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I first made this easy strawberry lemonade cake recipe over Father’s Day weekend last month. I don’t make cakes very often, but a celebration like that was a wonderful excuse to do it!
Strawberry lemonade cake is all about the flavors of summer: sweet strawberries and tangy lemon. The lemon cake is light and airy, with a creamy fresh strawberry frosting and a layer of fresh strawberries in the middle. It’s such a wonderful way to enjoy both fresh strawberries and fresh lemons!
Fitting a homemade strawberry lemonade layer cake recipe into ten ingredients wasn’t easy. There are multiple flavors required here, plus I wanted the texture to be just like “real” cake. I started with my gluten-free birthday cake recipe as a baseline and made several modifications to transform it into a strawberry lemon cake. It turned out to be a big success!
To be honest, I had to stretch my definition to make this recipe for strawberry lemonade cake. It does have ten ingredients, but it also has salt and optional lemon zest. I never count salt in my list of ingredients, which is pretty common for recipes.
The lemon zest is optional here to keep it under ten ingredients, but I do recommend using it if you can. It’s wonderful for adding more lemon-y flavor! You could also use lemon extract instead.
There were only seven of us at our Father’s Day gathering – my husband, daughter, and I, and all of our parents. Needless to say, an entire full-sized cake was too much to finish. And, this low carb strawberry lemonade cake is quite filling! Everyone loved it, but of course there was plenty left over. Unsure what results to expect, I decided to freeze the remainder in individual slices.
I’d forgotten all about it, until last week, when we had some friends over for dinner. I didn’t have time to make a sugar-free dessert, so I crossed my fingers and grabbed the strawberry lemonade cake slices from the freezer to thaw. I was excited and surprised when I found out that they were still delicious as ever! The fresh strawberries were much softer, of course, but still sweet and flavorful. The cake itself was incredibly moist. Even the frosting maintained a good texture. Awesome!
- Hand mixer – This powerful hand mixer works great at both high and low speeds.
- 9-inch springform pan – This springform pan is nonstick. Make sure you grab two to make this recipe.
- Blender – This is my favorite blender to use. It’s high powered and works great for pureeing.
Low Carb Gluten-Free Strawberry Lemonade Cake Recipe:
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RECIPE CARD
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Strawberry Lemonade Cake Recipe (Low Carb, Gluten-free, Sugar-free)
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Cake
Frosting
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Strawberry Lemonade Cake
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line the bottoms of two 9 in (23 cm) round springform pans with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the butter and erythritol, until light in color and slightly fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the sour cream, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Beat in the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and sea salt.
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Transfer the batter to the lined pans and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top is golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Whipped Cream Frosting
- Puree the strawberries in a blender. Add the powdered erythritol, sour cream, and lemon juice. Puree again until smooth.
- In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat heavy cream until very stiff peaks form.
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Gradually fold in the strawberry mixture, 1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 to 120 mL) at a time, being careful not to break down the whipped cream.
Assembly
- Let the cake layers cool separately to room temperature.
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Frost the bottom cake layer first. Arrange sliced strawberries over the frosting, then top with the second cake layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
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Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 slice, or 1/16 of entire cake
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Nutrition Information Per Serving
Where does nutrition info come from? Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy, sourced from the USDA Food Database. You can find individual ingredient carb counts we use in the Low Carb & Keto Food List. Net carb count excludes fiber, erythritol, and allulose, because these do not affect blood sugar in most people. (Learn about net carbs here.) We try to be accurate, but feel free to make your own calculations.
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48 Comments
LaShanda
The frosting came out extremely runny. I followed the directions. What if anything I could use to make it thick? If all else fails I suppose we’ll have lemon cake without frosting….
Wholesome Yum M
Hi LaShanda, Did you use frozen strawberries? That would waterlog the frosting and make it runny. You can whip more heavy cream and slowly fold in your runny frosting until you reach the correct thickness. You will likely have excess runny frosting. If that is the case, freeze the remainder in ice cube trays and save for smoothies.
Jennifer
Looks so good! Could Stevia be used in place of erythritol? My stomach doesn’t like erythritol very much.
Wholesome Yum M
Hi Jennifer, This recipe needs the bulk from the sweetener. Maybe if you used a baking stevia that would work, but it won’t with the concentrated powders or liquids. Have you tried allulose yet? Many who cannot tolerate erythritol can have allulose with no issues. Here is my recommended brand of allulose from Besti.
Julie
I have all the other Besti sweeteners because I do not like erythritol… which can I sub with?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Julie, This recipe works great with the other Besti sweeteners! You can use Besti allulose for the cake and Besti powdered allulose for the frosting in the same amounts as the erythritol as written on the recipe card. Alternatively, you could also use Besti monk fruit allulose blend for the cake and Besti powdered monk fruit allulose blend for the frosting, but would need about 2/3 of the amount in the recipe – a scant cup in the cake and 1 cup in the frosting, respectively. Hope this helps!
