Keto Lemon Pound Cake
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 07/15/2019 - Last updated on 08/19/2024
This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Learn how to make this Keto Lemon Pound Cake! An easy coconut flour cake with a delicious buttery texture and tangy lemon flavor. This delicious keto lemon bread contains only 3.9 grams of net carbs per slice, and it is a delicious treat to pair with a cup of my bulletproof coffee for breakfast.
Is Lemon Pound Cake Keto?
Classic Lemon Pound Cakes aren’t keto-friendly because they’re made with sugar and all-purpose flour. Two ingredients that are full of carbs.
But this Keto Lemon Pound Cake is very much keto-friendly.
It uses only keto-friendly ingredients such as almond flour and coconut flour, this keto pound cake has only 3.9 grams of net carbs per slice!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
There is no need to be on a keto diet to appreciate the moist and buttery texture of a keto lemon cake.
This cake is also:
- Gluten-Free
- Keto-Friendly
- Low-Carb
- Paleo
- Dairy-Free
How To Make This Keto Lemon Pound Cake
This lemon keto cake recipe has only a few ingredients and steps to follow.
It does not require fancy pieces of equipment or ingredients, and you will quickly make this recipe in 15 minutes of prep.
Ingredients
First, let’s have a look at what you need.
- Eggs – a delicious buttery and moist pound cake that has eggs. Please stick to the recipe and do not try to substitute eggs in this recipe.
- Almond Flour – you can also use almond meal if desired but ultra-fine almond flour is the best option. To learn more about keto flour, read my keto flour guide!
- Coconut Flour – as always in keto baking-uses fresh flour with no lumps for perfect results.
- Coconut Oil – or melted butter if preferred.
- Lemon Juice – fresh is the best if you can. Lemons are great keto-friendly fruits! If you don’t have a juicer, read my guide on how to juice a lemon without a juicer.
- Lemon Zest – this is optional. I recommend you use untreated organic lemon if you intend to use the zest. This avoids adding nasties to your cake. A few drops of the lemon extract also work!
- Sugar-Free Crystal Sweetener – as always I love to use a crystal blend of Monk Fruit sweetener and erythritol, but powdered erythritol or Xylitol also are great options. Check out my review of keto-friendly sweeteners to convert from one to another.
Making The Cake
Next, let’s talk about the most important part of this recipe: ingredient temperature.
While this is a very straightforward keto lemon pound cake recipe there is one trick!
You must use eggs at room temperature. In fact, baking with coconut oil involves using ingredients at room temperature.
The reason is pretty simple, coconut oil gets solid under 76°F (24°C).
It means that if your eggs are straight out of the fridge they will create lots of coconut oil lumps.
The best is to store your eggs out of the fridge the day before or at least 4 hours before making this recipe.
Otherwise, use melted butter instead of coconut oil. This will not happen with butter.
Storage Instructions
This keto lemon bread can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
You can also freeze this almond flour pound cake. First, slice the whole cake into 16 slices. Then, freeze the keto lemon loaf into a zip-lock bag or in an airtight container.
Make sure the slices do not overlap, it makes it easier to defrost one by one.
Finally, defrost your slices the day before at room temperature.
The next day, toast the slices in the toaster if you like. Of course, if you freeze your sugar-free lemon cake with the frosting on top don’t bring it to the toaster.
Enjoy plain or spread some sugar-free jam on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is probably the healthiest coconut flour lemon cake recipe you will find around. Let me tell you why. First, it is sugar-free, low-carb, and dairy-free, yes eggs are not dairy.
Dairy products come from bovine animals only include milk, cream, butter, and cheese. So, this keto lemon bread is dairy-free meaning it is easy to digest.
Next, it is a high-protein cake perfect to serve at breakfast or for a fulfilling afternoon tea. Proteins keep you full for longer and you won’t feel hungry after one slice.
Finally, it is a gluten-free lemon cake high in fiber from coconut flour. Fibers are part of healthy gut health and stabilize blood sugar levels.
This keto lemon pound cake has only 3.9 grams of net carbs per slice.
More Keto Baking Recipes
We all love a good piece of cake and I have plenty of other delicious keto cake recipes for you to try.
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Keto Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 5 large Eggs at room temperature
- ¾ cup Granulated Sweetener or xylitol
- ½ cup Coconut Oil or melted butter
- 2 cups Almond Flour
- ¼ cup Coconut Flour
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- ¼ cup Lemon Juice
- ½ tablespoon Lemon Zest optional
Lemon glazing
- 1 cup Powdered Erythritol
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper to make sure the pound cake doesn't stick to the pan. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar-free crystal sweetener, melted coconut oil (or butter), and lemon juice. Ensure that your coconut oil is not burning hot, or it will 'cook' the eggs and create lumps. All your ingredients must be roughly at the same temperature, think room temperature, especially the eggs and lemon juice. Cold ingredients just out of the fridge will solidify the coconut oil creating oil lumps. Otherwise, use melted butter to prevent this to happens. Set aside.
