Keto Birthday Cake
This Keto Birthday Cake is delicious with a rich chocolate frosting, moist yellow cake, and it’s ready in one hour! This classic yellow birthday cake is just like what mom used to make.
Growing up I loved a good ole Betty Crocker or Pillsbury boxed mix yellow cake slathered with canned chocolate frosting. A few candles on top and I was a happy birthday girl. Now I have quite a few candles on my cake but I still crave that classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting. When I started blogging this was one of the first recipes I had to adapt to a keto diet. And it is just as good!
This easy keto cake recipe has 5 grams of net carbs per slice. It is also low carb, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
For a vanilla on vanilla cake try my Keto Vanilla Cake. Or go all chocolate with this Keto Chocolate Cake! Whatever your favorite is I have an option.
Cake Ingredients
- Almond Flour – Almond flour has a mild flavor and gives a tender crumb in cakes, cookies, and biscuits.
- Coconut Flour – Coconut flour helps to balance the oiliness of almond flour since it is naturally drier and absorbs more liquid than other alternative flours. Just a little bit of coconut flour goes a long way.
- Sugar-Free Sweetener – I like to use a blend of sugar alcohols and stevia in my recipes. By using a combination of sugar alcohols and stevia you can use half the amount required of regular sugar.
- Baking Powder – Make sure it is fresh to help the cake rise.
- Vanilla – Vanilla extract enhances the other flavors in the cake.
- Butter – I always use salted butter in my recipes. If you have unsalted butter just add a pinch of salt. For this recipe it should be room temperature.
- Eggs – Used as a binding agent and to help the cake rise.
- Yogurt – Yogurt makes a cake moist the same way sour cream does. If you prefer you can use sour cream in this.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make a Keto Yellow Cake
Step One: Beat together the butter and sweetener in a bowl with an electric hand mixer. Stir in the yogurt and vanilla. Beat in the eggs next, continuing until everything is well mixed.
Step Two: Add the flours, baking powder, and salt, beating until combined. Divide the cake batter evenly among 4 round cake pans lined with parchment paper and cooking oil spray.
Step Three: Spread the batter out evenly.
Step Four: Bake at a temperature of 350°F for 20 to 22 minutes until the surface is golden when lightly pressed with your finger. Cool thoroughly.
Ingredients for Frosting
- Butter – I use regular store brand salted butter
- Powdered sweetener – a store-bought powdered sweetener works best for icings. It is hard to grind your own sweetener to a fine enough consistency.
- Cocoa powder – any brand is fine, choose one that isn’t bitter when possible.
- Half and half or heavy cream – half and half is half cream and half milk
- Whole milk yogurt or sour cream
- Sugar-free chocolate chips or chocolate shavings, to garnish the top of the cake, if desired
How to Make Keto Chocolate Frosting
This is a basic buttercream-based recipe that has butter combined with powdered sweetener. Adding in cocoa powder makes it chocolate, and adding a little yogurt or sour cream balances out the sweetness. It just takes a few minutes and an electric mixer.
Step Five: Beat the butter and sweetener until smooth. Add the cocoa powder and half and half. Beat until smooth. Add the yogurt. Use to ice the cooled cake.
Step Six: Divide the icing in half. Spread half of the icing between the four cake layers. Stack the layers. Use the remaining icing on the outside of the cake.
Top Tip💡
Making chocolate shavings is very easy! Simply run a vegetable peeler along the edge of a chocolate bar.
Variations
- Icing: More varieties of icing to try include Caramel Icing, Keto Cream Cheese Frosting, Raspberry Buttercream Frosting.
- Filling: Try Keto Chocolate Whipped Cream or Keto Chocolate Pudding between the layers.
- Sprinkles: I get sugar free sprinkles from Etsy. They are made by hand in the US.
- Whipped Cream: If you love whipped cream pipe some dollops on top and around the base.
Common Questions
Tips for Making a Yellow Cake
Yellow cakes get their color from the yolks of the eggs paired with the butter so make sure to use real butter and whole eggs for this recipe. Alternatively, white cakes like my keto vanilla cake use just the egg whites and coconut oil for a whiter color.
Can I make this with 2 layers? Or 3 layers?
There is something special about layer cakes. And the more layers the better in my opinion. A three-layer keto cake just seems fancier than a two-layer cake. And a four-layer cake beats them all. Since I have four round cake pans I decided to go fancy and make myself and my daughter a four-layer keto birthday cake. If you prefer you can make this a two or three-layer cake, just adjust the baking time accordingly.
