Free Printable: Low Carb & Keto Food List
Get It NowHave you been searching for a keto cake recipe that doesn’t sacrifice flavor and texture for the sake of being healthy? This keto vanilla cake is exactly what you’ve been looking for! It has three layers of low carb cake with cream cheese frosting, and while it looks impressive on a platter, it’s surprisingly easy and can be made in one bowl. It’s the perfect keto birthday cake… or any day cake.
You can’t have traditional cake on keto, since it’s made with white flour and sugar. Fortunately, this low carb cake recipe will satisfy all of your cake cravings without the sugar crash.
Why You’ll Love This Keto Cake Recipe
- Classic yellow cake flavor
- Light and tender crumb
- Sweet with no aftertaste
- Comes together in just one bowl
- Keto-friendly and gluten-free
- Only 2 grams net carbs per slice
- Makes a great keto birthday cake — or for other holidays, too!
We’re using a mix of almond flour and coconut flour in this keto dessert, because they produce a better texture than just using one of them alone. And, I always use Besti sweetener for my keto cake recipes, because it makes them super moist, and adds natural sweetness without crystallizing or causing an aftertaste. Can’t say the same for other sugar substitutes. 😉
Ingredients & Substitutions
This section explains how to choose the best ingredients for low carb birthday cake, what each one does in the recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card below.
Keto Cake:
- Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – The best sweetener for keto cakes, because it not only tastes and bakes like sugar, it also makes them very moist. I’ve made this cake before with other sugar substitutes (including other brands of monk fruit sweetener), and the result is more dry. If you need other options, you can use another granulated sweetener for the cake (like allulose). The amounts you need will vary, so check my sweetener conversion chart.
- Butter – Use any unsalted butter. This keto cake recipe has salt separately, so that we can use just the right amount. If you need a dairy-free option, coconut oil would make a suitable substitute, though the flavor and texture will be a little different. (You’ll also want to swap out the frosting with a dairy-free one.)
- Eggs – Use large eggs.
- Unsweetened Almond Milk – You can use store bought or homemade almond milk, just be sure it’s unsweetened either way. This can also be substituted with other keto milk, such as coconut milk beverage (the liquid kind from a carton, not the thick kind from a can) or watered down heavy cream.
- Vanilla Extract – A must for yellow vanilla cake! But if you like other flavors, feel free to add other extracts.
- Wholesome Yum Blanched Almond Flour – My recommended brand because it’s super fine and blanched. Other brands come in varying consistencies and moisture levels, so may turn out differently, and you definitely want to avoid almond meal, which would make your cake gritty.
- Wholesome Yum Coconut Flour – Like the almond flour, this one is super fine, and also has the right moisture level. Made with premium organic coconuts.
- Baking Powder – Make sure your baking powder is fresh so that your cake rises, which tends to be more difficult with low carb cake recipes.
- Sea Salt – Balances and brings out the sweetness. Don’t worry, your cake won’t be salty.
NOTE: Yes, you need both almond and coconut flour!
The combination of flours achieves the right texture and moisture in this keto cake recipe. If you want a cake that uses just one of these flours, browse my almond flour recipes or coconut flour recipes for other options.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream Cheese – I recommend full-fat, but any kind of plain cream cheese will work.
- Butter – I prefer to use grass-fed butter for nutrition and flavor, but feel free to use any unsalted butter.
- Besti Powdered Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – The powdered version of Besti, to use for frostings. Unlike other powdered sugar alternatives, this one dissolves completely (read: no gritty texture!) and is truly as fine as powdered sugar.
- Vanilla Extract
VARIATION: Try a different keto frosting!
Keto buttercream frosting or keto chocolate frosting are both delicious on keto cake. Feel free to add sugar-free sprinkles as well!
How To Make Keto Cake
This section shows how to make keto birthday cake, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.
- Beat butter. In a large mixing bowl, beat together Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend and butter until fluffy.
- Add wet ingredients. Beat in eggs, almond milk, and vanilla extract.
TIP: Make sure your milk and eggs are at room temperature.
Otherwise, they can solidify the butter and your batter won’t be smooth.
- Add dry ingredients. Beat in Wholesome Yum Almond Flour, Wholesome Yum Coconut Flour, and baking powder.
- Bake. Transfer 1/3 of the cake batter into the lined springform pan and bake. Repeat with remaining 2 layers. Set aside to cool.
TIP: If you have three pans, this will go much faster.
