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Making my own protein bars has become one of my regular meal prep activities. Not only can it be challenging to find a vegan, gluten-free, almond-free (I’m allergic!) and keto-friendly protein bars in a store, but they’re typically loaded up with ingredients that upset my digestive system. So, I started making my own a few years ago and now it’s just part of my routine. As you can imagine, I’ve made a bunch of different flavors over the years, and these low carb vegan birthday cake protein bars are becoming a favorite.
The key to birthday cake flavor, in my mind at least, is vanilla and sprinkles. I’m basically channeling Funfetti here. I use a vanilla keto-friendly vegan protein powder and just regular sprinkles from the grocery store. I’m sure there are some keto-friendly ones out there, but these are widely accessible and add less than 2g of carbs per serving, so I just opted to keep it simple.
Ingredients for Low Carb Vegan Birthday Cake Protein Bars
This recipe only uses 5 ingredients, and they’re all are pretty straightforward – you just need a vegan cream cheese (I like using ones like Miyoko’s, that are made with whole foods like cashews over the oil-based ones), coconut manna (basically just dried, blended coconut), protein powder, coconut oil and sprinkles.
You can find coconut manna (also called coconut butter) at health food stores, but my local, regular grocery store also carries it. If you can’t find it (or can’t find it for a reasonable price, as this is another grocery product whose price has increased up to 50% over the past few years), a 50/50 blend of a nut butter of your choosing (cashew or almond taste best for this) and coconut oil should work. I have also found that a 50/50 blend of vegan white chocolate and coconut oil works as well, but it’s also difficult to find keto-friendly vegan white chocolate in stores.
Notes on Making Low Carb Vegan Birthday Cake Protein Bars
- The brand of vegan keto cream cheese I use is Miyoko’s, which is cashew-based. I find that for protein bars, whole foods non-dairy cream cheese options work better than those made from oils.
- I just used regular sprinkles because they are cheap and widely available. I’m sure there is a keto-friendly, sugar-free sprinkle out there, though.
- If you can’t source coconut manna, I’ve had a lot of luck replacing it with a 50/50 mix of coconut oil and keto-friendly vegan white chocolate.
- Another substitution for the coconut manna is a 50/50 blend of coconut oil and a nut butter. I find almond and cashew taste best here.
- To calculate net carbs – subtract the grams of fiber from the total grams of carbohydrates in the recipe. For this recipe, the calculation is: 8g total carbs – 3.7g fiber = 4.3g net carbs
- While I strive to provide accurate nutrition information, there are variations across brands and types of ingredients. So, if you’re using other brands than those mentioned, your macros may be different. All nutrition info is calculated from the USDA values for each ingredient, unless a brand is specifically mentioned (or no generic listing is available), and are for information purposes only!
Low Carb Vegan Birthday Cake Protein Bars
These vegan and keto-friendly funfetti cake protein bars are nut free, soy free, gluten free, low carb, tasty and easy to make!
Servings 8 bars
Calories 212
Instructions
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Make sure the coconut manna is soft enough to work with (I often rest the container in hot water for a while before attempting to use it). Line a 9″x5″ (22.5cm x 12.5cm) brownie tin with parchment paper.
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In your food processor, blend the coconut manna, vegan cream cheese and coconut oil until completely combined.
1/2 cup coconut manna, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1/2 cup vegan cream cheese
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Stir the protein powder and sprinkles into the coconut manna and cream cheese mixture and work until a dough forms.
1 tablespoon sprinkles, 2-3 scoops vanilla protein powder
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Press into the lined loaf pan and chill until firm.
Notes
Nutrition
Serving: 1bar | Calories: 212kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 10.8g | Fat: 15.1g | Saturated Fat: 10.6g | Fiber: 3.3g | Iron: 2.8mg