Vanilla Keto Cake Diabetic-Friendly
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 07/31/2019 - Last updated on 06/23/2023
This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This Almond Flour Vanilla Keto Cake is the most delicious, moist, and buttery diabetic-friendly birthday cake.
Plus, this vanilla keto cake has a dairy-free option, is gluten-free, and is made with only 6 ingredients in 1 bowl!
So keep reading to learn how to make the ultimate low-carb cake.
Is it your birthday, or do you need to make a keto-friendly cake for a friend on a low-carb diet?
This easy keto birthday cake recipe is exactly what you need.
What’s A Keto Vanilla Cake?
This keto sponge cake is a simple but super tasty sugar-free vanilla cake that is also gluten-free and diabetes-friendly.
Because it is made with low-carb flour and no all-purpose flour, it comes with very few carbs: only 3 grams of net carbs per slice!
If you follow the keto diet, this won’t hurt your macros, and you will stay in ketosis!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This Keto Cake is absolutely amazing, it tastes like a classic cake, and it’s:
- Gluten-Free
- Diabetes-Friendly
- Paleo
- Dairy-Free Option
- Low-Carb
- Keto-Friendly
How To Make Keto Vanilla Cake
This is the perfect recipe for keto diet beginners, probably as easy as using a keto cake mix.
It is definitely a no-fail keto birthday cake recipe made in 1 bowl with only 6 simple ingredients.
Sugar-Free Vanilla Cake Ingredients
Let’s see what you need to make this moist and buttery sugar-free vanilla cake.
- Almond Flour – I recommend fine almond flour for this Almond Flour Vanilla Cake rather than almond meal. Almond meal would work as well, but the cake would be less moist. Find other recipes with almond flour.
- Eggs – this recipe is not vegan friendly. For a vegan cake, try my keto vegan mug brownie.
- Sugar-free crystal sweetener – I love Monk fruit, but erythritol or xylitol are great options as well. Check out my review of keto-friendly sweeteners for alternatives.
- Coconut oil – or any oil with a light taste will work very well here. Avoid vegetable oils. They are not keto. Good options are almond oil, flaxseed oil. If you are using melted coconut oil, make sure it is not burning hot when you add it to the cake batter. Hot oil will cook the eggs.
- Baking powder or half the amount of baking soda, meaning 1/2 teaspoon.
- Vanilla extract. Find all my recipes with vanilla extract.
Making Almond Flour Cake
Usually, keto cake batter made with almond flour sticks a bit more to cake pans, so it is crucial to use a non-stick high-quality, aluminized pan.
It may sound expensive to invest in a high-quality pan, but they last for years. The one below has been in my kitchen for 7 years, and none of my cakes stick to it.
Pan choice
I am using a 9-inch springform cake pan with a non-stick coating and a ridged texture at the bottom.
If your pan doesn’t have a ridged texture, your cake may stick slightly at the bottom. To prevent your keto cakes from sticking to the pan, I recommend a double-greasing method.
First, grease the whole pan, bottom, and sides with butter or coconut oil.
Then, cut out a piece of parchment paper, the same diameter as the pan, so in a 9-inch circle.
Place the piece of parchment paper at the bottom of the pan. It will stick to the pan since you grease it before. Finally, grease the whole pan again, including the paper.
This 2-step greasing method will ensure that your keto cake does not stick to the pan.
Making A Layered Cake
You don’t have to make a layered keto cake, but it does look more like a classic birthday cake if you do.
You can follow the keto vanilla cake recipe and serve this delicious almond flour cake in 30 minutes.
It is a good sugar-free vanilla cake to enjoy plain or with the vanilla buttercream frosting recipe provided.
I recommend making the layers and frosting, though, to have a lovely light and fluffy keto birthday cake.
To make the layers of this diabetic cake, I recommend baking 2 small vanilla cakes instead of slicing a bigger one. It means you repeat the entire low-carb cake recipe 2 times.
This is the best way to create a lovely keto sponge cake with even layers and a decent cake height.
Tip 1: Make the vanilla cake recipe provided two times
I know it is tempting to double up the recipe to save time and then divide the batter in half.
It would work, but I’m not too fond of this technique because it is challenging to halve the batter perfectly. Often, you end up with a layer thicker than the other.