- In a different large mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, and baking powder. Stir to combine the flours evenly.
- Pour the liquid ingredients onto the dry ingredients.
- Stir all the ingredients together with a baking spoon until it forms a thick cake batter with no lumps. Combine for at least 2 minutes to make sure the coconut flour fiber absorbs the moisture.
- Transfer the cake batter onto the loaf pan. Make sure you are using the same loaf pan size, or it will impact your baking time.
- Place the loaf pan in the center of your oven and bake at 180°C (350°F), fan-forced mode, if you can, for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, decrease the temperature to 160°C (320°F) and cover the loaf pan with a loose piece of foil. This will prevent the top from burning, and the middle will bake slowly. Keep baking for 45-60 minutes in total, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pound cake comes out with little to no crumbs on it.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the loaf pan, then lift out the pound cake from the pan using the parchment paper.
- Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. It is a thick cake, and it usually takes 3 hours to fully cool. Be patient and add the lemon glazing on the cake when it reaches room temperature, not before!
Lemon glazing
- To make the lemon glazing, whisk together the sugar-free powdered erythritol with lemon juice until no lumps remain. If needed, add more lemon juice to get a thinner glazing or more powdered sweetener to get thicker glazing.
- Drizzle over the cooled pound cake.
- You can place the cake for a few minutes in the freezer to set the glazing if too runny.
- Store your cake in the pantry on a cake box for up to 3 or 4 days. Slice before serving to keep the cake moist.
- Enjoy as breakfast, teatime, plain, or with sugar-free chia seed jam.
How to freeze your pound cake?
- Slice the cake into 16 slices before freezing. Freeze the cake in an airtight box, making sure the slice doesn't overlap, or place a piece of parchment paper between each slice to make it easier to defrost individually. Defrost the slice the day before at room temperature, on a plate, don't overlap the slices.
- The next day, you can toast the slices in a toaster before serving.
Tools
Getting Started What Is Keto? Macro Calculator Sweetener Converter Intermittent Fasting Keto Fruits Keto Vegetables Keto Flours Fighting Keto Flu Healthy SweetenersWant My Kitchen Equipment?
Nutrition
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
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Disclaimer
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only.
The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sweeteners from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sweeteners are excluded because they are not metabolized.
You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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What are the carbs of the cake without glazing?
The nutrition panel won’t change with the glazing. The glazing is zero net carbs since its only water and sugar alcohol from erythritol. Enjoy, XOXO Carine
amazing! moist, delicious, and everything i hoped it would be! i used butter, fresh lemon juice and fresh lemon zest. fantastic .. it’s truly just as tasty as Starbucks!
PS- i had to bake it about 56 minutes in my toaster oven on convection setting.
I am so happy to read your feedback! But yes, toaster oven diffuse energy slowly and it can take longer to bake a cake with them. Enjoy the keto recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
This is a VERY good cake by any standard, keto or otherwise. The coconut flour helps create a consistently moist crumb, even over several days, so this is a great keeping cake. I used pre-squeezed lemon juice, so to sub for the zest I used some lemon extract (accidentally added more than I intended, but the flavour was still excellent). The icing glaze adds tartness. And because it’s a healthy choice, I didn’t feel guilty having a slice for breakfast! I plan to experiment with other flavour combinations because the base here is really good.
LOOKS LIKE A GREAT RECIPE! WHY DO YOU SUGGEST ORGANIC LEMONS? THANKS!
It is only if you intend to use the lemon zest, non organic lemons skin is treated with chemicals that are not safe to eat. Enjoy, XOXO Carine
Thank you so much for this recipe, the cake is super easy and delicious! I find the taste of coconut oil a bit overpowering so I’ve been making it with butter 🙂
Thanks for the lovely feedback! You can use refined coconut oil it has no coconut flavor compared to unrefined coconut oil. Butter is a great option too. Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
hi, can i use a 8 inch round cake tin instead? I am planning to bake this for my mum’s birthday. Any changes to the temperature and baking time? Thank you
Yes that will work but it will bake faster since your pan is wide and the batter will be less thick. Use a skewer to check the baking time after 30 minutes, it is cooked when it comes out clean. Otherwise use my vanilla birthday cake recipe here, it is keto too. Enjoy and happy birthday to your mum, XOXO Carine
I don’t have coconut flour, will just using 2 and ¼ cup almond flour work?
