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My keto birthday cake recipe is light, fluffy, and perfectly moist. With a gorgeous crumb and creamy frosting, it’s the perfect dessert for any occasion! 2 grams of net carbs.
Craving more keto cake recipes? Try my keto chocolate cake, keto coffee cake, keto carrot cake, and keto pound cake next.
I have a short list of cake recipes that I can whip up at a moment’s notice, and my classic keto cake recipe is one of them.
With the same delicate crumb and sweet vanilla flavor as regular ol’ birthday cake, this cake is perfect for those of us watching our carbs who still want to keep the party going.
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- The perfect texture. If you’re looking for a moist and fluffy cake with creamy frosting, this recipe ticks all the boxes.
- Multiple frosting options. I’m a weirdo who prefers vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, but I also included a few traditional frosting options too.
- It does NOT taste low-carb. Not everyone at a birthday party is necessarily keto, but I guarantee everyone will be coming back for a second slice!
- Naturally gluten-free. Because there’s no flour or grains.
Ingredients needed
- Almond flour. I strongly recommend using blanched almond flour over almond meal. Otherwise, the cake will be too dense and dark in color.
- Coconut flour. Works with the almond flour to produce a fluffy and moist cake. You don’t want to omit this or swap it for other types of flour.
- Baking powder. Helps the cake rise.
- Salt. Brings out the sweetness of the cake.
- Butter. Preferably unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, omit the added salt.
- Sugar substitute. I like to use allulose as it dissolves like sugar does, but monk fruit sweetener should also be okay.
- Eggs. Use room temperature eggs, not refrigerated.
- Milk. I used unsweetened almond milk, but any milk works, and water can also be used in a pinch.
- Vanilla extract. A MUST for any good cake recipe!
Keto frosting options
There are plenty of ways to customize your birthday cake with different frostings. Here are some of my favorite keto frosting recipes:
- Keto cream cheese frosting. Beat together softened cream cheese, keto powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a splash of milk.
- Cashew cream cheese frosting. Boil cashews for 5 minutes, then strain and blend with keto powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk.
- Whipped coconut cream. Beat together canned coconut cream with powdered sugar and vanilla.
- Chocolate frosting. Beat together softened butter, keto powdered sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, and milk.
How to make a keto birthday cake
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Prep. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line two 8-inch pans with parchment paper.
Step 2- Mix the dry ingredients. In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Step 3- Make the cake batter. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until fully combined. Add the milk and vanilla and combine. Fold in the dry ingredients and beat until creamy.
Step 4- Bake. Pour the batter evenly into the two cake pans. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
Step 5- Cool and frost. Once cool, frost the cakes with your favorite frosting.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Make a single-layer cake. Cut the ingredients in half.
- For a keto chocolate cake, add two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder.
- For a keto Funfetti cake, stir sugar-free sprinkles into the batter and frosting.
- Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting. Otherwise, the frosting will slide right off.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
To freeze: Place cake slices in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to six months. Let them thaw overnight in the fridge.
Frequently asked questions
Please understand that I am not a medical professional. While I am knowledgable about diabetes and the diabetic way of eating (my father is diabetic), every person’s carbohydrate and sugar needs are different. I recommend speaking with a medical professional and/or registered dietician to see if this cake is suitable for you.
I tried this cake without eggs, using an egg substitute. The texture was not super moist or fluffy but quite dense. If you don’t mind that texture, use a pre-formulated egg substitute (like Ener-g egg replacer).
More low carb desserts
Keto Cake (Vanilla Cake)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter use dairy free, if desired
- 1 cup allulose * See notes
- 4 large eggs ** See notes
- 1/2 cup almond milk can use any milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 serving keto vanilla frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line two 8-inch pans with parchment/baking paper and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add your almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream your butter and allulose until fluffy, around 8 minutes. Add the eggs in, one at a time, and beat well until fully incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla extract until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat until creamy.