Tip 2: Bake one almond flour cake at a time
Never bake two cakes at the same time in your oven. It will impact the baking time too much, and the baking will not be consistent.
There is always one cake that burns and one that is not cooked. So take the time and bake them separately.
Tip 3: Level the cake layers before frosting
Your sugar-free birthday cake will come up with a small bump on top.
Fully cool the cake, then use a knife or a cake leveler tool to remove that bump and create 2 flat cake layers.
This will make it much easier to frost them later on.
Assembling Keto Vanilla Cake
First, make sure your low-carb cake layers are cool at room temperature to prevent the frosting from melting.
Then, I recommend using a turning table and icing spatula. You can use the frosting below or use any of my other frosting recipes:
- Keto Chocolate Frosting
- The Cream Cheese Frosting from my Keto Carrot Cake Muffins Recipe.
Add a tablespoon of frosting to the center of the turning table and place the first cake layer on it.
This frosting is not cream cheese frosting, and so it will act like glue and stick the cake to the table.
Next, add 1 cup of frosting to the middle of the cake. Spread the frosting with an icing spatula turning the table at the same time to spread evenly.
The frosting will fall on the sides, and that is ok. Finally, add the second cake layer and repeat this process until you have covered all the top of the cake. Use more frosting to cover the edges.
I hope you enjoyed my 36-year-old diabetic birthday cake recipe. Happy birthday to you if you try this recipe for your birthday today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Almond Flour have carbs?
Yes, Almond Flour does contain some carbs but far less than all-purpose flour. It gives about the same texture to baked goods as regular flour though.
What can I use instead of Almond Flour?
If you don’t have almond flour or are allergic to almonds, you can use Sesame Seed flour. It’s also keto-friendly and bakes similarly.
You can also use all-purpose flour, but it wouldn’t be keto-friendly.
Can I use stevia instead of erythritol?
You can’t use pure stevia extract as Erythritol provides both sweetness and texture to this recipe. You need something that brings a sugar-like texture.
A stevia and erythritol blend works. Allulose would also work.
Can I use coconut flour instead of almond flour?
No, this vanilla cake wouldn’t work with coconut flour instead of almond flour as coconut flour is 4 times more water-absorbent.
It would make the cake very dry and gritty and would alter the flavor.
Can I Add Chocolate To The Batter?
You can add chocolate, but I recommend instead making my Keto Chocolate Cake.
More Healthy Cake Recipes
If you love this low-carb birthday cake recipe, I recommend you also try my other healthy cake recipes or my diabetic cake recipes:
Or browse all my recipes in the low-carb cake recipes category
Is this keto sugar-free vanilla cake recipe too large for you? Then, try my keto vanilla cupcake recipe instead
Also, don’t forget to share a review or comment below! I love to hear your feedback on my keto recipes
Did You Like This Recipe?
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Keto Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake
- 4 large Eggs
- ½ cup Granulated Sweetener Monk Fruit or erythritol
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 tablespoons Coconut Oil melted or melted butter
- 2 cups Almond Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
Vanilla Buttercream frosting
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter soft, out of the fridge for 4 hours (5.3 oz) – or vegan butter.
- 1 ½ cups Powdered Erythritol
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2-3 tablespoons Heavy Cream or coconut cream
Instructions
Vanilla cake
- Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Grease a 9-inch round springform pan with coconut oil or butter. Cut out a piece of parchment paper into a 9-inch circle and stick it to the bottom of the pan. Grease the paper and pan sides again. These steps prevent the cake from sticking to the pan. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs with sugar-free sweetener, oil, and vanilla. Process as if you whisked a breakfast omelet. It should not take more than 30 seconds to 1 minute, all you want is to combine the ingredients.
- Whisk in almond flour and baking powder and whisk until evenly combined.
- Pour the vanilla cake batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25 minutes in the center of your oven. The fan-bake mode is ideal if you have one. Otherwise, use the regular mode. Your cake is cooked when a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean or with few to no crumbs on it.
- Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then release the cake on a cooling rack. Cool for 1 or 2 hours before adding the frosting, or enjoy plain.