You can bake all three at the same time, on the same oven rack, or rotate their placement on the racks if they don’t all fit on the same rack.
- Cool. Let your vanilla keto cake cool completely before removing from the pan and assembling.
- Make frosting. Beat together cream cheese, butter, Besti Powdered Monk Fruit Allulose Blend, and vanilla extract until it is smooth.
- Layer cake. Place one layer on a cake stand or platter and spread some of the frosting on top. Repeat with the other two layers. Frost the top and sides of cake.
- Top with chopped pecans. The keto birthday cake looked prettier with the nuts on top, and I didn’t have to obsess about making the frosting perfectly smooth on top. But, if your frosting skills are better, feel free to skip the nuts and decorate the top however you like!
Storage Instructions
- Store: Keep the whole keto cake, or any leftovers, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: You can freeze cake for 2-3 months. To do so, place it on a sheet pan, uncovered, and freeze until solid. Once solid, wrap in several layers of plastic wrap and foil to freeze long-term. To thaw, unwrap the layers and thaw in the fridge overnight.
More Easy Keto Cake Recipes
If you like this keto friendly cake, you might also like some of these other low carb cake recipes:
- Keto Chocolate Cake
- Keto Red Velvet Cake
- Almond Flour Lemon Cake
- Keto Angel Food Cake
- Almond Flour Cake
Recommended Tools
- Hand Mixer – I love mine because it has storage for all the different beaters.
- Springform Pans – You can can bake the layers in regular cake pans, but I prefer springform pans for easier removal. Get three pans if you want to cut down on cooking time.
Keto Cake (Easy & Moist!)
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
Tap underlined ingredients to see where to get them.
Keto Cake:
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions below to start a kitchen timer while you cook.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line the bottom of a 9 in (23 cm) round springform pan with parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, beat together the Besti and butter, until fluffy with a hand mixer.
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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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Transfer 1/3 of the dough to the lined pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until the top is lightly golden and spring-y. Repeat with another 1/3 of the dough, then again with the final 1/3 (making 3 layers total).
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Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered Besti, and vanilla extract, until smooth.
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Let the 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 desired.
Did You Like It?
Leave a rating to help other readers (this also helps me continue to provide free recipes on my site), or get the recipe sent to your inbox.
Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 slice, or 1/24 of entire recipe
Optional pecans are not included in nutrition info.
Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see our nutrition policy.
© 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. 🙂
631 Comments
Anne
0Hey Maya! I made this cake (but with a keto chocolate buttercream frosting) last week and we were all very impressed with how it turned out! Three of the 6 adults don’t always follow a low carb lifestyle so are tough customers with most low carb desserts. I used two spring form pans to make the three layers, but am not sure why they’re necessary? It would be much easier for me to use regular cake pans going forward. Is there any reason in particular for using a spring form pan? Thanks again for a great cake recipe!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Anne, A springform pan makes this cake super easy to remove from the pan. It’s very handy to have at least a couple of them in the keto kitchen.
Bethy
0This was surprisingly good! I’ve made some recipes from this website that didn’t turn out good but this one was really yummy! I used xylitol for a sweetener and I made two square pans. I didn’t use this frosting recipe but I did find another really good one. Thank you for making healthy food taste good!
Netta
0So delicious! This is now one of my favourite ever low-carb deserts by a lot. Thanks for the recipe! I didn’t want a big cake so made 1/2 the amount of cake and cooked it at all once (just needed a few minutes extra in the oven). I did find that I still needed 3/4 the amount of cream cheese frosting, so I do recommend to consider making extra of the frosting.
Denise Painter
0My thoughts on the size of cake. I’m glad you made it half the size, I was going to cook it all at once in a 9″ square pan.
Linda L.
0I made cupcakes and used them for strawberry shortcakes. Delicious!!
Gina
0I followed the directions to a T and the cake is dry and crumbly. I don’t get what happened?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Gina, I’m sorry the recipe didn’t turn out as expected. It sounds like the cake was overbaked and that’s why it was dry and crumbly.
Diana Kugler
0I have a question. Is there any way to reduce the amount of Butter to this recipe to make it a little healthier? Maybe some Apple Sauce? I make my own Apple Sauce with no added sugars. Thoughts?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Diana, Wholesome Yum baking recipes are low carb and ketogenic, which means high fat and low carbohydrate. Swapping applesauce for butter will greatly increase the carb counts in this recipe, as even unsweetened applesauce has a lot of natural sugar in it. If you are not on the keto diet, and simply looking to bake a gluten-free cake, then you can swap 1/2 cup of butter for applesauce and only use 1/4 cup of butter. I hope this helps.