- Divide the batter evenly amongst the two cake pans, and smoothen out the tops. Bake for around 22-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely.
- Once cool, frost the cakes with your favorite vanilla frosting.
Beautiful moist cake
It’s excited to try this recipe. I just have a question about the dairy free butter- would coconut butter or coconut oil work? Or are you referring to a blend of plant based oils sold as a dairy substitute?
This cake recipe is the greatest find on my new journey to a lower carb lifestyle. I have used it to make cake and cupcakes. Can I ask if this can be frozen? And if so how long for?
Lots of thanks for bringing cake back into my world ☺️
I would say try to keep them frozen no longer than 2 months 🙂
Love the cake. Texture was very good. Made it for the second time. Recipe is definetly a keeper.
I love your recipe
I make my cake for my birthday and it was delicious
Thank you so much
So welcome, Reem!
My dad is currently doing keto and he is OBSESSED with this cake. Tbh am really happy that my dad likes this cake and how it turned out!
Is this cake gluten free?
Yes!
I think your recipe is awesome!!!!!
Thank you!!
Best cake recipe ever!
I followed the directions very carefully and was pleased with the outcome. The cake is moist and sweet (almost too sweet) I used Besti sugar replacement; with a hint of vanilla. Great Cake will make it again.
This is the BEST cake recipe I’ve tried
My brother has been eating a Keto diet for some time but I wanted to make a cake for his 60th birthday. This cake is super easy and extremely delicious! I put fresh blueberries in the filling and on the top. Together with the cream cheese icing it was soooo good. He actually had several slices that day!! Awesome recipe!
Beautiful. I made 2. Stuffed huckleberries into the top of one and wild apples into the second. Sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar. THE BEST.
Going to try today with fresh pears and dark chocolate.
Can you make this cake as the base for the Boston Cream cake instead?
You could try 🙂
This came out so good. I feel like so often keto cakes end up being super gritty or dense, but this was melt in your mouth soft and paired really well with the keto lemon cream cheese frosting I made. The only place I deviated was that I used 1/4 cup whole cows milk and 1/4 cup of coconut milk to have less sugar overall because I was out of almond. Really good. This is going to be my main cake recipe going forward.
Best ever! I’m making this and just going to add fresh strawberries and whip cream. But I swear this hands down the best cake!!
You have the best recipes!
My wonderful daughter-in-law just made this for my birthday a few days ago The cake part of this is truly delicious! I plan to use it as my standby recipe for strawberry shortcake the minute the berries are ready for picking!
Coconut flour is not low carb!
Karen, best for you to do your research before making ridiculous and incorrect comments.
Hi Arman,
I know you’re an Aussie, so hopefully you can answer this question: could I use this recipe in place of butter cake to make an Australian Women’s Weekly birthday cake? It’s tradition in my family to choose a cake from the book for one’s birthday and I don’t want to break that if I don’t have to!
Thanks,
Lexi
Hi Lexi! I’d be super cautious of that- That WW cake is a classic haha and this isn’t really the same 🙂
I believe I did see allulose at my store, thank you for the suggestion, I will give it a try.
Hi Arman, I made the keto vanilla birthday cake, and the flavor and texture are very good. I used Monk Fruit with Erythritol, and the cake is extremely sweet, too much so. If I were to cut the sugar in half, would the recipe still work as far as texture and properly setting up, do you think? If so, I would definitely make it again. I tried the keto donuts and chocolate keto muffins using Swerve (Erythritol only), and I did not have a problem with too much sweetness, so I could go back to the Swerve. Thanks for any suggestions.
Hi Jane! Do you have access to allulose? I find that to be my current preferred sweetener for baking 🙂
This recipe worked really well and I look forward using it to make our Christmas Trifle on Saturday. Could you let me know what size cup you use, American or Metric? I’m in NZ so we’re metric.
