Sugar Free Chocolate Cake

You won’t believe this is a sugar free homemade cake! An easy recipe for a fluffy, tender and moist Sugar Free Chocolate Cake. Frost with an easy cream cheese whipped frosting for a low-calorie dessert. You may also love our healthy banana cake.

two layer sugar free chocolate cake on a cake stand

Sugar Free Chocolate Cake Recipe

I’m so excited to be sharing this cake with you today. Many of you have asked for healthier cake recipes. This sugar free cake recipe was a twist on our traditional chocolate cake. It’s lower in calories so you can enjoy as big of a slice as you’d like…no guilt included!

Sugar Free Homemade Cake

If you’ve never made a homemade cake before, this is a great recipe to start with. We have made this cake countless times in many different ways. It has never failed us and is a great “beginner” cake. We replaced regular sugar with zero calorie sweetener (Splenda). The cake baked up moist and tender with a light crumb. I was really surprised how much I liked it and even my picky “sugar-loving” family didn’t seem to mind there was no sugar in it.

Why do you put coffee in chocolate cake?

This cake recipe calls for a cup of strong, hot coffee. Coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate cake. It will not taste like coffee, so even if you don’t care for coffee, you’ll still love this cake. Trust me! If you really don’t want to use coffee, you can use water instead. It will affect the flavor slightly, but the texture will still be good.

Sugar Free Chocolate Frosting

My biggest concern when tackling a sugar free chocolate cake was the frosting. I mean….frosting is sugar, so how was this going to work? I happened to find a recipe that used sugar free chocolate pudding and Cool Whip. Yes, I realize that Cool Whip does still have some sugar in it, but you can buy fat free or Lite, whichever works for you and you have a very low sugar frosting. This recipe also has cream cheese in it which helps to stabilize the frosting and “hold” it on to the cake.

Here’s our hint for making this frosting:

  • Beat the cream cheese until it is smooth.
  • Then in another bowl, mix together the pudding and milk.
  • Spoon this into the cream cheese one spoonful at a time (maybe like 2 tablespoons?) and beat each addition in until it is smooth before adding more. If you add it all at once, you may have trouble getting the frosting smooth. Take your time!!
  • Fold in the whipped topping.
  • Refrigerate the frosting until the cakes are cooled and then you can frost the cake. It’s important to store this frosting in the refrigerator at all times so it doesn’t “melt” off the cake.
Sugar Free Chocolate Cake

TOOLS TO MAKE THIS CAKE

easy sugar free chocolate cake recipe
easy sugar free chocolate cake recipe

Sugar Free Chocolate Cake

4.22 from 303 votes
You won't believe this is a sugar free homemade cake! An easy recipe for a fluffy, tender and moist Sugar Free Chocolate Cake. Frost with an easy cream cheese whipped frosting for a low-calorie dessert.
Servings 15
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Total Time 47 minutes

Ingredients
 

Chocolate Layer Cake:

Chocolate Frosting:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese (softened)
  • 2.1 ounces sugar free chocolate pudding (1 large box)
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 8 ounces Lite Cool Whip

Instructions
 

Make the Cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 round 9-inch cake pans.
  • For the cake, put flour, Splenda, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix well.
  • In a stand mixer, mix the buttermilk, oil, eggs, vanilla together. Slowly add in the mix of dry ingredients while the mixer is on low. Add the coffee and make sure everything is combined. The batter will be very thin.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting.

Make the Frosting:

  • Using a hand mixer, whip the softened cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
  • In another bowl, mix together the milk and sugar free pudding mix, whisking until smooth.
  • Add the pudding, one spoonful at a time to the cream cheese, beating between each addition. Be careful not to add this too quickly or it won’t mix in well. 
  • After you’ve added in all of the pudding, fold in the whipped topping and mix gently until completely combined.

Assemble the Cake:

  • Place one cake layer on a plate.
  • Spoon and smooth about 1 to 1 ½ cups of frosting over the first cake layer.
  • Place the second cake on top.
  • Frost the top and outside of the cake (if desired) with the remaining frosting.
  • Refrigerate the cake until serving. The frosting will soften and “melt” as it is at room temperature so be sure to keep the cake cold!