Diana
0It does help, thank you. We were hoping for a cake that was a little lower in both calories and fat and gluten free. This will be an excellent option for us. Thank you again for the help.
Mbt
0This may not be for everyone; I did not like this cake. Sorry
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Mbt, Sorry you didn’t like the cake. I have several others on the site you may like better. This Keto Chocolate Cake is very good and has more of a traditional cake texture. I hope you find one you enjoy!
Shawna
0This is the first time I have ever made and eaten a keto cake. I used the cream cheese frosting recipe provided. I thought it turned out pretty good for being keto. I love that the cake itself has the perfect sweetness and even with the frosting it’s not overly sweet. I will definitely be making it again and trying the buttercream frosting next time.
LGW
0Great cake! We don’t like frosting so I made this in a Bundt pan and it worked out nicely. It wasn’t quite sweet enough for my husband so the next time, I’ll add more erythritol. I also didn’t have almond milk on hand so I used half and half. I baked the cake in the Bundt for about an hour and 10 minutes at 350° F. It needed the extra time since the cake was thick and dense. Thank you for posting keto recipes!
Shayna
0Hi, I can’t wait to try this but I don’t have almond milk. Can I substitute heavy whipping cream instead?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Shayna, Yes. I recommend mixing 50:50 heavy cream and water for this recipe. Enjoy!
Cynthia
0Is it okay to use regular butter instead of grass-fed butter? Will the recipe still be keto-friendly?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Cynthia, Yes, regular butter will work just fine. It is still a keto-friendly ingredient.
Lou Ellen Bass
0Just made this for my birthday! Loved it!! I used almond extract instead of vanilla & almonds on top instead of pecans. I would like to try again with more coconut flavor next time. Can you make this with less almond flour & more coconut flour? What adjustments would be needed?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Lou Ellen, I would not change the flour ratios, it would change the recipe a lot. Instead, you can use coconut milk in place of the almond milk, and use coconut extract to give it additional flavor. If you have shredded coconut, you can sprinkle it on top of the frosted cake!
Cynthia B
0Hi there, I was wondering if I could substitute the cream cheese frosting for a buttercream style frosting? Would it mess up the flavour combination (be too sweet maybe?) or do you think it would be ok? Thanks!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Cynthia, I think buttercream frosting would be a nice addition to this cake. Please let us know how it turns out!
Maria Koziol
0Wow! Delicious! I made it today and I can’t believe this is a keto cake, taste like heaven!!
I wish I can share a picture of the final product, looks and tastes fantastic!
alexandra
0Hi! can I use stevia instead for the cake?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Alexandra, I would not use liquid stevia in this recipe. If you have baker’s stevia then you may be able to. Check with the manufacturer to verify the level of sweetness for your baker’s stevia. If it is 1:1 with sugar, then you will need to cut the amount down by 1/4 cup.
Casey
0I had the bariatric surgery and can’t have the erythritol and was wondering if i would be able to replace that with stevia, or any other sugar alternative?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Casey, Allulose may be a good option for you. It is actually a rare form of actual sugar, we just can’t metabolize it. You can read more about it here.
Sasha
0Hi Maya,
Lovely recipe as usual.
I use your site a lot as I find your recipes delicious and reliable.
I’m finding it more difficult to access recipes because of all the promotions/pop-ups for example the offer to sign up for emails constantly pops up. It makes things awkward as I’m trying to view the recipe as I cook. Can anything be done?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Sasha, You may be interested in Wholesome Yum Plus, which includes an ad-free version of the website.
Tricia Fisher
0Hi! I was wondering if you could freeze the leftovers?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Tricia, The frosting will weep a bit after defrosting the cake, but it will hold up fairly well to the freezer. Be sure to wrap it well to protect from freezer burn.
Andrea
0Hi, me again! I made these as cupcakes for my class and everyone loved them!! My only concern was that they were very very dense. They were moist, but dense. Is there a way to make them fluffier, maybe more almond milk? Thanks!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Andrea, I’m so glad everyone loved the cupcakes! My only suggestion is to make sure you are using a high quality blanched almond flour. Anything with the phrases “finely milled” or “superfine” will give the best texture for keto baking.