I use American 🙂 (I’m in Australia but the biggest audience is American so I use that as my standard measurement)
I’ve made this thrice now, with keto chocolate cream cheese frosting – twice as 6″ cakes, and once in an 8×12 pan – always turned out great.
This is an awesome recipe! Baking is a science I do NOT understand, and removing gluten and sugar makes that science even more foreign to me. But I followed the directions (for the most part) and it came out really great!!
I wanted a small cake for an adult’s party at a restaurant, so I used Wilton’s 6″ springform pan, and this is where I veered off course and almost scrapped the whole thing. For a minute, the cake appeared to be both burnt AND liquid, but after googling a bunch: you can do this, but you have to cook it at a much lower temperature for longer. Also, you should PROBABLY make 3 separate layers instead of one 6″x3″ block of cake, but hey, live and learn. Just saying, you CAN make the cake this way, but you probably should not.
Long story short, I panicked and went with a boxed cake for the party but saved this keto cake in my fridge. I got into it at 2am and drizzled some keto cream cheese icing over it and…IT IS SO GOOD. It’s dense and moist and heck yeah, I’d make this again. I bet if I’d sliced it into 3 layers & added icing it would have blown everyone’s socks off. For now, I’m going to have this with coffee in the morning and pretend it’s a breakfast pastry.
THANK YOU for such yummy recipes!! <3
how do you store the cake? can it be made ahead of time? thanks
Very Very good. I made this for my daughters birthday but was serving a diabetic in the family as well. I read the disclaimer about consulting with a nutritionist . The cake was yummy! I made it in a 9×13. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi. Does this recipe work for cupcakes?
You can try 🙂
This cake was amazing! I made it into cupcakes and the whole family enjoyed them; even the non Keto folks!
I can’t have almond flour ,so used tiger nut flour instead. Also added coffee powder and walnuts, and coffee frosting. Delicious.
This has been my go to cake recipe since I found it. At times, I add a quarter cup of protein powder.
Can this cake be baked and frozen ahead? Thank you.
Yes, for sure 🙂 Frost it fresh though!
Hi there. I really want to try this! Is it possible to fold in fresh strawberries into the batter and then bake? Thanks!
I haven’t tried, feel free to experiment and see 🙂
Hi. Great tasting cake, thanks for the recipe. Mine did not rise to look like your amazing photo though. I used Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour. I tried doubling the baking powder to help with the rise, not much difference. Any other suggestions on how to get it too rise? Thanks very much 🙂
Sure! Make sure the oven is preheated very well- To ensure it rises, you can increase by 10 degrees for the first 10 minutes then quickly reduce back to the original heat.
This was my first keto dessert. I always get a Publix Raspberry Elegance cake so I used this cake recipe, your cream cheese icing, and made a raspberry filling. It was amazing! You would not have known it was keto! Delish! Thanks for my new birthday favorite!
Hi! I upped the servings to 24… without looking at the cake pan size before I started adding ingredients! Now I’m about to bake but the cake pan shows two 8 inch still. Do you think I should use 9 inch pans?
Hi, do you use US cups or UK cups? Or, is there somewhere where you convert your recipes to grams? I live in Asia so cups are different sizes here! Thank you =)
We use US cups. If you google conversions, there should be some tools available 🙂
This actually works.I have tried and failed with lots of different recipes .
This is really easy to make and tastes amazing.
I used keto frosting and decorated it with sugar-free rainbow sprinkles for a special birthday cake –
The only issue was I struggled to convert to UK measures
Thank you
Will Almond flour work?
Nope!
I have (with good reason) been suspicious of keto recipes claiming to be just like the unhealthy original, but this was so much like a classic yellow cake that I couldn’t believe it. I put mine in the refrigerator to firm it up some and then it was even better. Even without frosting.
This is the best keto cake I have made so far! It’s so moist and fluffy. And it was so easy! Thanks so much!
Thank you, Mily!
