Keto Vanilla Cake

A whote cake with pink and white icing on a cake stand.

4.97 from 116 votes!

A Keto Vanilla Cake that everyone will absolutely LOVE! A pillow soft, moist, and delicious keto friendly cake with a delicious vanilla cream cheese frosting. I think it is the best vanilla cake recipe EVER! Plus, you can use the same recipe to make a keto layer cake, keto Victoria sponge, or easy keto vanilla cupcakes.

Prep Time5

Cook Time30

Total Time35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Low Carb

Diet: Diabetic

Recipe Category: Low Carb

Servings: slices

Calories: 187kcal

Author: Megan Ellam

Equipment

Ingredients

KETO VANILLA CAKE

0.25 cup light tasting olive oil (60g)
0.3 cup sweetener (70g)
2 cups almond flour (240g)
4 large eggs
0.3 cup sour cream (80g)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder

KETO VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

0.5 cup powdered sweetener I use Sukrin Melis
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 tablespoons butter (60g) cubed
250 g cream cheese (8oz) softened, and cubed
0.25 cup sour cream

Metric - US Customary

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.

LOW CARB CAKE INGREDIENTS

Choose light tasting olive oil and do not use extra virgin olive oils as they have a strong flavour. Melted butter or ghee can be used in place of the oil.

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.

I use blanched almond flour to make a prettier gluten free vanilla cake. You can use natural almond flour or almond meal in its place. You can use macadamia flour or cashew meal (higher carb) in place of the almond flour. Coconut flour is not a suitable substitute. Coconut flour sucks up a lot of moisture and more ingredients would need to be added to compensate in this almond flour cake.

Sweetener: I use monk fruit sweetener or erythritol sweetener in my keto cake recipes. I find they give the cake a good texture without having a cooling effect.

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. Use sugar free sprinkles for an easy vanilla birthday cake. Or add colour and flavours to the buttercream frosting to make a fancy keto birthday cake.

LOW CARB VANILLA CAKE IN THERMOMIX

For a keto layer cake like mine pictured, it is safe to double or triple the recipe in both a stand mixer and the Thermomix®. Just make sure to bake each cake separately not at the same time.

STORAGE AND FREEZING KETO CAKES

You can store the vanilla keto cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. It freezes well if kept in an airtight container or ziplock bag. I freeze in individual portions so it is simple to defrost when I would like a piece of cake.

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