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Ever wished for a keto cake that tastes as fabulous as it looks, without all the carbs? With my vanilla low carb cake recipe, you absolutely can! It’s got three moist layers, that classic yellow cake flavor, and creamy cream cheese frosting. Plus, I love that I can make the batter all in one bowl. I think this is the perfect keto birthday cake. Make it with me for your next special occasion!
Why You Need My Keto Cake Recipe
- Moist, fluffy, and sweet – To me, the best keto cake is about the texture, as well as sweetness without any weird aftertaste. So many of them are dry! This one is extremely moist and fluffy, with a light, tender crumb, and a sweet vanilla flavor. What you won’t taste is any bitterness or cooling effect — I can’t stand those!
- Keto friendly and gluten-free, but also family friendly – With only 2 grams of net carbs per slice, this cake fits perfectly into your keto lifestyle without feeling like you’re missing out. But with a large cake like this, I think it’s just as important that you won’t be the only one wanting to eat it. My family and friends happily do!
- Great for any occasion – I first made this recipe as a keto birthday cake, but have since served it for other holidays as well. It’s a great keto dessert for any celebration you have coming up.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here I explain the best ingredients for my low carb birthday cake recipe recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card.
Keto Cake:
- Low Carb Flours – I use both my Wholesome Yum Blanched Almond Flour and Wholesome Yum Coconut Flour for this recipe, because the texture turns out so much better than using one of them alone. The almond flour is particularly important because many brands are too coarse and will leave your cake grainy, and in fact this is why I created the Wholesome Yum version. YMMV with other brands! Steer clear of almond meal as well, which is the worst for texture. If you want a cake that uses just one of these flours, browse my other almond flour recipes or coconut flour recipes for other options.
- Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – My go-to sweetener for every low carb cake I make, and there’s a reason. Not only does it taste and bake like sugar, it keeps your cake super moist. I’ve tried so many other sugar substitutes, and the result is much more dry (sometimes even gritty) with most brands. If you still want to use something else, check my sweetener conversion chart to get the right amount.
- Unsalted Butter & Salt – I add salt separately to control the flavor, but feel free to just use salted butter. If you’re dairy-free, coconut oil is a decent stand-in, but keep in mind, it’ll change the flavor and texture a bit. Oh, and you’ll need to find a dairy-free option for the frosting, too!
- Eggs – You need a lot because of the coconut flour. I have a list of egg substitutes here, but with the number of eggs in this keto cake recipe, I don’t think they would would work here.
- Almond Milk – You can use store bought or my homemade almond milk, just make sure it’s unsweetened. You can also swap in other keto-friendly milks, like coconut milk beverage (the liquid kind from a carton, not the thick kind from a can) or watered down heavy cream.
- Vanilla Extract & Baking Powder – I like this brand of vanilla and this non-GMO baking powder.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream Cheese – Go for the full-fat stuff if you can; it’s richer and just works better with the keto cake.
- Besti Powdered Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – Unlike other powdered sugar alternatives, this one dissolves completely (read: no gritty texture!) and is truly as fine as powdered sugar. Others can crystallize, too, so I highly recommend using this one.
- Butter & Vanilla Extract
Free Printable: Low Carb & Keto Food List
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Frosting Variations:
Not a fan of cream cheese frosting? You can make my keto buttercream frosting for something more classic, or keto chocolate frosting if you want a contrast to the vanilla. Throw on some sugar free sprinkles for a little extra fun!
How To Make Keto Cake
I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card.
- Cream the butter and Besti. Use a hand mixer to beat them in a large mixing bowl, until fluffy.
- Add the wet ingredients. Beat in the eggs, almond milk, and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients. Beat in the almond flour, coconut flour, and baking powder. The batter will be pretty thick — this is normal!
- Bake until golden. Divide the batter among 3 lined cake pans (I prefer springform pans for easy release). You won’t be able to pour it, so just spoon it in and smooth the top. After baking, let your cake layers cool completely.
- Make the frosting. While you wait for the cakes to cool, beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered Besti, and vanilla extract in a large bowl, until smooth.
- Layer, layer, layer. Place one layer on a cake stand or platter and spread frosting on top. Repeat with the other two layers. Finally, frost the top and sides of your keto cake.
- Top with chopped pecans. My cake looked prettier with the nuts on top, and I didn’t have to obsess about making the frosting perfectly smooth. But, if your frosting skills are better than mine, feel free to skip the nuts and decorate the top however you like!
This low carb cake is tall, very rich, and filling, so I usually slice it into very thin slices for serving, but did slightly larger ones for these pictures. Here you can see the texture once you slice into it:
My Recipe Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. Especially the butter, eggs, and almond milk. Your butter won’t cream properly if it’s cold. And if your eggs or milk are cold, they’ll solidify the butter as soon as you add them.
- Be careful not to overmix the batter. Overmixing can make the cake dense instead of light and fluffy, which is definitely not what we’re going for.
- Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl. I always recommend this, but especially here since we’re making this batter all in one bowl. If you don’t mind extra dishes, you could mix the dry ingredients separately first to reduce the amount of scraping you have to do.
- This keto cake is fragile, so I recommend springform pans. They make getting the layers out so much easier! You can use regular cake pans if that’s what you’ve got, though.
- Don’t have 3 pans? You can definitely make this keto cake recipe in 2 pans instead, or even a larger 9×13 pan for a sheet cake, like a reader asked me recently. (The baking time will vary, so you’ll need to check on it.) I don’t recommend waiting for layers to bake one at a time, though. I used to do this, but the baking powder isn’t effective in the batter sitting that long, so no longer do it.
- Rotate and swap the positions of the pans halfway through baking. Since you’ll have 3 pans in the oven at once, they’ll bake more evenly if you do this. Be quick, so you don’t let too much heat out!
Keto Cake (Very Moist, Easy Recipe)
By
This easy keto cake recipe is so rich, sweet and moist, that no one will guess it's low carb (2g net carbs per slice). Perfect for birthdays!
Ingredients
[ See substitutions ]Tap underlined ingredients to see the ones I use.
Keto Cake:
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Instructions
[ See step photos See my tips ]Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line the bottoms of 3 9-inch (23-cm) round springform pans with parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the butter and Besti, until fluffy.
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Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the almond milk and vanilla extract.
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Beat in the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt.
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Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until the top is lightly golden and springs back.
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Meanwhile, make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered Besti, and vanilla extract, until smooth.
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Let the keto cake layers cool separately to room temperature before stacking. Frost between the layers, and all over the top and sides at the end. Top with chopped pecans (optional) if you like.
Did you make it? Leave a review or tag me @wholesomeyum on Instagram!
Maya’s Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 slice, or 1/24 of entire recipe
- Tips: Check out my recipe tips above to help you avoid dense cake, keep your batter smooth, and options for different types of pans.
- Store or make ahead: You can make the whole keto cake birthday cake in advance and refrigerate until the day-of, or just store any leftovers. Either way, your cake will last up to 3 days in the fridge.
- Freeze: You can freeze this cake for up to 3 months. Place freeze it uncovered on a sheet pan first, uncovered to protect the frosting. Once solid, wrap in several layers of plastic wrap and foil to freeze long-term. Before serving, unwrap the layers and thaw in the fridge overnight.
- Note on nutrition info: The optional pecans are not included in the numbers below.
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
Add Your Notes Your Notes
Try More Of My Recipes
© Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We’d LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead.
Keto Cake
More Keto Cake Recipes
If you like this keto birthday cake, you might also like some of my other low carb cake recipes:
678 Comments
Tony
0Well another complete success wow
Being a first time cook at my age isn’t an easy thing but absolutely amazed by this easy to follow recipe and the end product being so lovely
Thank you
Chloe
0Hello,
I’m wondering if you do not want to make such big layers, can the cake ingredients be halfed or would you recommend making as is? I’d prefer to make a 2, 6″ layer cake. Also, I’d like to know if I wanted to make this a lemon blueberry cake, would I need to sub some of the liquid for lemon juice or could I add as us? Thank you for sharing such a neat recipe with the world!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Chloe, I don’t recommend adding blueberries to this cake batter, but you could definitely replace the vanilla extract with lemon extract and then decorate using blueberries on top of the frosting. Also, feel to half the recipe to fit it into two 6-inch pans. If you are looking for a recipe you can bake with blueberries, try this one for Keto Blueberry Bread. Best wishes!
Kathy Garmalo
0Could I make cup cakes rather than a three layer cake? what would be the bake time?
Thank you
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Kathy, Yes, you can make these into cupcakes. Bake temperature will remain the same. If you are making standard-sized cupcakes, the timing will take a little longer than the separate cake layers. Be sure to check for doneness. Enjoy!
Aryn
0I have friends with a lot of food sensitivities and I was trying to make a cake they could eat. For the eggs I did 2 whole eggs and 12 egg whites; for the sugar I subbed stevia (using another conversion chart, since this one only had one brand and I use Pure Via organic stevia); for the butter I used plant-based butter; and for the almond flour I used a generic gluten-free flour without almonds (one friend has some sensitivity to almonds so the bit of milk I judged OK but didn’t want to make the whole thing out of almond flour as well). Though I am not an experienced (or good) cook, it turned out pretty well! They were over the moon about it, having not had cake for months lol, and even my other friends liked it. I will be trying this again for my mom who is vegan (using egg substitute of course). Thanks a lot!
Brenda
0My daughter, who does not eat desserts, and my husband both enjoyed this cake. Of course, to me, it was a special treat to eat and enjoy with family!