Thank you for an awesome cake recipe! My husband and I recently switched to a keto lifestyle, and as a baker, I had to make so many cake recipes to create a moist, but crumbly, light cake. This is the first keto cake I’ve ever made, and I’m surprised by how wonderful it turned out, as written, no changes. I spent years trying to create this texture with normal, gluten filled ingredients, and here you’ve made it as easy as ONE recipe. This will be my go to, thank you!
Note: I am sensitive to the flavor of coconut, and I don’t personally like coconut. I would NOT recommend this particular recipe to anyone who does not like coconut. If you don’t mind it though, give it a shot!
Thank you, Ella! If you find coconut secret coconut flour, it has no coconut flavor at all 🙂 Same with refined coconut oil.
What would you recommend for time to bake for cupcakes?
I want to make this as a cereal cake. Can I substitute some of the flour for ground-up cereal or should I just steep the cereal in the milk? Also, I have heard monk fruit has a cooling effect. Does this cake have that? If so can I use coconut sugar instead?
Can you use coconut sugar?
Yes 🙂
Is there other flours I can use if I have a tree nut allergy? Coconut flour is ok, but the Almond flour I cannot do. Is there a substitute for the Almond flour? Thanks!
Not that I’ve tried!
Cooked this yesterday for my sons birthday. As mentioned above it didn’t rise. Tasted great.
Made this as Christmas cupcakes for my hubby. Loved it. Used the buttercream recipe for frosting. Got 12 large cupcakes. Cooking time was double. We tried one(shared) without frosting, luke warm, it was light, airy and perfectly delicious, but after cooling densed up a bit and had a slightly(very slight) bitter after taste that the lukewarm one did not have, I was wondering why. Used Blue Diamond Fine sifted Almond flour, Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour, granulated splenda, Land o Lakes spreadable butter w/Canola oil, Jumbo eggs instead of large, LC foods rehydrated low carb milk,Did not have heavy cream so used Splenda coffee creamer, Davis double acting baking powder, salt and vanilla extract. Next time I plan on having the heavy cream and softened stick butter. We are going to warm up the current ones and see if that has a reversing effect, the frosting will melt but will probably still taste good.
😀 Fantastic- Thanks for the feedback!
Hello!
I saw the recipe called for vegan butter but I can’t easily find it so instead can we use oil? If yes then,
Which oil?
Will it be the same qty as the butter?
Also I am Vegetarian so I don’t consume Eggs,What’s the bestest alternative?
Also Erythritol Qty would be the same as listed above or maybe more or less?
Also can we have an alternative to milk or maybe can we just obsolete it from the recipe?
Waiting for your reply!
Thank you
I haven’t tried it with oil, you can use standard butter. No alternatives for eggs.
hi can i use brown sugar for this?
Sure thing, it will just be a darker cake.
Hello! I saw the recipe called for vegan butter but can I use regular? Also, should I use salted or unsalted?
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to test this recipe out!!
Of course! Unsalted would be best 🙂
Hi. I followed this recipe, and the cake was delicious. It looks just like the picture as far as color and texture, but it only yielded enough for two 6″ pans. I followed the recipe exactly. I’m confused how that happened.
The cake isn’t very thick if you use 8-inch pans, hence the frosting. 🙂
Hello, I have tried this recipe multiple times now and I absolutely love it. The very first time I used rice flour because I didn’t have coconut flour and it worked pretty well but it was a little dense and it didn’t rise, So after that I have tried it at least another 4-5 times now with the coconut flour but still hasn’t risen using the Bob’s Red Mill brand.
Hi there, this doesn’t rise very much 🙂
Hands down the best low carb vanilla cake recipe, and I’ve tried many before. I used this recipe to make Battenberg cake and it turned out perfectly! It really does taste like regular vanilla cake. I used monkfruit blend and added a few packets of Stevia to cut the cooling effect. Thank you!