Notes

The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 15 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of frosted cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate.

Nutrition

Calories: 331kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 508mg | Potassium: 221mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 331IU | Calcium: 103mg | Iron: 1mg
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Calories 331
Keyword healthy cake, homemade cake, low sugar cake, sugar free dessert
Sugar Free Chocolate Cake

About Julie Clark

We are Julie, Maddie, and Kinslee – a mother and daughter team sharing with you the best cakes to satisfy any need or sweet craving that you may have. Welcome to our family’s kitchen!

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Attention Everyone!

Milk is the reason this recipe has 23 grams of sugar. You would have to replace it with almond milk. Also, all purpose flour has carbs you can substitute it with almond flour, then it will be ok for diabetics to eat by changing out the two ingredients. Will it taste the same? No!!

How is this SUGAR FREE ?
Nutritional values show each slice as having 23g of sugar.

5 stars
I made this cake this morning. Used Stevia for sugar, coconut oil and Almond flour. Frosting per directions. It is delicious. This diabetic CAN eat chocolate cake. Thank you for the recipe.

5 stars
Made this today. This is absolutely the BEST sugar-free cake I’ve eaten! I used Swerve, but used half granular and half confectioner. Topped it with Lite Cool Whip. Stupendous! Thx!

4 stars
I made this cake today! It’s a great sugar free cake recipe. I did not however, make the frosting as I like something more made from scratch than Cool Whip. I would recommend baking it at a slightly lower temperature (325 for longer) because it doomed and cracked at the top. 350 is just a little too hot for this cake! I used Stevia instead and it worked great. Perfect amount for a 6” cake with 3 layers! Thank you for sharing.

5 stars
You are a genius. I just baked your chocolate cake . I could not tell that it’s sugar free. Used decaf instant coffee. I can’t wait to bake it for friends, poured thin ganache on single layers, more to share that way.

I just made this as hostess cupcakes with cream filling. Used monk fruit sweetner for a no sugar cake. Wowser! Saving this recipe!

3 stars
My cake came out really flat and dry. I followed the directions to a T.. so I’m not sure what happened.

My sister is a diabetic and I would like to make her a Birthday cake. she can not eat the regular sugar substitutes and I was wondering if i can replace the sweetener with either a date paste or mashed bananas instead?.

5 stars
It was amazing!
But wondering why it says 23 grams of sugar in the nutrition section?

What about chocolate ganache instead of icing?

Can I use sugar free pudding mix instead of the chocolate?

Is the baking time the same for a 9×13 baking pan?

Hi, I am looking forward to trying this recipe. I am new to sugar free baking. Is there a stevia based substitute that I could use instead of Splenda. Thanks.

5 stars
Sounds great, but I will be sure to substitute the buttermilk and the oil with other things, such as unsweetened applesauce for the oil and Greek yogurt for the buttermilk.

Hi there…what would be the cooking time if I were to cook these in 8 inch pans?

5 stars
I made this cake for a couple in my church and was told this morning that it was the best cake they had ever eaten. She asked me for the recipe and was shocked when I told them that it was diabetic friendly. Said that it was so moist and delicious.Thank you for sharing this recipe.

Hi. I would like to bake this cake for my husband who is a diabetic and likes to eat chocolate cakes. I have a question for Julie Clark. Are the nutritional facts for one piece of frosted cake or are these facts for the entire cake with frosting. Are there 329 calories in one piece of frosted cake or 329 calories for the whole cake with frosting? Are there 44 g carbohydrates; 23 g sugars; 1 g fibres; 48 mg cholesterol; 510 g sodium; 16 g fat in one piece of frosted cake or for the entire cake with the… Read more »

Hello, I made this recipe today for a friends birthday, but it is very thin ,two 9″ pans . is this normal ? but it smells delicious

5 stars
i just made this cake for the 1st time tonight and I have to say, the BEST SF cake I have ever had. Everyone loved it. I love the touch of the coffee in the cake, almost like a mocha. I only omitted the cream cheese in the icing. Not a fan of cream cheese. Will make this again.