Learn how to make keto lemon pound cake! An easy almond flour pound cake with a delicious buttery texture and tangy lemon flavor. This delicious lemon cake contains only 3.9 g net carbs per slice and it is a delicious treat with a cup of tea.
Hello fellow baking lovers and keto sweet tooth! Are you ready for some buttery lemon cake today? I can’t think of a better afternoon tea cake than this lemon cake. Honestly, lemon and tea is the best combo. You’ll impress all your friends at teatime with this recipe. There is no need to be on keto diet to appreciate its moist and buttery texture. Glazed lemon pound cake has been the first recipe I learnt to bake as a kid. French lemon cake is a classic in my French culture. That is why today I am sharing a low carb lemon pound cake recipe. My all time favorite cake flavor with a special though to my diabetic mum who I know will be the first to enjoy this recipe.
How to make a keto lemon pound cake ?
This keto lemon cake recipe has only few ingredients and steps to follow. It doesn’t required fancy equipment or ingredients and you will quickly make this recipe in 15 minutes. First let’s have a look at what you need.
- Eggs – a delicious buttery and moist pound cake has eggs. Please stick to the recipe and don’t try to substitute eggs in this recipe
- Almond flour – you can also use almond meal if desired
- Coconut flour – as always in keto baking, use fresh flour that has no lumps for perfect result
- Coconut oil – or butter if preferred
- Lemon juice – fresh is the best if you can
- Lemon zest – this is optional. I recommend you use untreated organic lemon if you intend to use the zest. This avoid adding nasties to your cake
- Sugar free crystal sweetener – as always I love to use crystal Monk Fruit sweetener but erythritol or Xylitol are great options
How to bake with coconut oil ?
Next, let’s talk about the most important part of this recipe: ingredient temperature. While this is a very straight forward keto lemon pound cake recipe there is one trick! You must use eggs at room temperature . In fact, baking with coconut oil involve using ingredients at room temperature. The reason is pretty simple, coconut oil gets solid under 24C (76F) . It means that if your eggs are straight out from 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 happened with butter.
Can I freeze lemon pound cake?
Of course you can freeze this almond flour pound cake. First, slice the whole cake into 16 slices. Then, freeze the cake into a zip bag or airtight container. Make sure the slice don’t overlap, it make it easier to defrost one-by-one. Finally, defrost your slices the day before at room temperature. The next day, toast the slices into the toaster if you like. Of course, if you freeze your pound cake with the frosting on top don’t bring to the toster. Enjoy plain or spread some sugar-free jam on top.
Is lemon pound cake healthy ?
This is probably the most healthy 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 product comes from bovine animals it only includes milk, cream, butter and cheese. So, this keto lemon pound cake 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. Protein keeps 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 level.
More keto cake recipes to try
We all love a good piece of cake and I have plenty of others delicious keto cake recipes for you to try.
- Keto Vanilla Birthday Cake with buttercream frosting
- Chocolate avocado cake makes a perfect birthday chocolate cake
- Vanilla cake a delicious sugar free vanilla cake
Enjoy the delicious lemon cake recipe and if you make this don’t dig in too fast. Take a picture of your creation and share with me on Instagram.
XOXO Carine
keto lemon pound cake
Ingredients
- 5 eggs - at room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar free crystal sweetener monk fruit, erythritol or xylitol (150g)
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil or melted butter (120 ml)
- 2 cups almond flour (220 g)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour (35 g)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (60 ml)
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest - optional
Lemon glazing
- 1 cup powdered erythritol
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Line a loaf pan 9 inches x 5 inches with a piece of parchment paper. Slightly oil the paper to make sure the pound cake don'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. Make sure that your coconut oil is not burning hot or it will 'cook' the eggs and create lumps. All your ingredients must be roughly at 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 evenly combine the flours.
- Pour the liquid ingredients onto the dry ingredients.