Lisa Sullivan
0My husband made this for my birthday and it was fantastic! Thank you for all your wonderful recipe! 🙂
Frances
0Hi, this is my third to be making this for my little ones birthday (6 & 3, now 4-year old) This is a very good cake, moist and not too sweet. Pretty filling and the frosting was wonderful too. People love this cake and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments even from my friends who are home bakers themselves. I was born and raised in Philippines and the cakes there are much less sweeter than the cakes here in the US. When I came here, I didn’t care for any of the gluten cakes here. They are all too sweet for me. I can even take a bite. But I’m glad that I can eat this cake, and best thing is I can make it.
Thank you for sharing this.
Kathie Carly
0How could I turn this recipe into a chocolate cake
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Kathie, Here is my recipe for Keto Chocolate Cake. Enjoy!
Christina Marie Nitti
0I’m going to hand it to you, this is one moist and perfectly textured cake! Exactly like your pictures. As well, it’s not grainy or weirdly textured like pre oven looks would make you believe.
I followed what one commenter said above and only used 3/4 monk fruit sweetener as I have the same brand. I also used Madagascar vanilla bean (one whole one) because I didn’t have vanilla extract.
As with a lot of keto recipes, it’s a little eggy. If you aren’t used to that I would add sugar free chocolate chips like I did to one cake (I made two). I used white chocolate sugar free instant pudding mix and heavy cream beaten for the frosting. Amazing.
Thanks for the recipe!
Sonja
0Wondering if I can use almond extract to make the cake more almond flavored? Would you add some or substitute it for the vanilla extract? Thanks for your advice!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Sonja, I would not omit the vanilla from the recipe, but you can add almond extract if you like a stronger almond flavor. Enjoy!
William Christian
0Came out perfect!!!! How long will it last in the refrigerator after it’s made?!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi William, This cake is best for 3 days in the fridge, but it sometimes lasts longer for me. Enjoy!
Melissa Abrams
0Hey there. I am about to attempt this but I just realized, I do not have almond milk. Can I use heavy whipping cream???
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Melissa, Yes, heavy cream will work fine, but I recommend watering it down (use half cream and half water to total the amount of almond milk you’re replacing). Keep in mind it will change the macros if you are counting them. Enjoy!
Frances
0I did this lovely decadent cake for my last birthday few days ago. It was perfect! Chewy and all my family loved it! They didn’t believe it was keto!
I changed the frosting, I used your keto chocolate frosting….absolutely delicious!
Thank you Maya ;*
Ida
0Have you ever made this recipe with egg replacer? If so how much is required?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Ida, I don’t recommend using egg replacer for this recipe. The large number of eggs are needed for structure.
Joanne
0This cake is delicious as is or a base for so many things like cupcakes and different flavours. My grandkids (and everyone else) love it filled with Sugar free chocolate chips and covered with chocolate buttercream icing. It’s a keeper for sure. Thanks for all the great recipes.
Hamnah
0Would half this recipe be enough for a layered 6” cake?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Hamnah, Yes. Enjoy!
Lana
0I’m shocked! It tastes so good! I’ve ordered cakes at bakeries that didn’t taste half as good as this. I used Lakanto monkfruit sweetener with erithithol and instead of 1 cup, I used 3/4 cup because that brand of sweetener tastes overly sweet to me. I didn’t want to spend too much time, so I used my two spring foam pans and separated the mixture evenly into the two. The texture of the mix had me quite worried. I buttered the sides and put parchment paper on the bottom, then baked for 35 minutes. Though the middle didn’t get very dark, the edges got very brown and came away from the pan, so I stuck a toothpick in and ensured it came out clean. The cake is light, fluffy, moist and delicious. I’m so glad I put less sweetener, because the sweetness was absolutely perfect for me and my mom. I told my husband this is the cake I want for my birthday. I’m so happy how this turned out. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Tamara Mcdonald
0Thank you for sharing, fantastic blog…
doh
0For the 3 layers, can we just bake all at once and cut horizontally afterward?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Doh, If you have a pan large enough to hold all the batter, I think you may have issues with the cake not being done in the middle. It would also be tricky to cut horizontally and then frost between cut layers For best results, I recommend baking in separate pans.
Nancy
0I explored your website while looking for a gluten-free, sugar-free birthday cake. I especially appreciate all the detailed information you provide regarding various sweetners and I am looking forward to trying both the granulated and powered Allulose to make a cake. This recipe is obviously heavy on the egg. Some in my family have food sensitivity to egg, and the recipe that I use does not have to be Keto specificially. So can I use the Allulose in just a regular homemade cake and buttercream frosting recipe and expect good results? Since the sweetner is so pricey, I just wanted to check on this before I try it. Thanks for your help.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Nancy, Yes, you can use Wholesome Yum Allulose in place of any recipe using regular sugar. It is slightly less sweet than regular sugar, so be sure to use my Sweetener Conversion Calculator to find out exactly how much you will need in your recipe.
Jessica
0To make this cake batter paleo, what can I replace with the butter?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Jessica, To make this recipe paleo, replace the butter with an equal amount of coconut oil.