- Note that this is a gluten-free cake. It doesn't rise much. You should expect a small bump raise in the middle, not more. The recipe is made to create flat cake layers to make a layered birthday cake.
Layer vanilla cake
- Repeat the vanilla cake recipe one more time to create a second vanilla cake.
- Make sure you clean, dry, and grease again the cake pan before baking the second cake.
Light and Fluffy Buttercream frosting
- Add the soft butter cubes and vanilla to a stand mixer. Make sure you use the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until it forms a pale, smooth, and fluffy butter.
- Reduce to low speed and gradually add the sugar-free powdered sweetener, half a cup at a time. When all the sugar-free sweetener has been added, mix on medium speed for 2 minutes until it forms a fluffy cream.
- Add cream and keep whisking for 1 minute to incorporate.
- Spread the frosting between the 2 cake layers and on sides using an icing spatula. Watch my video to learn how to frost your layer cake easily.
- Place the cake in the fridge for 2 hours to set up the frosting if desired.
Storage
- You can make this cake 24 hours before, store it in an airtight cake box in the fridge to prevent the frosting from drying.
- Store leftover for up to 4 days in the fridge or freeze in ziplock bags. Defrost the day before at room temperature.
Notes
- A simple one-layer vanilla keto cake will have 3g of net carbs per slice.
- A double-layer cake will have 6g of net carbs per slice.
- A triple-layer cake will have 9g of net carbs per slice.
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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I’ve made this recipe twice now. My keto family likes it a lot and I got mixed reviews from my non-keto family.
The second time I made the cake I added 2 bags of earl grey tea to the batter.
I made this cake and it was hard to cut and the cake was dry, why did it turn out like that? I used avacado oil in the cake, Can salted butter be used for the grease in the cake, or does it have to be unsalted like the icing?
I am sorry to hear that, avocado oil is not the best choice for cakes, it makes the cake dense, greenish too it’s more a oil to fry food because of its high smoke point.
You can grease the pan with any butter, salted butter simply add a salty flavor up to you!
On the cake is it OK to make it with organic eggs,instead of regular eggs?
Of course!
On your frosting reciepe it says 1 and 1/2 cups powdered erythritol, I have a stevia erythritol blend of sweetener, will it work, Can the 1 and 1/2 cups be divided in half and then divided in half again? Would that work? would it be sweet enough like that? How much sweetener would that be? After baking the cake and frosting it do I need to refrigerate it if I am planning to serve it the very next day?
If your sweetener is a powder form, then yes it will work. You can always starts with less sweetener, taste and add gradually until it reach your favorite sweetness. Since the cake contains eggs and butter it must be stored in the fridge.
This reciepe says to use fine almond flour, I bought blue diamond flour it says finely sifted on the front of the bag and it is blanched almond flour, is this OK for this receipe?
Yes, it should be the same thing, enjoy!
Hi! I just made this cake with my 8 year old daughter (who has a mean sugar tooth) and it is AMAZING! I let her add blue food coloring to the batter and a little lemon extract to the icing. Then we dotted the top with a few blueberries and lemon zest. The cake was light and crumbly, but still moist. So delicious! Even my daughter enjoyed it! Great recipe!
Is the nutrition information based on making 2 layers? Meaning, one layer would be half? Sometimes you just need a snack cake 😉
No, it’s for a one layer cake and the recipe is for one layer cake too! If you make a two layer cake, double up the nutrition information per serve
I have made this recipe four times now, without frosting.The cake is delicious. I use pound cake pan. I don’t know if my oven is different or because of the pan, the oven timing didn’t work for me, so I use 350 degrees oven for 28 minutes. Then I use broil for a few minutes to give some color to the top. Last night I calculated the macros for a slice. I cut the cake into 8 slices, and each slice came out as 14 carbs. That is way more than the nutritional value on this site. I use splenda monk fruit sweetener. For the amount that is asked in this recipe is 1/2 cup, That is 96 grams of carbs per cake! Am I using the wrong monk fruit sweetener? I love this recipe, and I want to continue making it, but carb count is too much. Any suggestions?