- Stir all the ingredients together with a baking spoon until it forms a consistent cake batter with no lumps. Combine for at least 2 minutes to make sure the coconut flour fiber absorb 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 180C (350F), fan-forced mode if you can for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes decrease temperature to 160C (320F) and cover the loaf pan with a loose piece foil. This will avoid the top to burn and the middle to 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 reach 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 a thicker glazing.
- Drizzle consistency over the cooled pound cake.
- You can place the cake 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 a breakfast, tea time, 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 plate, don't overlap slices.
- The next day, you can toast the slices in a toaster before serving.
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I’ve made several versions and this is very good recipe for keto. I added grated lemon peel as well as a touch more fresh squeezed lemon juice. They lemon is definitely present but not tart. I followed the baking directions to the T including covering with foil and baked for a total of 55 min next time I will try maybe 5-10 min less. I confess that I did’t use the parchment paper and in my case that was a mistake. I didn’t have only on hand, I used homemade ghee in place of the coconut oil as well. I’n most cased, ghee is my go to oil for baking, I love the flavor and texture. Next time I’ll try the coconut oil or coconut butter and then plain butter just o see if I see a differenc. I left off the glaze because it was sweet enough for my crew.
Thank you so much for the beautiful feedback! Ghee would have taste amazing in this recipe. Thanks for sharing your tips. XOXO Carine.
Tried this recipe today and just tried a piece! Delicious! I am currently following Keto and when I inputted the information into my app – my total carb is coming out at 12g per slice – not 5g? I used all suggested ingredients so cant work out why!
Many Thanks!
I am very happy you enjoyed the cake! You may have enter something differently or your app doesn’t takeaway fiber that are not counted on keto diet. This bread serve 16 slices, 5.1 g carbs, 1.2 fiber so 3.9 g net carb per slice. Enjoy the keto recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine
Yhe cake is lovely, i added some lemon extract to make it more lemony. It does have a bot of an eggy smell but it didnt put me off. Was wondering if one can add poppy seeda to it? Thanks a lot for the recipe!
Of course you can add poppyseed, the recipe will come out great too. Enjoy ! XOXO Carine
Hi, could I substitute honey for the sugar? Do you know what the ratio would be? Thanks!
Honey is a sugar substitute for sure, but it is not a low card keto substitute.
True, that is why I don’t recommend honey in my recipes. It is too high in sugar and not keto friendly. XOXO Carine.
Hi, this recipe doesn’t use honey so I guess you mean replacing the sugar free crystal sweetener by honey. I didn’t try this option as I don’t use sugar in my recipes, I guess the best replacement will be coconut sugar, same ratio, honey may liquify the batter and make the pound cake way moister. Enjoy, XOXO Carine
Hi thank you so much for this super delicious lemon pound cake recipe. This has instantly become one of my favourites! FYI I increased the lemon ( because lemon!) and replaced some of the xylitol with monk fruit. I also made a honey lemon glaze instead. Sooooo good!!
I agree, there is never enough lemon in pound cakes 🙂 Great idea to increase this slightly. Thank you for this beautiful feedback! I am so glad you love it . Enjoy the blog recipes, XOXO Carine
I just made this and it was SO good! thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback! I am so happy you enjoy the pound cake too. Talk to you soon for another recipe feedback 🙂 XOXO Carine.
I just made this for the first time. I may have cooked it a titch too long as the outsides were very brown. I used butter as I didn’t feel like waiting for the eggs to get to room temperature lol. Anyway it is super yummy! No glaze needed but I will probably make it just to try. I’m not eating keto but I am eating low carb so this is perfect! Thanks for sharing! I plan on trying some of your other recipes as well 🙂
Thanks so much for the lovely feedback! I can’t wait to read your next comment on my recipe. They are all low carb keto friendly. Enjoy! XOXO Carine.
Hi Carine, the measurements of the baking pan, is that inside measurement or outside measurement? My pan doesn’t have the size markings on it, when I measured my pan with a measuring tape the outside measurements were 9 x 5
My loaf didn’t raise very much and it kind of sunk in the middle, it was cooked through though, what would cause that to happen?
