bits of raspberries for vanilla-raspberry muffins. Use your imagination! This recipe was  adapted from The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking.

Chocolate Poundcake Nutritional Facts for 1 cupcake (recipe makes 10) from www.caloriecount.com

MAD Chocolate Poundcake
Makes 10 cupcakes

1 2/3 cup (180 g) Almond meal
1 Tbsp (10 g) Show Me the Whey Protein Powder (could substitute other brand)
1/2 tsp (2 g) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1 g) salt
1/4 cup (20 g) cocoa powder
2 large (100 g) eggs
1/4 cup (60 g) Whole Milk
1 tsp (5 g) vanilla extract
6 Tbsp (80 g) butter, melted
1 Tbsp (20 g) honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set out 10 silicone cupcake molds on a baking sheet.

Mix together the dry ingredients–almond meal, protein powder, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder. The almond meal can be clumpy, so break it up and mix well.

In a separate bowl (your stand mixer, if using one), measure the eggs, vanilla and milk (or cream, see below). Mix on low to combine wet ingredients. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl, then add the honey to the melted butter and combine. Add the butter and honey to the mixing bowl and combine with the eggs and honey. Then add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix on medium for 1-2 minutes, until well combined.

Scoop batter into 10 silicone muffin cups (49 grams each). Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate baking sheet and cook for another 10 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the keto version, substitute heavy cream for the milk, and stevia for the honey (liquid stevia will go in with the eggs, cream and vanilla, powdered with go in with the dry ingredients). With those substitutions, each cupcake will have 47 grams of batter, 2.9 g carbs, 6.5 g protein, 19.2 g fat, for a ratio of 2.04:1. Use your favorite keto frosting to bring up the ratio of the whole treat.