Belly Zee
I have looked at a lot of your recipes, and a lot of them have coconut flour, and I don’t have any. What can I use? I have tons of almond flour.
Wholesome Yum M
Hi Belly Zee, You can find all my keto almond flour recipes here. I hope this helps!
Mary Ann
Hi again. Can I use coconut sugar instead? If yes, how much? Thanks.
Wholesome Yum M
Hi Mary Ann, Yes you can use coconut sugar in the same amounts listed.
Mary Ann
Hi there. I was wondering if I can use date sugar instead of erythritol. If yes, how much should I use. Thanks. Looking forward to making this cake.
Wholesome Yum M
Hi Mary Ann, I am not sure. Date sugar has a very distinctive flavor, so I don’t know how that would affect the flavors in this recipe.
Lidiya Stoycheva
Hey, I did the cake last night, the batter came out good, but the frosting was very runny. I used frozen strawberries (which I thawed) and my heavy cream had stiff peaks, so were was the problem?
Wholesome Yum M
Hi Lidiya, Did you drain the liquid off the thawed strawberries before pureeing? Frozen strawberries tend to hold a lot of water in them. Also, did you make sure to whip the cream into stiff peaks? Anything less and it will start to break down back to a thick cream state.
Dawn
I made this cake today, but baked it in one bundt pan. I believe it cooked for about 15 to 20 minutes more than what was noted on the recipe for 2 round plans. Also, my hubby cannot have the seeds in strawberries so I skipped those. Turned out like a delicious lemon pound cake. Then I frosted it with the cheesecake frosting from the birthday cake (half the recipe) and topped with some sliced almonds just because. Hubby is not keto, but is willing to try anything. He really liked it.
I baked it in the morning before work and let it cool on the counter for about 30 minutes. Then I put it in the fridge for the day until I got home to make the frosting. Wish I could attach a picture for you. Yum!
Lisa
This looks great, but my Mom can’t have either almond flour or coconut flour. What can I substitute?
Wholesome Yum
Hi Lisa, that would be a pretty dramatic substitution so I’m not sure what would work best. However, I have many other desserts with nut-free options you may want to try instead: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/tag/nut-free/
Kristi
I made this cake for Father’s Day last weekend and it was a hit! My husband was asking if we make again today. It’s probably the best keto dessert I’ve made since starting on Keto last August. Thank you for your recipes! I’m so glad I subscribe to get your recipes.
One question I had about this recipe is about the icing. My icing came out a little thin and runny. Did I just not whip the whipping cream long enough or what do you think?
Thanks!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Kristi, I’m so glad you liked the cake! Yes, most likely that was the issue with the icing.
Misty C.
I made this delicious cake last night and we enjoyed it today for my birthday. It came out so good and better than A LOT of the other keto baked goods I’ve tried in the past. I read the comments before my trip to the store, which was super helpful. I needed new baking powder and was glad I didn’t use the old stuff. I also noticed that my batter was very dense, so I added a little heavy cream. That didn’t do the trick, so I added 1/4 cup coconut oil. That looked much better. I had to bake my cakes for 30 mins, but they came out very moist and delicious. More of a dense cake, but of course it is a keto cake. The whipped cream frosting was the perfect fit! So light and yummy! This cake actually reminded me of a wonderful tres leches cake (that used to be my fav!!!) until we moved away from that restaurant and I started keto. What a wonderful surprise this delicious recipe turned out to be for my birthday! It did not disappoint and everyone, even non-ketoers, loved it. Thank you SO much!!!!
Elisabeth
Hi! How would you adjust the recipe to make cupcakes? I’m making dessert for my grandparents surprise 60th wedding anniversary party and we will have lots of people, and diabetics! A pull-apart cake with cupcakes will be much easier and I’d love to use your recipe!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Elisabeth, You can use the same recipe for cupcakes. Just reduce the bake time to approximately 25 minutes.
Meka
I followed the directions added a little bit of heavy cream and cake came out super moist and amazing ,made a cream cheese buttercream icing for the extra fat lower carb icing
Andrea Bussiere
I am a baker but more recently I have not been doing much. I followed the directions and had a thick batter. the cake really did not raise, is dry and one layer in the darker pan crumbed on one side when I removed it. I tried to find info about whether or not to grease the pan and it might have been helpful for the dark springform pan. anyway, I was hoping to use this recipe next week for a baby shower. It could be that my coconut flour is not fresh?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Andrea, Sorry you had issues with the cake. This doesn’t rise as much as wheat flour cakes. Did you use parchment paper in the pans? That should help avoid sticking, but you can grease to be on the safe side if you’d like. Other than that, if it was dry, you probably need to reduce the baking time. All ovens and pans are a little different. Hope you’ll try it again and let me know if I can help with anything else!
Janice Meche
Cake turned out great. My frosting is horrible. I have pure powdered sugar.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Janice, I’m glad you liked the cake! I’m not sure what the issue might be with the powdered sugar. Did you use the same ingredients? There isn’t any powdered sugar in my recipes.
