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A pink ombre keto cake with freeze-dried raspberries on top.
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5 from 86 votes!

Easy Keto Layer Cake

This sugar-free cake is the perfect keto birthday cake or cake for all celebrations. You can very easily change both the colour and flavours to suit almost all occasions.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 30 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Diet: Diabetic, Gluten Free
Recipe Category: Low Carb
Servings: 16
Calories: 210kcal
Author: Megan Ellam

Ingredients

LAYER 1 Vanilla

  • I added nothing extra to the mixture.

LAYER 2 Lemon Coconut

  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
  • A touch of yellow colour if desired

LAYER 3 White Chocolate Strawberry Mudcake

FROSTING

Instructions

CONVENTIONAL METHOD

  • Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Line 3 x 15-17.5cm (6-7") cake pans.
  • Place all the ingredients into a bowl; mix until smooth and combined.
  • Divide the batter into 3 equal portions. Flavour each per the recipe or as preferred.
  • Pour the batters into the prepared cake pans. Place the pans on the shelf in the centre of the oven. Bake, 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out to cool completely. Chill for at least 3 hours before frosting.
  • Divide the batter into 3 bowls. I used half of the batter as one colour (white) to include the layering between the cakes and the remaining half was halved.
  • Place the first cake onto a cake turntable or plate. Pipe a circle of the darkest frosting on the outer edge. If you have more of the lighter colour frosting then pipe that into the centre. Smooth over the top with an angled spatula. Don't worry if it comes over the edge as you need the frosting to coat the outside too.
  • Add the next cake layer and pipe some of your next coloured layer around the outside of the cake surface(working from darkest colour up to light this would be your next lightest colour). Pipe some of the white frosting into the centre. Top with the final layer of the cake.
  • Pipe the top layer with the remaining white frosting.
  • Starting from the outer edge of the bottom of the cake. Pipe around the outer edge of the bottom layer with the remaining darkest colour frosting. Pipe the centre with the mid-level colour and do the top with light colour frosting. Using a cake scraper, angled spatula (or even a ruler - in a pinch) gently scrape and smooth the sides of the cake. Remove the excess frosting and place it into a bowl. Clean the spatula or smoothing scraper before starting again. Do this until the edges of the cake are smooth. If you have any holes or unevenness just add more of the frosting previously removed. Add any garnishes of preference and chill for a few hours before serving.

THERMAL METHOD

  • Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Line 3 x 15-17.5cm (6-7") cake pans.
  • Place all the ingredients into the mixer; mix 30 sec/speed 4.
  • Pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the cake on the shelf just below the centre of the oven. Bake, 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before turning out to cool completely. Chill for at least 3 hours before frosting.
  • See above for frosting tips.

AIR FRYER METHOD

  • Preheat the air fryer to 170°C/350°F. Prepare the cake as per steps 1 and 2 above. Pour into the prepared pan.
  • Turn the air fryer down to 140°C. Place the cake pan into the centre of the basket and bake for 45-60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Video

Notes

My recipes are baked in a fan-forced oven. If you are baking in a conventional oven, you can increase the temperature by between 10 and 20 degrees, and monitor the cake to make sure it isn’t browning too quickly. Cover the top with foil if you see this happening, and continue to bake until cooked in the centre.
To make the chocolate ombre cake check the blog post for what I used to make mine you see pictured.
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. 
Double-acting baking powder reacts and creates gas bubbles twice; once when moisture is added, and a second time when it’s heated. In comparison to a regular baking powder, this gives keto and gluten-free baking a better texture as the ingredients are denser and need a bit more help with rising. 
Use coconut cream (or yoghurt) in place of the Greek yoghurt for a dairy-free layer cake. The frosting can also be made with whipped dairy-free cream or coconut cream.
It is always better to line all your baking tins, as this ensures that the cake can be removed easily.
It is really important to allow the cake to cool completely before icing it, otherwise, the buttercream will melt.
You can store the keto ombre cake, in an airtight container in the fridge, for up to 1 week. You can also freeze it for up to 1 month.
This recipe yields approximately 16-20 servings. The actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes. 
To calculate the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe by 16-20. The result will be the weight of one serving. 
Nutritional values shown are guidelines only. They are for 1 serving using the ingredients listed. 
All recipes have been tested using all of the cooking methods included by various recipe testers.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Alternatively, store in an airtight container and freeze.
The recipe card instructions contain the most basic of steps and a list of ingredients. If you have any queries, questions or are unsure of substitutions, please scroll up to the blog post for more information.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serve | Calories: 210kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 27mg | Potassium: 111mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 89IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 1mg | Magnesium: 3mg | Net Carbs: 4g