Shop
My
Custom
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
Get It Now
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.
-
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.
-
In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the butter and Besti, until fluffy.
-
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the almond milk and vanilla extract.
-
Beat in the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt.
-
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.
-
Meanwhile, make the frosting. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, powdered Besti, and vanilla extract, until smooth.
-
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
Rebecca
0So I cut the recipe in half as I’m not having a party. If the recipe is cut in half and I just am making one layer in a spring form pan…What would be the serving size?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Rebecca, The serving size would be the same size, so if you cut the recipe in half, it would be 1/12 of the whole pan instead of 1/24.
Wholesome Yum A
0I was wondering if it would be possible to adapt this recipe as a chocolate cake with cocoa powder and if so what recommendations would you have? If not, do you have a comparable chocolate cake recipe recommendation? Thank you.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Amanda, The recipe would need other changes to make into a chocolate cake. I haven’t tested that yet, but in the meantime you could try flourless chocolate cake or chocolate mug cake.
Tammy
0Do you think xylitol would work in place of the erythritol?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Tammy, Yes, it would. You’d need less – check the low carb sweetener conversion calculator.
Anna
0Spectacular cake! We have a GF, keto, allergen-avoidant household and have been sweets-free most of the year. I made this for Hubby’s birthday and we just cannot. believe how delicious.
I couldn’t find powdered erythritol or monkfuit locally so I melted granulated erythritol in heavy cream and vanilla extract before adding to the rest of the frosting. Worked great.
I may take up baking again. Thank you!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy to hear that, Anna! Happy birthday to your hubby!
Celeste Weber
0What is the weight of your large eggs please? I would love to try this recipe, but find that egg sizes are not always the same universally.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Celeste, Sorry, I didn’t weigh my eggs but if they are labeled “large” they will work fine in the recipe.
Nelly
0I just make the cake no frosting. It was amazing! I whipped the liquid mixture a little extra when I incorporated each egg. I used a silicon muffin pan and it made 24 cupcakes. I baked at 350 for 20 minutes per pan. The cake was not overly sweet and it was fluffy. My other half ate it plain and loved it. Great recipe we will use over and over.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy to hear that, Nelly! Thank you!
Amy Haug
0Oooooops, just baked 2 layers for 55 min. Cook time at top says 1 hour. I thought that sounded too long.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Amy, Yes, that would be too long. Sorry!
Tamara Lee
0I made this cake into cupcakes not to long ago. I used swerve sweetener and the cupcakes definitely had a weird aftertaste, but I found that adding SALT helped a lot with the taste. I don’t remember exactly how much I used exactly because I didn’t figure it out until after I had already baked them and I just sprinkled it on top of the icing. Will be making this into a cake soon to see if the salt helps in the cake itself once baked. WILL UPDATE!!!
Joey
0Thank you for this amazing recipe! Am
anaphylactic to all tree nuts so ground my own flour from raw sunflower seeds and this cake is so moist and delicious!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I love to hear that, Joey!
Christina
0Hi Maya,
2 questions on the spring foam pan.
Have you experienced issues with the cake batter seeping through the base of the pan? I have one of these pans but have only used it once due to this issue (for a cake recipe found elsewhere). Is it just a poorly designed pan? Or is a little seeping through normal?
Another question I have is – when I line the pan with parchment paper, am I lining just the base or the base and the sides?
Thank you!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Christina, I’ve had that happen with one of my pans and not another one, so I think it depends on the pan. Try a different brand. The parchment paper online needs to go on the bottom of the pan. You can grease the sides to be safe if you’d like, but with a non-stick surface I don’t find it necessary. Run a knife along the edge if it’s stuck to the edge and then releasing the springform works fine.
Victoria Leonard
0Could you use coconut oil instead of butter?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Yes, you can use coconut oil, Victoria!
Robin
0How much unsweetened almond milk do we use? It’s not in the recipe.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Robin, The ingredient amounts are on the recipe card above.
Tabitha
0Approximately how many carbs per serving?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Tabitha, The nutrition info is on the recipe card above!
Sarah
0Hello!
I don’t suppose you have tried baking this cake in other shapes? I am planning to make a 2-shaped cake for my son’s birthday (silicone mould) and am hoping this recipe will allow me to do this. Fingers crossed!
Thanks!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Sarah, I haven’t tried, but you can bake it in any shapes you like! The baking time might vary depending on your pan size, shape and material.
Sarah
0Thank you, I’ll give it a go…
I forgot to say before that I made the cake to the same as your recipe above for my eldest son’s birthday party a couple of months back and received so many good comments from family and friends. Most people didn’t believe me it was sugar free/low carb! I was worried how it would turn out as I used ground almonds and not almond flour (harder to get hold of in the UK) and it looked more like porridge as I put it in the oven but turned out great. Success. Thank you for creating it for us to enjoy!!
Rocio
0Hi! I am going to make this cake again but I realized I do not have almond milk. Do you think I can use heavy cream instead? This cake is awesome and I LOVE your site!! I have shared it with a few people.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Rocio, Yes, that should work. Thank you so much for sharing!
Kevin
0For the baking powder, did you mean Tsp (teaspoon) or does it really call for 3.5 Tbsp. (tablespoons)??
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Kevin, The recipe card says 1 1/2 (1.5) tablespoons.
Ruth
0This cake is EXCEPTIONAL!!!!!!
I never leave reviews….ever , but this cake has me going crazy. I subbed lemon extract and eat butter and did a coconut cream whipped topping so my dairy free daughter could eat it and topped with some raspberries.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy to hear that, Ruth! Thanks for leaving your review!
Kate
0I’m about to try this cake for my hubby’s birthday! Praying for a success, lol. Can I add cocoa powder for icing? If yes, how much can I add? Thank you.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Kate, Yes, you can do that. I don’t have an amount for you but you can just add a tablespoon at a time to taste. Happy birthday to your husband!
Deepanjali
0Hi there! Great recipe but was wondering do you have any ideas how to swap out the eggs? I need the recipe to be egg free for my husband’s birthday. He’s keto vegan.
Have tried other recipes with little success, the flaxseed egg and chia seed egg don’t give a nice texture to the cake. They usually end up quite dense.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Vanessa
0Aquafaba can be used as a replacement for eggs. Aquafaba Is the water from canned beans, garbanzo bean water is best. It’s amazing stuff.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Sorry, I haven’t tried this without eggs. My only recommendations would be flax or chia eggs, but agree they don’t come out quite the same as real eggs.
Keara
0I made this for my mom’s birthday. I also chose to whip some of the egg whites. I whipped 4 of the egg whites until stiff and stirred them in last after I had mixed everything. I used an 8 inch spring form and made two layers. Because the layers were thicker, I baked the cakes at 360 for roughly 30 mins. I checked often after the first 20 minutes to make sure it didn’t burn. It turned out great!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy you liked the cake, Keara! Thank you!