My eggs were out of the fridge for over 5 hrs, I used coconut oil that I melted and was pretty much room temp, I used coconut sugar for sweetener, everything else was as called for.
Pan measurement are always provided by manufacturer for outside so yes mine is same as your 9 x 5. I am not using coconut sugar in the recipe I am using sugar free erythritol. Coconut sugar may change the texture and out come as it caramelize (contains lots of sugar) which is not the case with erythritol. Overall it is not a loaf that raise much anyway as there no gluten in the recipe. I hope it gets better with practice. Enjoy the recipe around here. XOXO Carine.
I used coconut sugar as I didn’t have access to the others you mentioned, and I am familiar with gluten free baking since I’ve been gluten free for 7 years, due to celiac disease. I will make it again though, cause it is good!
Coconut sugar is very tasty! It can change the texture slightly but I really wish it et even better net time. i am so glad to have you here. XOXO Carine.
Hi. Why does my cake break its crust in the ocen? I put it with air medium temperature 140 C. Thanks for your recipes.
I am not sure I understand very well your question but the temperature you used is way too low. The recipe said 180C. There is no way the cake bake properly at 140C. It will stay uncooked even after hours. I hope it helps and reply to your issue. Enoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine.
hi i its my 1st time to bake and i would like to ask a tip why my lemon cake is burn not on top but on the bottom? i follow your instruction to lower down the temperature after 15 min thank u
I never burnt a cake at the bottom so this is new to me. This can happen if your pan is way too low in your oven. You should always bake cake in the center rack of your oven for better result. Or your pan is not thick enough and burn cake, in this cake it means it will happen with any other recipe baked in same pan too. Enjoy the recipe ! XOXO Carine.
Cake is delish…two suggestions: Don’t overmix or cook too long. It will make it dry. Otherwise flavor is great.
agree, pound cake should be bake just right or they lose their lovely moist texture fast. Thanks for the lovely feedbacK. Enjoy the blog recipes, XOXO Carine.
The lemon pound cake was amazing. Tangy and sweet very nice. Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much ! XOXO Carine.
Made this cake twice! It was delicious.
Is it possible to replace lemon by chocolate ? If yes, how can I make it ? Many thanks 🙂
That is a great question ! I didn’t try myself so I am unsure. I would recommend you try my keto chocolate cake instead! Very easy to make and tasty too. XOXO Carine.
I have made this recipe at least 10 times using butter instead of coconut oil. I also did a variation and used orange extract for a couple of loaves and made cream cheese frosting for a few. Always a hit. Every time. I decided yesterday to try it with coconut oil. I have to say I think it is moister using coconut oil. I believe coconut oil will be my go-to now. I also add a teaspoon xanthan gum as a binder to give it more of a pound cake texture. This is by far the BEST keto recipe I have come across. If I could give it 10 start I would! Great job!
WOW! you should have a badge for the best follower 🙂 I agree, I prefer coconut oil too that is why it is my first suggestion in making this loaf. Thanks so much again for trying my recipe and this beautiful feedback with plenty of new ideas to try ! XOXO Carine.
HOLD ME BACK this is DELICIOUS!!!
WOW, so easy! So tasty! Perfect treat for my keto journey!
Thank you ! o glad you love it ! XOXO Carine.
Hi! I was wondering if I could use regular white sugar for this recipe if I wanted to? I am not KETO and I don’t mind the sugar intake!
Of course, if you are not on keto go for it 🙂 You can use the same amount as the recommended sugar free crystal sweetener. Enjoy the loaf cake, Carine.
Hey! Can anyone explain why my batter was not smooth at all? I followed the recipe exactly with all room temp ingredients and using the coconut oil which I melted but let cool down so it was not warm going in… waiting to see how it comes out!
Hello ! I am happy to help out but what do you men by not smooth? Is there any lumps? how did it goes after baking it ? It can be because you are using almond meal which is thicker than almond flour or you introduced the liquid ingredients too fast into the dry ingredients, and like for any cake batter it cake make small lumps. There is always a way to fix lumps, whisk fast or process 30 seconds in a blender. Let me know. XOXO Carine.
