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.
What size are the 4 pans?
Standard round cake pan which is 9 inches.
This is the best Keto cake that I have ever made. It is so moist and delicious! This will be my go to birthday cake recipe.
Thanks a lot for this amazing and super easy to make birthday cake recipe! It’s really tasty and very flavorful! Will surely have this again! Highly recommended!
This is so good! Thanks for sharing.
No one would guess this cake is keto! So perfect for birthday celebrations. Thanks!
Made this for a close friend’s birthday who is following keto. We all loved it. It was so delicious, and my friend was happy to have a keto version of their favorite cake!
I’m a home based baker in northern CO & am starting to add Keto friendly baked goods to my menu. I’m hoping that offering any of Taryn’s Keto friendly goodies will bring in new customers & this birthday is a wonderful place to start.
I’ll be baking this this weekend!
Thanks for offering such a wide variety of Keto friendly recipes!
Can i use nonfat Greek yogurt??? It’s all I have?
Yes, that should be fine.
If I wanted to make this cake for my son’s first birthday and plan on making it look like a “donut” using premade Bundt pan, do you think the consistency would be ok? Should I do anything different since it wouldn’t be cooked in layers?
I would make this instead (sub almond milk for the lemon juice and vanilla for the lemon zest) because it is made for a bundt pan. Joyfilledeats.com/lemon-drizzle-cake
I’m mainly interested in this recipe because of the use of almond flour, so I wanted to know if it would be ok to use regular sugar. Thanks!
I have not tested this with regular sugar but I think it would work. Use 1.5 to 2 times the amount listed.
How many carbs total is the cake?
It has 12 servings. Carbohydrates: 10g and Fiber: 4g per slice. So, 120 carbs, 48 fiber for the whole cake. Which equals 72 net.
Hi! How could I use monk fruit sweetener with this? It’s a 1:1 ratio to sugar. Thank you.
You will need more. Try 1.25 to 1.5 times the amount listed.
Planning to bake for a friend’s birthday. What size cake pans do you use?
Standard round pans. 8 or 9 inch work.
Thank you!
Is the carb count per one piece or the whole thing ?
1 piece. This has 12.
In the frosting, could you use heavy cream in place of the half and half?
Yes