Andrea
0Trying this out this week, but I want to make cupcakes for class. Would this recipe be enough for 24 cupcakes? And how would I adjust the baking time for that? Thanks!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Andrea, Yes, this should make 24 cupcakes. Bake time and temp should be about the same.
Andrea Hasnain
0Would this recipe be enough for 24 cupcakes? And how long would I bake that for?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Andrea, This recipe should make enough for 24 cupcakes. Bake time and temp will be roughly the same, but sure to test for doneness.
Rosane Santos
0My cake never cooked in the middle
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Rosane, I’m sorry the cake didn’t turn out as you had expected. Baking times may vary due to the fact that everyone has a different oven. Oven temps are not always consistent and many have hotter or colder spots.
Andrea
0Hey! Can I use granulated sugar in place of the powdered sugar for the icing? Thanks so much!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Andrea, No that will not work. Your icing will be very gritty if you use granulated sweetener.
Andrea
0Hi! Can I use granulated sugar instead of powdered for the icing? Thanks!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Andrea, I don’t recommend using a granulated sweetener for icing, because it would be grainy in texture.
Pam
0Hey! I’m so glad to find this recipe. Can I cut the recipe in half ? It’s only my husband and I I don’t want to make a large cake. Will it work?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Pam, Yes, you can absolutely cut the recipe in half. You can bake in one larger cake pan or split into two as the directions say. You’ll just have to keep an eye on the cake as bake times will change slightly depending on what you decide to bake it in.
Briana M Roberts
0Hello, first thank you so much for this recipe. Second, is there a way to make this into two layers instead of 3? What would the measurements be for the ingredients? Thank you!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Briana, There are a couple of ways you could do this. If you still wanted a large enough cake to serve at a party, you could simply divide the cake batter between 2 pans and increase baking time to start checking for doneness around 30 minutes. If you wanted a smaller cake, then I would change the servings from 24 to 12. The recipe amounts will change to exactly half the recipe. Divide that batter into two pans and start checking for doneness around 15 minutes.
Ana
0This cake has been an absolute success amongst all my friends – low carb followers or not.
I divide the batter in 2 only and bake for about 28 min. It’s a nice height, I believe divided in 3 will be too shallow. Also I use whipping cream instead of almond milk.
Just finished baking once again – this time for the birthday of a non-low carb friend (his request!).
Dee
0To be dairy free, can I eliminate the cream cheese for the frosting, but keep the rest of the ingredients? We are allergic.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Dee, You can sub coconut oil for the butter listed in the recipe to make it dairy-free, that would work fine. The frosting would need to be changed a bit in order for it work without the cream cheese. I suggest substituting with dairy-free cream cheese to save on the amount of powdered sweetener you would need to use.
Ana
0Delicious! I divided the recipe by 4 and baked on a 7in pan for 21 min (18 was not enough). It came out perfect, tasty and moist. It was devoured at once by 2 adults and 2 children!
Thanks for another great the recipe!
N. Insley
0Can this recipe be baked in a 9×11 baking pan instead of a springform pan?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Yes, you can do that but the baking time might be different.
Terry
0I am always wary of trying Keto/GF dessert recipes because, sadly, there are usually awful! Even when there are a lot of comments, many people rate before they even trying the recipe. I tried this recipe today. It was easy and it came out great! I cut it in half, baked it at once (One tier) ,and added five minutes to the baking time. I will be keeping this recipe! Thank you so much!
Veronica
0Great recipe! The only issue I had (and it’s not your issue but mine), is that I have a strong dislike for coconut and the coconut flour overwhelmed the flavor of the cake. Second time around I substituted lupin flour and it still came out perfectly, with full vanilla flavor.
Tammy Badeaux
0Our entire office is now Keto – Made this for a group of gentlemen, it was devoured in minutes!
Loved how easy it was. And not a huge amount of ingredients. I used two 9″ round pounds and it worked perfectly.
AGV
0I loved this recipe, any way you could help out in making it a bit more moist mine came out a bit on the dry side. Other than that tastes great.
Jennifer Oldfield
0Do you HAVE TO use coconut flour or can you use all almond flour?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Jennifer, Yes, you can use almond flour. Increase the amount of almond flour to 4 cups and omit the coconut flour. Enjoy!
Zaida Jimenez
0I’m planning on halving batter for two 6 inch pans. Would 27 minutes at 350 be a good bake time, or longer/shorter?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Zaida, Your cake rounds will take less time to bake. I would start checking for doneness around the 18-minute mark.