The nutrition panel on the blog is for one slice out of 12 slices. If you cut the recipe into 12 slices, you net carb slice will be exactly the same as shown on the recipe card here, even if your pan is different. Also, if your carbs count is so high, it means you are not counting net carbs, net carbs are the carbs your body really absorb and you should count net carb not total carbs. Net carb is always total carb takeaway carbs from sugar alcohol (meaning you don’t count the sugar free sweetener) takeaway fibre ( not assimilated by the body.
Update: you are right Carine. I was counting the total carbs of sweetner. I didn’t subtract the sugar alcohol from the total carb, lol. I made the cake in a round 9 inch pan. I used same temperature, 325 and time, 25 minutes, and the cake came out perfect!!! Thank you so much for this recipe. I wish I could share the picture of my cake with you. Btw, I didn’t use vanilla this time. I love cardamom, so I used 1 teaspoon of cardamom instead. The smell in my kitchen is amazing! 😁
Hi, I follow your receips looks very good and delicious but I have one problem I don’t use any kind of sweetener, can I replace any other ingredient to volume the receipe like don’t know creams or anythingels. Thanks
Yes, you can remove the sweetener and still make the cake perfectly right, Enjoy.
I followed this recipe and my cake turned delicious. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
This was my first KETO recipe that I didn’t have to throw away!!!! This recipe was fast, easy, and delicious. I am no cook, however this is a keeper. I made a triple decker out of it with a chocolate middle icing. It isn’t too sweet but you can sweeten it to your taste.
Thank so much !
This recipe was easy to follow and it’s very versatile. The cake was moist but of course the texture was a bit on the crumbly side – I think coconut flour would help with this. The frosting had the right amount of sweetness to it but I added a tbsp of lemon juice to it for a bit of tang and more heavy cream to give the frosting a more whipped consistency.
I didn’t have a cake pan so I used a loaf pan instead and just doubled my cooking time to 40 mins – monitoring often.
Would make again!
Would adding strawberries ruin the recipe ? And would baking both layers at the same time need more time in the oven?
You can stir in diced strawberries in the batter for sure. They will release some juice and moisten the cake that will probably take longer to bake. If your oven is new or with a well calibrated oven temperature you can absolutely bake on in center rack and one under. Then, swap pan half way and bake for same time.
Hi! I am trying to make a gluten free and dairy free cake, but I am not trying to avoid sugar. Would I be able to substitute erythritol for regular white sugar? If so, how much sugar should I use? Please let me know as soon as you can!
Absolutely, any granulated sweetener works here like sugar, unrefined cane sugar or coconut sugar if you are not on a keto diet
Absolutely loved this cake. Made a few times. Never disappoints
The cakes came out great but with the frosting it was too sweet. I used Swerve confectioners and also it didn’t seem to be as smooth as in the video. Do you recommend cutting back on the amount of confectioners?
Each sweetener brand are different, you can absolutely cut by half if too sweet to your liking
I have a stupid question. First time baker, I trying to understand the butter requirements for the frosting. When the recipe says 1 cup of butter, how do I measure that properly? I figured a stick of butter would fit in a cup (measuring cup) but when I change to metric it’s 227g which is a tad over 2 sticks of butter. Confused as to how much is the proper amount.
If you are American, use 2 sticks to make 1 cup butter. Here in Canada, butter is sold in pounds (one pound is about 2 cups). I just half a pound if I want a cup. If a recipe calls for “odd” amounts of butter I use water displacement to measure. If you want 1 cup, fill a 2 cup liquid measuring cup with 1 cup of cold water, then add in cold butter until you reach the 2 cup level.
I softened the butter at room temperature first, next I press in the cup until 1 cup is full.
What can you use instead of aĺmond flour because of a nut allergy
Otherwise looks ģreat
Sunflower seed flour, sesame flour both are keto friendly and work a a 1:1 replacement to any recipes calling for almond flour. They are slightly bitter so the flavor of the cake will be different.
I have been baking with almond flour for several years with mixed results, mostly cookies, muffins and pancakes. This was excellent in every way! Not dense, delicious, and moist enough! I made a two layer cake and prepared them separately as recommended-perfect!
Hi I think all of this information is so wonderful and helpful. Thank you. I was wondering can I make cupcakes from this recipe?
They will be very flat cupcakes, I recommend you rather try my keto cupcake recipe instead.