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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.
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.