Hey! Not sure why but the batter was grainy and not smooth. Cake has turned out okay though! Our powdered erythritol in the UK must be different as the glaze didn’t work but it’s a good first attempt with some thick cream and berries!
Thank you!
My mum live in France and make the cake with success but she said the almond flour is grainier than what I am using here. It might be why your texture is different but luckily flavor is here! Powdered erythritol can be used like regular icing sugar, combine with tiny juice/water. However I agree that it can thinner quicker so all you have to do is add more powdered erythritol until it reach your favorite thickness. But cream is such great idea too ! Enjoy the recipe around here, XOXO Carine
Absolutely great! Finally I found something tasty! I’m having it right now with a coffeee! Amazing! Feeling soooo happy! I took pictures but can’t upload them sorry!
Thanks so much! you can always share your lovely pictures with me on instagram here, I look at all my messages and always re share your creation in my story to show others followers. Can’t wait to read your next comment on my recipes, XOXO Carine.
I don’t know what happened?!? I followed the recipe to the letter but my lemon cake doesn’t look anything like yours!! It’s not yellow on the inside but kinda brown. It tastes a big eggy ( I used 5 medium free range eggs), organic coconut oil/flour. C’Est mangeable mais pas très présentable..idée ??
This is very weird! you may have used almond meal instead of almond flour that is why the color is brown. Almond flour is white and almond meal is darker as it keep the almond skin. It should not taste eggy if you used the right sweetener and lemon juice but well, there is also 5 eggs so it can have a slight egg flavor if you are sensitive to it. 🙂 I hope it gets better next time. XOXO Carine.
Do you think I could replace a couple of the eggs with flax eggs or chia seed eggs? I am one who is sensitive to the “eggy” taste of things
I wouldn’t decrease eggs, it won’t hold at all together I believe. I didn’t try so I can’t recommend more sorry. XOXO Carine
Hiii.
Thanks for share tha recipe. I’ve been in low carb since January, and this recipe its the most delicius that I have done.
I put more lemon juice ( I used a 1/4 cup plus 1/2TSP), beacuse I’m obsessed with lemon. Its works perfectly.
Everyone in my home loved it, even I didn’t reach to put the glaze on it.
Thanks you so much for the recipes.
Bye
Thank you SO much! I hope you try more recipes on my blog very soon. XOXO Carine.
I really loved that recipe, it has a very soft texture.
When I made it in my home everyone liked it, even I didn’t reach to put the glaze on it.
Bye
Xoxo
Thanks so much! that glazing is optional but SO yum, I hope you can add it on the cake next time ! XOXO Carine.
Hello Carrie I made this recipe today.I think it’s a bit failure because it doesn’t taste sweet at all.I have a question about 3/4 cup sugar, i don’t have 3/4 measure cup, so I used 1/3 cup(more than 3/4cup). It supposed to be more sweeter than your recipe right? 😣
Hello! I am sorry to hear that but the reason why it is not sweet it is because you are getting confused about measurement ! 1/3 cup is way less than 3/4 cup. If you want to measure 3/4 cup with a 1/3 cup measuring cup you need to add 2 times 1/3 cup + half of 1/3 cup. You are missing more than half of the sweetener by using only 1/3 cup that is why the taste is not there.I hope you get it better next time! Enjoy XOXO Carine.
Thanks Carine! Now I figured it out! 3/4 measure cup is not that common, right?
It is actually very common ! there is no 3/4 measuring cup but 3/4 cup simply means you measuring 3 times 1/4 measuring cup or 1/2 measuring cup + 1/4 measuring cup 🙂
Wow 😲 so that how it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks so much for your explanation❤️
My pleasure! XOXO Carine.
Thank you so much for this recipe; I loved to make this lemon loaf, it was very easy to make and thank you for the explanation about covering the pan it really helped a lot, I always end up burning my cakes; for the next time I make it, I will try not to use the coconut flour, do you think it will make it too moist? As I read in one of the comments, I love the idea of using orange as well. I loved the glaze! I used powdered swerve I had to hold myself to not eat it all from the bowl. Thank you!