How About Cupcakes?
Yes, this keto cake recipe batter can also be used for cupcakes!
And if a big cake is just too much check out my adorable birthday themed Keto Mini Cheesecakes!
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Keto Birthday Cake
Ingredients
Yellow Cake Ingredients:
- 4 oz salted butter softened
- 1/2 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 6 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Chocolate Icing Ingredients:
- 4 oz salted butter softened
- 1 cup powdered sweetener
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder sifted
- 4 tbsp half and half
- 2 tbsp whole milk yogurt
- sugar free chocolate chips to garnish, if desired
Instructions
Yellow Cake
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter and sweetener until light and fluffy.
- Add the yogurt and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the eggs one at a time mixing after each.
- Stir in the flours, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined.
- Divide batter between 4 round cake pans lined with parchment paper and cooking spray.
- Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and the edges are golden. Cool completely.
Chocolate Frosting
- Beat the butter and sweetener until smooth. Add the cocoa powder and half and half. Beat until smooth. Add the yogurt. Use to ice the cooled cake.
Notes
Nutrition
If you want to try different low carb cake recipes next time. Be sure to check these out for your next special occasion:
Low Carb Cupcakes with Strawberries
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Published on January 18, 2017. Revised and Republished February 4, 2025.
Can I substitute Swerve for the frosting? Granular or powdered? Thanks!
Yes. I’d use powdered.
Is the batter supposed to have a ricotta cheese consistency?
Yes
Made this cake for my sister’s birthday! she loved it! she is not doing Keto, but enjoyed it very much.
We came very short on the icing (only for 2 layers), so we made a vanilla version of the chocolate icing and used both. We also played around and made a chocolate glaze for the top.
Best Keto Cake recipe! thank you
Nice! How long did it take for 2 layers to cook?
I agree….the more layers the better! This cake looks phenomenal – I can’t wait to try it!
For real no one knew it was keto! It is that good!
I am loving all of those layers! Anyone would love to have a cake like this for their birthday!
Yellow cake with chocolate frosting is my husband’s favorite but he is on the keto diet, so for his birthday, I was really hoping this cake would be a good stand-in. Perhaps I was expecting too much or my hopes were too high but the cake didn’t really taste much like yellow cake. Also, it’s probably because I pulverized erythritol in my ninja blender for the frosting, and it was grainy, but I’m sure if I had used the ingredients that were called for in the icing, it would have been better.
Adjusting your taste buds to keto baking always takes some getting used to. There is no way to put this side by side with a traditional sugar and flour cake and expect to compare them. It’s apples vs oranges. But yes, the frosting would’ve been better if you used the ingredients listed.
Can I use a 9×12 pan instead?
Yes, that should work. I’m not positive on the baking time though. I would bake it at 350 and check every five minutes once you hit the 20 minute mark.
Thanks, Taryn. Baked about 30 minutes. Very good!
Do you think this would bake ok cooked in 2 cake pans or do you think it needs to be spread out into 4 to bake properly? I only have 2 cakes pans 🙁
Also, if I use Super Sweet, do you think I should grind it to a powder first?
Yes, you can bake it in two pans but you will need to increase the baking time. I’m not sure super sweet will work in this icing. The icing may need the bulk of the gentle sweet. If you sub super sweet you only use half the amount.
How much is a “stick” of butter? My butter comes in rolls.
4 oz or 8 tablespoons
Hi, I tried to sift through previous comments to ensure you haven’t answered this yet and didn’t see any similar conversation so here goes. Wondering if you’ve (or anyone else has) tried a different sweetener besides “Gentle Sweet,” i.e. honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar?
Thanks!
I have not. Maybe someone else will chime in 🙂
I used splenda and it was so good
Can I divide the batter in half rather than in fourths since I only have 2 cake pans?
Yes, but you will need to increase the cooking time. By 5 to 10 minutes is my guess.
This cake looks fabulous!! What size pan do you recommend?
A standard 9 inch round cake pan.
Perfect, thank you!
My husband has a birthday in May and I am practicing keto birthday cakes and was failing miserably until I found your blog. I honestly was just going to make a regular high sugar/high carb cake because nothing tasted right. Your recipe was my practice cake number 7 and it gave me new hope and I just wanted to thank you. I did add an extra egg yoke, but otherwise I followed your directions exactly. Keto baking is tough, but finding resources like your blog makes it SO much simpler!
I only use fat free Greek yogurt… Do think that would work? Looks delicious.. Thanks
That should be fine.