I didn’t try the recipe without coconut flour but you can’t replace coconut flour by same amount of almond flour, the recipe won’t work. Coconut flour is 4 times more absorbent so if you use almond flour you will need at least 4 times more to replace coconut flour but then the texture will be off and dry. Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
I really love this cake! I freeze it in and take a slice everyday to my work. I’m gonna make a 2nd one today with raspberry 🙂 thank you for sharing!
Can I make this into cupcakes?
I don’t recommend this option or the cupcakes will be very dense. Instead, use my keto lemon cupcake recipe ! Enjoy, XOXO Carine
It was very good, moist.
I had to add milk to the glaze to thin it out, it just clumped with only lemon and confection sugar. I used butter instead of coconut oil, unsure if that made the difference with when I sliced, kind of felt apart the more middle I cut into. I add blueberries when was a nice burst of flavor. The batter really looked perfect, not sure if I didn’t just bake it long enough despite following the toothpick rule.
Butter doesn’t firm up at room temperature in bread like coconut oil does. It can result in crumbly bread even more if you added fruits inside that will release moisture. I will definitely use coconut oil and if you want a blueberry pound cake follow my other recipe here. Enjoy! XOXO Carine
So excited to make this! Can I use brown sugar as a sweetener substitute or would you recommend regular sugar if I can have that? Same amount?
Yes you can use the same amount of brown sugar but the recipe won’t be keto or low carb anymore. The color of the pound cake will be darker too. Enjoy the recipe, XOXO Carine
Love making this recipe it’s so tasty. Does anyone know whether it can be frozen with the icing on it?
Hi, can I use coconut sugar instead of these sweeteners? If so what ratio, equal?
Thanks
Rose
Sure, it won’t be keto or low carb anymore but same amount of coconut sugar will work just well. Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
Any way to print?
Sure, there is a print button on top of each recipe card. Click on the print button and it will open the recipe in another tab to send it to your printer. XOXO Carine
I made this and enjoyed it, the next day I found the topping to sweet though, cake is great. I have come across insulin as a sweetener substitute have you used it? Thanks in advance.
Inulin is fiber, not a sweetener at all. I take it every day for digestive health and it has no sweetness whatsoever. It is ground chicory root powder. Great to add to baked goods for extra fiber though!
I guess you mean inulin I didn’t try it yet but it seems amazing as a sugar free sweetener. XOXO Carine
Hi, just wondering if I can use rice malt syrup instead of sweetener? As it’s liquid, I wasn’t sure if it would work. Also, is 1 Tablespoon of baking powder correct, or should it be Teaspoon? Thanks so much.
It will change the batter consistency so I don’t recommend that option. If you eat sugar, use coconut sugar, it is an healthy alternative that won’t impact the bread texture. And yes, the recipe correct and triple tested! Enjoy, XOXO Carine
I have made this recipe a half dozen times already. I always use melted butter as I don’t care for coconut oil. I absolutely LOVE this cake. Yesterday, I used the same recipe,but substituted unsweetened almond milk for the lemon juice, added a teaspoon almond extract and two tablespoons poppy seeds. Perfect almond poppyseed cake. Made the frosting with almond milk instead of the lemon juice as well. This is a fabulous recipe. So easy and quick to make. Thanks!
Hey Lori! With the butter, would the cake hold up to slicing into smaller pieces to dip in chocolate fondue?
Butter or coconut oil provide a similar result and it slice well into thin slices
That is so amazing ! I can’t believe you made this recipe so many times and it makes me SO happy to have you here baking with me. Thanks for the lovely feedback and tips, Enjoy the recipes, XOXO Carine
Can’t wait to try some of your Recipes
Thank you ! I can’t wait to see a picture of your creation, you can share them with me on instagram, Enjoy the recipes on the bog, XOXO Carine
I tried this last night, and OH MY! It was delicious. Because I’m diabetic I have to watch my fats as well as sugars. I substitued avocado oil for the coconut oil/butter. It turned out fabulous, did not spike my blood sugar and when I woke up this morning, my blood sugar was great! Keep those awesome recipes coming.
I am so happy to read your comment! Glad to hear your blood sugar level i on track with my recipe. Enjoy the sugar-free recipes around here, XOXO Carine
I baked this cake yesterday and it is absolutely fabulous! I have to say it is the best keto cake I have made so far! I didn’t have any lemon juice so I subbed it for a tsp of lemon flavouring and made up the missing liquid with milk. It is divine and I will definitely bake it again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Thanks so much for this lovely feedback! Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
Amazing recipe! I added just a little shredded coconut flakes to the recipe and also as decoration to the top and it was delicious. I didn’t need to make the frosting. Just the cake alone was yummy!
What a great idea ! Lemon and coconut are made to be together. Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine