Vanilla Keto Cake Diabetic-Friendly
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 07/31/2019 - Last updated on 06/23/2023
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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?
Leave a comment below or head to our Facebook page for tips, our Instagram page for inspiration, our Pinterest for saving recipes, and Flipboard to get all the new ones!
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 Meal Plans Recipe Ebooks Intermittent Fasting Keto Fruits Keto Vegetables Keto Flours Fighting Keto Flu Healthy SweetenersWant My Kitchen Equipment?
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook and many ebooks, 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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This is delicious! Very easy with simple ingredients. It’s a classic birthday cake without the sugar and wheat.
Thank you !
Hi Carine! I made this cake yesterday with granulated Splenda, it came out okay but I think it didn’t yield as much batter as yours, I was able to fill only one 6×2 inch round pan. Also I want it a little bit more sweet, can I add some more sugar?
I used Splenda because Erythritol is not easily found in my country.
Hi! I guess it is because you are using Splenda. Splenda has a high sweetness power so you will use only a few tablespoons in this cake or I am using 1/2 cup of erythritol which explains why you are ending up with a way smaller volume of batter. I can’t recommend on Splenda amount as I don’t use it in my recipe. It is an artificial sweetener and I prefer not to use those. If you want precise conversion from erythritol to any keto friendly sweetener you can use my free sweetener converter. Enjoy the cake. XOXO Carine.
I made it and the only error I made was to put the icing in the fridge during the time of cooking. It was hard to put the icing on the cake, lol… I will remember next time to let the icingoutside of the fridge.
I agree, this is crucial to keep it out of the fridge or the butter harden in the fridge. However, if you bring back your icing out of the fridge for 2 hours it should be spreadable again. I hope you enjoyed the cake, XOXO Carine
Hi
Could i use coconut flour instead as it’s less netcarbs?
Thank you for sharing
Unfortunately you can’t swap almond flour for coconut flour with a 1:1 ratio. Coconut has 4 times mre fiber than almond flour and usually a recipe calling for almond flour will nee aroun 4 times less coconut flour and way more liquid to hold. Otherwise, you can try my coconut flour chocolate cake here. Enjoy, XOXO Carine
Please unsubscribe me from this site, as I do not want to receive anymore emails
Regards
Dorothy Williamson
Good morning, We can’t unsubscribe you without knowing the email you use to subscribe to our mailing list. I checked our mailing list and your name is not registered with us so I guess what you want to unsubscribe for are the push notifications. This is not something we can manage on our side, notification can be disabled by you on your phone. Here is a tutorial to guide you through this. I hope it helps, Carine
I haven’t tried the cake yet, but as a baker I have never heard of only baking one layer at a time because one would burn? When I bake a cake for 2 layers, it’s simple. I use a scale and pour the batter with the cake pan on the scale. This ensures each layer has same amount. ????
I hope the cakes turn well for you ! Thanks so much for your feedback and lovely tips on how you bake your 2 layer cake perfectly every time! I never burnt cakes either but some readers are new to keto baking and many mentionned that their cake burn if they bake both layers at the same time. After investigating I noticed that all was baking the 2 layers at the same time on baking mode, not convection mode. It makes sense as convection mode pulse air and therefore the warm in the oven is the same on any area. However, on regular mode the oven warm the top and bottom of the oven which means the diffusion of heat is not as even. This probably explain why some people have cakes layers not cooke evenly. To avoid fail, I prefer to recommend baking the two layer separately if people don’t have a convection mode. Have a lovely time on the blog, XOXO Carine.
Do you think if I double the recipe and put it in a 9×13 pan it would work?
It will probably work but it will take longer to bake and it will probably make the cake heavier and raise less. Enjoy ! XOXO Carine.
Hi, I absolutely love this cake. Followed all the instructions and came out perfect. My daughter is in nursing school took some for breakfast and everyone on keto wanted some. I’ve made 6 of them for her friends and decorated with fruit on top. I’m baking another one right now for my granddaughters daycare teacher.Thank you so much. It’s good to share with others who are concerned about their health.
It makes me SO happy to read your comment! I love to know that my recipes are enjoyed by everyone. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with your loved ones. I hope you will enjoy more recipes on my blog, XOXO Carine
Forgot to give it a rating on my comment. Definitely 5 stars!!
Thank you !
This is the third keto vanilla cake recipe I’ve tried and is, by far, my family’s favorite! I used a parchment lined spring-form pan and the layer turned out really thin, so the next time I made a recipe and a half per layer and it’s perfect! I can’t have coconut so we used avacado oil. Tastes like a regular cake! Haven’t used the frosting recipe, I usually just mix powdered monkfruit, a little vanilla, and heavy cream to make an icing.
Thank you so much for trying my cake recipe ! So glad you lvoe it too. XOXO Carine.
Hi there! Following the nutritional information, how many pieces did you cut the cake into? Thanks!
Hi, as the recipe card says the cake serve 12 people. Nutrition panel is for one slice, single layer, no frosting. Double up nutrition panel is you do a 2 layer cake. Frosting don’t add carbs, it is pure fat. Enjoy, XOXO Carine
I loved your keto vanilla cake recipe! I added parchment paper to the bottom of my greased springform pan as my first layer stuck with just the coconut oil. I also modified the buttercream icing to 1/2 c butter, 1 cup powdered swerve, 1 tsp vanilla and 3 Tbs 35% cream as I only wanted a very thin layer of icing between the layers and in top. I topped it with fresh berries, 6 squares of 95% chocolate and shaved more chocolate on top. It was a hit with my ladies luncheon was beautiful and so moist and delicious.
Thanks for sharing your recipe adaptation, I love it ! Sounds so good with berries and chocolate ! Enjoy the recipes on the blog, I can’t wait to see what you are making next, XOXO Carine.
I made this cake and loved it! I added a little extra baking powder and made sure to sift the almond flour to make sure it was nice and light. It worked so well! The icing was too sweet in my opinion but maybe that was just the sweetener I used (Swerve icing sugar replacement). I had some skeptics in the group but we could barely tell the difference! @jenny.mcnair on Instagram for a picture! I added strawberries too!
Hello. I’m wondering what your opinion is of swapping the vanilla extract in the cake for banana extract? Do you think it would give it a banana cake flavor?
That’s a clever idea to bring out some banana flavor without the carbs from bananas! I would say go for it, try the batter before baking and adjust amount if the flavor is too low 🙂 Enjoy the cake, XOXO Carine.
Made the cake today. Cake itself was good but the frosting was way way to sweet. I even but half a cup less. Any recommendations to fix this? I scrapped a lot of the icing off and thinking of adding strawberries to help. Lots of cake left.
Hi, I am sorry you didn’t like the frosting. There is different range of sugar free powdered sweetener all made with different blend. Some are sweetener than others. For eample allulose stevia blend are 70% less swet than erythritol blend. Maybe you should try one of those next time. Unfortunately you can’t really hide overpowering sweeteness in a cake frosting, only by adding acid food like lemon juice but it will liquify the frosting too and I don’t think you will love that. May I ask which sweetener brand did you used? Thanks for trying the recipe, XOXO Carine.
Hello was wondering if I could use swerve confectioner sweetener
Sure, that is my favorite brand with Lakanto. Enjoy the cake, XOXO Carine.
Have you ever made this same recipe for cupcakes? If so, what variations are needed?
Not yet but it should work, otherwise try my keto cupcake recipe. Enjoy, XOXO Carine.
I made this cake today. Turned out great. It’s not sweet. I used swerve sweetener. I also sliced some strawberries and added a little swerve then I made a homemade whipped topping. Delicious. Next time I will try it with the icing.
Thanks for trying my recipe. If it is not sweet enough for you you can add few extra stevia drops in the batter or up to 1/4 cup extra swerve next time ! Enjoy, XOXO Carine.
Tried this reception four times and made sure I measured the exact quantity but the cakes didn’t rise at all! You sure we only Have to add 1 teaspoon of baking power ? Very Desappoiting!
Hi, the cake is not supposed to raise much. It is a gluten free cake and gluten free goods barely raise. You can increase baking powder if you want the cake to raise a bit more or whip egg white first. The recipe create flat cakes with a slight bump in the middle, to be used in layer cake. I hope you enoy the flavor, XOXO Carine
First I used a half cup of swerve but the batter didn’t taste sweet enough to me for idea of a cake so I added about another tablespoon and then about 1/4 cup of xylitol and substituted one egg for 1/4 applesauce. I had run out of eggs but the cake is devine!! I will be cooking this cake from now on and just the way I did it this morning. Thanks!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing your recipe tweaks and tips with us. Enjoy the blog recipes, XOXO Carine.