Thank you so much for the feedback, Joy!
I came back to comment again after trying the cake. Though it was a bit dense, the flavor was incredible! It reminded me of what an old fashioned wedding cake tasted like. Even my children really liked it! I will be saving this recipe and using it again!
Great to hear that, Lydia 🙂
can I use coconut oil if I refrigerated it and it becomes solid instead of vegan butter trying to keep it dairy-free? so can I use coconut oil instead of vegan butter?
I haven’t tried, but feel free to experiment and see.
Hi there, love your recipe and would love to make it for my birthday coming soon. Please what type of sprinkles did you use?Or normal one is fine? Thanks
Good quality ones, I think they are called ‘Jammies’ are the best, as they don’t bleed into the dough 🙂
By chance how big of a slice
You can slice the cake as big or small as you wish!
Does blanched almond flour make a difference?
It does, almond meal is too heavy.
I am happy to say that everyone at the birthday party loved the cake!! The cherry cream cheese filling was perfect and the whipped coconut cream tasted just like whipped cream!! I was really amazed.
Thank you, Carol!
Can I use powdered sweetener instead
I haven’t tried but you are welcome to try it out.
can this cake be kept in fridge and done earlier?
Not un-baked but already baked, yes.
I just popped the pans into the oven. This is my first try for a birthday cake gift. I was surprised that the batter is so grainy. I can’t see where I might have done anything wrong. Well, I will find out in 20 minutes! So far it looks like it might work. I mixed up sugar-free cherry jello and I am going to try to mix it into whipped cream cheese for a center filling. I also bought coconut cream for frosting if all else fails. This has been a challenge but it is a cake made with love and that’s delicious!
Absolutely 🙂
I was shocked by how good this cake is! It is quite dense but moist and delicious. Made for a perfect birthday treat!
That is what I like to hear 🙂
Hi. Can I use a 9×11 pan instead of the two rounds? If so, how long to bake? Thank you.
I haven’t tried, feel free to experiment and see!
Tried this for my diabetic girlfriend’s birthday. I’m pretty solid in the kitchen so I don’t think I messed anything up. Cake didn’t rise, the batter was thick like cookie dough, wasn’t fluffy or sweet after baking. Used Stevia in the Raw for sweetener. May try it again but not sure what I’d do differently. Thoughts?
Hi Adam! I’m not sure why it hasn’t risen- would you mind telling me what brand of coconut flour you used? Also, stevia in the raw isn’t recommended for baking, as when it’s heated, it loses its flavor- I recommend monk fruit sweetener or swerve.
Can I use coconut oil instead of butter? (In thinking of using this for your tiramisu recipe)
Are the 2grams Net Carbs for the whole, double layer slice with the frosting?
Yes, but not including frosting as that depends on which one you use. Adjust the macronutrients to reflect that
Looks fantastic! But i have a question… this nutrition facts are just for the cake? Or includes any type of frosting?
None of the frosting is included because it will be different depending on which one you use!
Hi there! I love your recipes and have tried many but I get stuck with ones using coconut flour. I have a severe allergy to coconut unfortunately. Any suggestions for a sub? Thank you for all your wonderful work!
Not that I’ve tried sorry!
I have make his Keto Chocolate Cupcakes and it doesn’t have coconut flour and they are amazing. I used a chocolate butter/cream cheese frosting, Also very good.
OK, cutie, I’ve printed off the recipe, but where do I find the Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting recipe?? I’ve searched all over your site and can’t find it!!!
Hola! Can you please tell me the brand of your vegan butter and monk fruit you use? Thanks, Gaby!
I used flora vegan butter and I’ve linked the monk fruit in the recipe card
Can you tell me know many serving in a whole cake. I plan on baking this for an American Independence Day Celebration. Slicing each layer in half and filling with blueberries and raspberries with whipped coconut cream.
Hi! Yes, it is 12-16 servings. Those additions sound fabulous!