Eva
0Love it.
Will make it again for 100%. Did with few changes, but the most of it is from your recipe. Didn’t have just Erythritol- so, used xylitol and Monk fruit. I added choco in 2/3. So it’s layered choco- vanila- choco.. and Instead of crerm cheese i used ricotta cheese. ( Don’t like salt and sourness of cream cheese).
Covered with chocolate
Thank you
Linda Wootton
0I was teaching my granddaughter how to bake a cake without using sugar. It was my trial run in order to make the cake for my girlfriend on her birthday. Everything went so good and then it didn’t rise so I started looking at the recipe and realized I didn’t add baking powder. We went ahead and frosted think it would be like a cookie however I was moist and really good!!! Great recipe next time I’ll use the baking powder. 🙂
Jackie
0I only bought powdered erythritol – can I use it in the cake recipe?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Jackie, Yes that will work just fine!
Jodi Grow
0Thank you for this wonderful recipe! It was delicious and guilt free. My entire family loved it.
Valerie Rankin
0I am one of those ‘very special people’ that cannot tolerate erythritol (Or isomalt, malitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and especially xylitol). Do you think xantham gum + a little monk fruit would give me lift I need? All I want is a birthday cake 🙂 ..As a diabetic I’m glad I found your page. tks
Wholesome Yum A
0Hi Valerie, have you tried allulose? It might work better for you. You’ll need a lot less, so xanthan gum and monk fruit might be useful to add too. Check my sweetener conversion calculator to get an exact measurement.
Claire
0If I substitute Truvia for erythritol, how much more of each flour should I add?
Thank you!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Clarie, If using the granular form of Truvia there should be no additional modifications needed.
Patty Bernateau
0My mom is an insulin dependent diabetic and a cancer patient. We are so glad to have her another year and I was so happy to make this as her birthday cake. We loved it, used swerve granulated for the cake and swerve confectioners for the frosting and it came out delicious and moist. I’d love to share pics if I can!
Talia
0Do you cover the decorated cake and store in the fridge or can you leave it uncovered? Thanks!
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Talia, I would store it covered in the fridge if possible.
Lisa Marie
0I just made this and put it in a 9 x 13 pan. Modifications: added a bit of salt, about 10 drops of French Vanilla stevia, and half a bag of Lily’s chocolate chips. (Didn’t use the frosting. Didn’t need it!) Cooking time increased to about 30-35 minutes. PERFECT cake! Very moist and makes a ton! I ended up with 16 good-sized pieces. : )
Thanks for this recipe base!
Rosanna Kobayashi
0Just wondering would it be alright to use all almond flour or is the coconut flour needed?
If I use all almond then do I not need as many eggs?
Wholesome Yum A
0Hi Rosanna, I don’t recommend exchanging almond and coconut flours — you’ll need the combination of both to get a cake-like consistency.
Jolanta
0Do you think I can make this into a sheet cake?
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Jolanta, you should be able to do that. Monitor closely for doneness and tent it with foil if it looks too brown.
Gary
0Odd – the recipe states “For this particular sugar-free cake recipe (and most baking), I recommend either monk fruit sweetener or erythritol.”, but your response seem to indicate that monk fruit sweetener isn’t going to work? I was just about to ask if you used granulated or powdered in the cake mix itself, as I have both (I use Lakanto).
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Gary, monk fruit on its own will not work. Brands like Lakanto blend both monk fruit and erythritol to create a 1:1 sugar substitute. You can definitely substitute Lakanto here, but check the linked conversion chart in my comment above first for the exact amount.
Wholesome Yum L
0Hi Leisha, I have a pantry shopping list here.
Sara
0I want to use monk fruit instead of erythritol since that is made from corn (severe corn allergy here). Would I use the same amount in the cake (not the icing)?? Thanks!
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Sara, the monk fruit conversion wouldn’t work here. The next best choice would be birch xylitol (check labels to make sure it’s not corn-derived). Use my sweetener conversion calculator to get the correct measurement.
Shailya
0Looks yummy, cant wait to try for my daughter’s birthday!
Can I just make one layer cake by diving the recipe ingredients by 3?
Wholesome Yum
0Yes you can!
Gail Loud
0This sounds good…would I be able to use a 9X13 pan for a sheet cake?
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Gail, you should be able to do that. Monitor closely for doneness and tent it with foil if it looks too brown.