I would not skip coconut flour at 100% you will have to add more almond flour to balance or the cake won’t hold and get very moist. Thanks SO much for the beautiful comment and for trying my loaf recipe. Enjoy this space, XOXO Carine.
This loaf cake is beyond expectation in every way! It’s my favourite recipe I’ve come across on my 9 months of eating low carb/keto. It feels like eating the real thing but without the sugar and refined carbs. It works exceptionally well as a cup cake too. Est tres tres beau ❤️🍰
And that is the most beautiful comment I received this morning, thanks for that, for being here with me trying my simple keto recipes. A bientot, Carine
Hi! I was wondering if you could use coconut flour for the whole thing instead of almond flour? If not is there another non-nut flour to substitute?
Oh no I am sorry! Coconut flour contains 4 times more fiber than almond meal if you use this flour at 100% your pound cake will be very dry. It will be a new recipe to create. I hope it helps ! Enjoy the recipe, XOXO Carine.
I do not have any coconut flour. Can I add more almond flour to make this recipe? If so what amount do you recommend? I really want to make this tomorrow! Sounds soo delicious!!
Yes probably, I didn’t try but usually you need lots more almond flour to compensate coconut flour. I would say add 1/2 cup almond meal instead of the coconut flour and if the batter sounds to runny go up to 3/4 cup. Hopefully the texture won’t be too dense, that is usually why I combine both flours. Enjoy, XOXO Carine.
Tastes amazing! I love the texture and how refreshing the lemon flavour tastes . Your recipes always hit the spot thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you lovely! I am so lucky to have you here, testing my recipes from your kitchen.Enjoy! Carine.
Hi Carine, we loved your Lemon pound cake recipe, thank you for sharing. It was easy to make and it’s super delicious. On top of it the house smelled heavenly!Perfect and wholesome teatime snack, our kids loved it too! ❤️
Thanks for such a wonderful feedback! I love the smell of fresh lemon bread in my house too ! Enjoy the recipes on the blog, XOXO Carine.
Your cake sounds amazing and I am definitely going to try it out. I hvae one question: You write “half a cup coconut oil”. How much is this in gram? I live an Germany and I am not quite sure how much I should use as I don’t use this kind of measurement.. It’s the same with the sweetener. Would you please be so kind and let me know? Thank you very much for your support!
I measure the coconut oil liquid, 1/2 cup is 120 ml liquid coconut oil. For the sweetener, 3/4 cup will be 150 g sweetener. Enjoy the recipe! XOXO, Carine.
Your pound cake recipe is really amazing and delicious. I just love it and try to do this. Thanks for sharing such an amazing recipe.
This cake is so delicious!!! The smell when I took it out of the oven was to die for!! I used orange (I didn’t had lemons at the time) and followed her directions step by step, and only needed to cool it for 1 hour. After that I sliced and it was perfect. We ate it so fast that we didn’t had time to put the glaze on it. Thank you Carine.
Thanks for the beautiful feedback! I love the idea of using orange juice instead of lemon, sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing with us. XOXO Carine.
Thissounds realy jum. Just a sidenote that this recipe is not paleo friendly. You canread about sugars here: https://www.thepaleomom.com/paleo-splenda-erythritol-stevia-low-calorie-sweeteners/
Might try it without the suggarand see how it goes.
You can use coconut sugar if you don’t like Monk fruit sweetener. But the recipe will not work with no sugar at all. It will be very bitter and it won’t hold together. Enjoy. XOXO Carine.
Look forward to your recipes
Thanks for the AMAZING cake recipe! I bake it slowly as you said and I cool down the cake for 4 hours before slicing. The texture is the most delicious. All my family love this. Keep posting.
Hi..please specify the size of eggs for accuracy. Thanks
Regular eggs in New Zealand they are tagged with a number 6 is regular and that is what I am using here. Enjoy the cake. XOXO Carine.