Keto Vanilla Cake
My Keto Vanilla Cake is a very special recipe! It is basically a keto yellow cake (made with whole eggs) and flavoured with vanilla. I was determined to create a cake that would become a firm favourite with everyone. It took a while to get it right, but it was so worth it. The best bit is this cake can be made and changed to almost any flavour you can imagine.
This recipe was originally published back in 2018 but has had a recent update. The recipe has not changed at all, just a few tasty new pictures.
This vanilla cake is low-carb and, being sugar-free, is perfect for a keto or diabetic-friendly diet. It has the most amazing texture, as it is both dense as well as light and fluffy. You will definitely not get anything this good from a boxed vanilla cake! It is also the perfect sugar free birthday cake!
Related Recipes: Layered Keto Cake / Keto Carrot Cake.
Why We Love This Recipe
Low carb – With just 3g net carbs per serving, you really can have your cake and eat it too! The perfect keto friendly birthday cake!
Keto pantry basic ingredients – All of the ingredients will be staples in your keto pantry.
Gluten-free – My keto vanilla cake recipe uses almond flour or meal and is a perfect gluten-free cake.
Versatile – This recipe can be used as a base recipe and adapted to different flavours with the addition or substitution of flavouring ingredients.
Quick and easy! – As with all my recipes, I keep them simple so you can spend less time cooking and more time enjoying them.
The Ingredients
Jump to the recipe card for the full list of ingredients to make this low carb keto vanilla birthday cake recipe.
Light taste olive oil – use an oil with a neutral flavour. Oils like extra virgin olive oil are too strong for the cake. You can use butter or ghee.
Sweetener – I use monk fruit/erythritol or erythritol. These are the products I use Sukrin:1 or Monkfruit sweetener.
Almond flour or almond meal – Almond meal and almond flour are slightly different in consistency, with almond meal being a bit coarser. You can choose either for this recipe.
Eggs – I prefer to buy fresh, free-range, jumbo eggs whenever possible and have them at room temperature before using them in a recipe.
Sour cream or Greek yoghurt. – Coconut cream can be used for a dairy free keto vanilla cake.
Baking powder – I use and recommend Bob’s Red Mill Baking Powder for all low carb gluten-free baking. It really helps give a good rise and consistent baking results every time.
How to Make Keto Vanilla Cake
Step 1. PREHEAT – to 160℃ fan/180°C static/350°F. Line a 20 cm (8-inch) springform pan.
Step 2. MIX all ingredients in a stand mixer or large mixing bowl until combined. Spoon mixture into prepared pan.
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Step 3. BAKE 30 minutes or until cooked through. Cool on wire tray until cool.
Step 4. MIX buttercream ingredients in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
Step 5. FROST: Pipe thickly onto the edge of the bottom cake and spread it with an angled spatula. Place the second cake on top (if doing double) and pipe buttercream on top of cake. Using an angled icing spatula, generously spread buttercream over the sides and top of the cake. Scrape the frosting back for the naked cake look, or just keep it smooth and creamy.
Want More Low Carb Cake Recipes
Whether you’re making a keto cake for a celebration, or just for a treat, here are some others you might like to try:
Hot Tips & FAQs
For layered cakes, like mine pictured, it is safe to double or triple the recipe in both a stand mixer and the Thermomix®.
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) has a very strong flavour that will overpower the delicate vanilla flavour. If you want to substitute with olive oil, choose a light tasting olive oil instead.
No, you can’t. The recipe would have to be completely different because coconut flour is very thirsty.
You can store the keto vanilla cake, in an airtight container in the fridge, for up to 1 week. You can also freeze it for up to 1 month.
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Keto Vanilla Cake
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Ingredients
KETO VANILLA CAKE
- 0.25 cup (60 g) light tasting olive oil
- 0.3 cup (70 g) sweetener
- 2 cups (240 g) almond flour
- 4 large eggs
- 0.3 cup (80 g) sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
KETO VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
- 0.5 cup (100 g) powdered sweetener
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons (60 g) butter cubed
- 250 g (9 oz) cream cheese softened, and cubed
- 0.25 cup (60 g) sour cream
Instructions
CONVENTIONAL METHOD
- PREHEAT – to 160℃ fan/180°C static/350°F. Line a 20 cm (8-inch) springform pan.
- MIX all ingredients in a stand mixer until combined. Spoon mix into prepared pan.
- BAKE 30 minutes or until cooked through. Cool on wire tray until cool.
- MIX buttercream ingredients in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
- FROST: Evenly cover the top of one cake (if doing double) with half of the frosting. Top with second cake and spoon the remaining frosting onto the top. Use an angled spatula to smooth over top. Chill for 1-2 hours before slicing the cake.For a “naked” look, gently scrape back icing using a cake scraper. Be careful to scrape icing back to edge of cake, and not to remove crumb. Garnish with fresh berries.
THERMAL METHOD
- PREHEAT oven to 160℃ fan/180°C static/350°F. Line a 20 cm (8-inch) springform pan.
- MIX: Place all ingredients into mixer; Mix 1 min/speed 3. Follow from Step 3 above.
- FROST: For frosting; mix all ingredients 1 min/speed 5. Scrape down sides of bowl. Repeat until smooth and fluffy. Follow instructions above for frosting the cake.
Video
Notes
- My pictures show 2 cakes, and I doubled the recipe to make two full size. You can use one batch and slice the cake in half or use smaller pans to make layered easy keto cakes, if you prefer.
- For the top layer Strawberry Frosting; I added one tablespoon of strawberry juice (I pushed a berry through a sieve) to give a subtle flavor and color to the cream cheese frosting.
Your Own Notes
Nutrition
107 responses to “Keto Vanilla Cake”
My diabetic In-laws loves it!Awesome!
this is such a lovely base cake alone or modified with other flavours!It is soooo good isnt it Nancy!
Pretty and delicious cake!
A perfect present to give to my cousin on her birthday!Happy birthday to your cousin.
this is a beautiful keto vanilla cake, love how it looks minimalist and naked too, cant believe its keto, tastes so goodSo glad you enjoyed it jeannie
It is totally irresistible! Everyone at my house was impressed!Yay!
Yum! This keto vanilla cake is out of this world amazing! So delicious and I love that it is gluten-free!So happy you enjoyed it Kayla
So yummy!Yay!
This cake is so rich and delicious!It is so good, isn’t it!
Can I make this into an orange and poppy seed cake? How do I adjust the ingredients?
Just add orange juice, zest and poppy seeds and you will be good to go
Can you use coconut oil in the place of the olive oil?
It will taste like coconut if you use coconut oil.
Can we use egg whites instead of eggs?You can but it does make the cake a lot more crumblier and drier.
Can egg whites be used instead of eggs?
Wow…. what a fabulous cake. Love the combination of a light cake but with the density of the almond meal. This has become my go to treat!!! Thanks so much Megan for all your amazing low carb recipes. Life is never dull anymore 😊Can anyone suggest a possible substitute for the sour cream? Would like to make this for someone who is dairy intolerant.
Baked the vanilla keto cake for fathers day since my dad and husband are diabetic. It was deliciously moist, tasted like regular cake. My dad loved it because it was low carb and not too sweet and because he could indulge guilt free. It was iced with HWC, cream cheese and sweetner & decorated with fresh strawberries, sugar free glaze, canned fruit in light syrup.
Thanks for your amazing recipes.Hi Nora, I am so glad your dad and hubster enjoyed your cake. Thanks so much for letting me know how it went and a big Happy Fathers Day to your dad. I love hearing that one of my recipes can make others happy and enjoy a healthy meal or treat. x
I know you mentioned that the recipe calls for one (1) layer cake — so if I want to make two-layers, I should put 8 eggs, correct?
Absolutely Tan. Just completely double the recipe and it will turn out perfect.
Hi Megan,
I don’t have extra virgin light olive oil only extra virgin olive oil and I want to make this now 🙂 can I substitute it for butter if so how much would I use.Kind regardsHI Karen, you can make it with butter or any mild flavoured oil
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it. Could you tell me approximately what weight makes up a serve, please? Thank you!
Hi Sheldon the serves are based on slices (equally) sorry I have not weighed each one. The cake is very delicious and super easy to make as well.
The best cake ever!!!! I put raspberry filling (sf) in the middle and Frost with cream cheese frosting. OR – just eat it plain. Sooooo yummy!!I am so glad you enjoyed it Tamara.
Does anyone have this recipe not in metric please? I need ounces, I am in the U.S. thank you
Hi Pat, If you look just under the buttercream ingredients you will see a US conversion for you.
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