Dana G
I had the same problem with the batter becoming way, way too thick when I followed the recipe. It looked more like dough than batter. I had to add three more eggs, more sour cream, and some heavy cream in order to get it back to the medium thickness that was recommended. However, the consistency of the cake is perfect, and the flavors are heavenly. I made this for my pre-diabetic mother, and she loves it!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Dana, Sorry you had issues with the batter. I think coconut flour has some variation sometimes with different brands and even different batches of the same brand. I’m glad you got it to work!
Carolyn
Have you tried with stevia? I can’t tolerate Swerve.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Carolyn, The recipe would need other modifications to use pure stevia, because stevia is so concentrated and doesn’t have the bulk that erythritol does. The ratio of wet/dry ingredients would be different without the erythritol. Stevia blends should work, but those are typically cut with either maltodextrin (sugar) or erythritol, which would be a problem given your requirement. If you get it to work with just stevia by altering other aspects of the recipe, let us know!
Mitali W
I just made this and have the cake in the oven. I only had extra large eggs so I used 7 instead of 8. The batter was very fluffy, like foam. Does that seem about right? Or did I end up over beating it? It didn’t pour, but I plopped it into the pans and smoothed the top.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Mitali, The batter does turn out somewhat fluffy, but not like foam. It’s possible that your baking powder was a lot more reactive than mine, or maybe you did over-beat the batter. It’s normal for it to be too thick to pour, though, so just transferring it over and smoothing the top is perfect. I hope the cake turned out well for you!
Steve
I tried this cake yesterday and I believe followed the recipe closely but it didn’t come out too well. When I mixed the cake ingredients, the consistency of the batter was very thick and once cooked, the consistency was heavy, heavier than corn bread. What do you think went wrong? Any suggestions?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Steve, Sorry you ran into issues with the cake. The batter shouldn’t be too thick (it’s a medium consistency, not very thin but not very thick either). It’s hard to say what happened without being in the kitchen with you, but the difference might be due to the brand of coconut flour or possibly smaller eggs than mine. I’d suggest adding a little more sour cream next time if the batter is thick. Also, make sure you mix the dry ingredients well so that the baking powder is well incorporated prior to baking. Finally, coconut flour does continue to thicken batter as it sits, and the baking powder reaction starts, so make sure to put it in the oven right away (don’t leave the batter sitting out). Hope that helps.
Paige
Can you please include the serving sizes on your recipes? I would love to try them, but I was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and celiac, so I need to know the serving sizes. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Paige, Absolutely! I’d like the serving size to be listed on the nutrition label itself, but the one I’m using currently doesn’t support having it on there directly. Instead, I have the serving size listed in 2 places on the recipe card – under the # of servings (for example, if it says “16 slices”, then 1 slice is a serving) and below the nutrition label where the net carbs are listed (if it says “Net carbs per slice”, then a serving is a slice). In this case, one serving is a slice the size of 1/16 of the entire cake. Feel free to ask in the comments of any recipe if it’s not clear. Hope that helps!
Karly
What!? This is like my dream cake! Can’t believe how much healthier it is than your average dessert, but looks even more delicious. Need to make this ASAP!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Thank you, Karly!
Sharon Campbell
Thank you. I will try it with almond meal, it’s just for me!
Sharon Campbell
Can I use almond meal? I don’t want to waste all the ingredients if I can’t. Thank you.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Sharon, You could – the taste will still be good, but the texture will be different. For a fine crumb cake (texture like you’d expect from cake and appearance like the pictures), I’d recommend finely ground blanched almond flour. I like this one or this one.
Emilie Bailey
This looks so summery and light! I can’t wait to try…I have some lemon lovers in the house that will go crazy for this!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Thank you, Emilie! Enjoy!
Pilan
Thank you so much for responding. But, I had already done the mixing and am glad it was right. I have to say… OMGosh it’s delicious, delicious. I have not had cake in an 1 1/2 years. This one is so delicious.
I might make the two tier wedding cake flavor. I’ve got permission to anything pretty much and looking forward to being creative like this again. It’s delicious plain.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Thank you, Pilan! I’m so glad it turned out well for you. Enjoy!
Pilan
Okay, I’m going by your recipe, and have the sweetener and butter mixed up. However, it’s not really fluffy. So I went back and looked at your list of ingredients. I see powdered for the icing, but you just have listed the Erythritol sweetener. But the Erythritol name has a link and it links to amazon for a bag of POWDERED sweetener. Help!!!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
Hi Pilan, The recipe uses granulated erythritol for the cake and powdered (confectioner’s) for the frosting. On the recipe card, the Erythritol link will take you to the granulated version, and the Powdered Erythritol link will take you to the powdered version. As for the second step, just beat the (softened) butter and erythritol for a couple minutes until it’s all incorporated and the butter is a little lighter in color. Hope that helps!