Keto Lemon Pound Cake
Keto Lemon Pound Cake is the delicious moist dessert you have been waiting for. Zesty lemon is the star of the show, and you’ll find it in the cake as well as the decadent lemon glaze. Make this pound cake for all your backyard barbecues, brunches, and dinners because your guests will love every crumb. This easy low carb pound cake recipe is also gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and THM S.
If you are a huge lemon fanatic, this pound cake needs to be in your life. We have always loved lemon-flavored desserts because they are so light and refreshing. There is just something amazing about taking that first bite of this soft pound cake. And if you are lucky enough to get a little bit of lemon glaze on your finger, it’s impossible not to lick it off. This is a lemon version of my Keto Strawberry Shortcake and just as good as that popular low carb recipe!
The advantage of making a keto lemon pound cake is that it’s so much healthier than carb-loaded cakes and bread. You can easily incorporate this into a low carb diet, and while your taste buds are happy, your stomach will be even happier.
Ingredients
Almond Flour – Almond flour gives keto baked goods a tender crumb with a mild flavor.
Coconut Flour – I like to use coconut flour in conjunction with almond flour to balance the oiliness you can get from the almonds.
Cream Cheese – Cream cheese makes a perfect pound cake texture. Slightly dense while still being soft and tender.
Butter – You want it to be room temperature. Here is a great guide on how to soften butter quickly to check out.
Eggs – Eggs are the binder in this recipe.
Sweetener – I use a blend of xylitol (or allulose) with erythritol and stevia. I do offer substitution tips in the recipe card.
Lemon Juice – Lemon juice provides moisture and a hint of lemon flavor.
Lemon Zest – The zest is what really gives you most of the lemon flavor. Alternatively, you can use lemon extract.
Baking Powder – Make sure it is in date and fresh so the cake rises.
How To Make Keto Lemon Pound Cake
You only need 9 ingredients for the low carb lemon pound cake and 4 ingredients for the lemon glaze. Can you believe it’s that simple? All of the ingredients are easy to work with and combine to make the best treat ever.
First Step: Get your oven preheated to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper.
Second Step: In your food processor, mix together the cream cheese, butter, and sweetener. Give it several pulses until it is smooth. Add in the eggs, flours, lemon juice, baking powder, and lemon zest. Continue pulsing until the mixture is well combined.
Third Step: Pour the batter into a loaf pan that’s been prepared. The batter is going to be thick.
Fourth Step: Bake the keto lemon pound cake for 60-70 minutes. The center will be firm, and the edges will be a deep golden brown when it’s done. Check the cake around the 45-minute mark and add a piece of foil if the edges have darkened too much. Cool the keto lemon cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges. Lift the parchment paper and take it out of the pan. Let the cake finish cooling before serving.
Fifth Step: While the keto cake is cooling, combine the powdered erythritol, butter, lemon extract (or zest), and one teaspoon of water once mixed add the other teaspoon of water. Add the glaze to the top of the cake and enjoy!
Variations
Orange – Sub in orange extract or orange zest for the lemon zest.
Lime – Use lime juice, lime zest, and/or lime extract.
Vanilla – Swap out the lemon juice for almond milk, coconut milk, or heavy cream. Use vanilla extract in place of the lemon zest.
Common Questions
What Is A Pound Cake?
Pound cakes have been around forever, but many people don’t know what makes a cake a pound cake. Originally, they were made with 1 pound of flour, 1 pound of butter, 1 pound of eggs, and 1 pound of sugar. Over the years, the recipes have evolved, and many have gotten away from the one-pound ingredients. My keto version has been adjusted so it is low carb and still delicious. Keto pound cake resembles the flavor and textures of a traditional pound cake without all the extra carbs.
Can I Make This Lemon Poundcake Into Cupcakes?
Yes, absolutely, you can make this low carb lemon cake into cupcakes. You will need to prepare the batter as directed. Instead of adding it to a loaf pan, simply use a muffin tin. It’s best if you can use muffin liners, but you could also just spray it with cooking spray.
The biggest thing you will need to adjust for the cupcakes is going to be the baking time. Bake them for 20-25 minutes then check them. Keep an eye on the cupcakes, so they don’t overbake, or they will become dry and not as flavorful.
Can I Make This in a Bundt Pan?
Yup! You can definitely make this into a bundt cake. See my Lemon Drizzle Cake here which is a bundt version of this almond flour lemon cake recipe.
Want a lemon treat in a hurry? Try this Lemon Bar in a Jar! And make sure to try my gooey Keto Butter Cake!
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Video
Keto Lemon Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup cream cheese
- 6 tbsp butter softened
- 3/4 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Lemon Glaze:
- 1/2 cup powdered sweetener
- 1 tbsp butter room temperature
- 1 tsp lemon extract or zest
- 2 tsp water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a standard loaf pan with parchment.
- Combine the cream cheese, butter, and sweetener in the food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add the eggs, lemon juice, flours, baking powder, and zest. Pulse until well combined.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. The batter will be thick.
- Bake for 60-70 min or until the center feels firm when lightly pressed and the edges are deep golden brown. (Check at 45 minutes and cover with foil if getting too brown).
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Run a knife around the edges and then lift the parchment to remove it from the pan. Cool completely.
- Mix the ingredients for the icing adding the water one teaspoon at a time. Spread the glaze on top of the cooled cake.
this is an amazing recipe
I Preheat to 350°
I bake at 325°
perfect cake
thank you
Quite a lot of eggs and cream cheese… will this be more like a lemon cheesecake? Or a regular pound cake?
It’s a pound cake. You can see that in the photos. The amount of eggs and cream cheese is balanced to having over 2 cups of almond flour. It is definitely a cake texture and not a cheesecake with that amount of almond flour.
Photos can lie. A few days ago I followed a recipe with beautiful photos and it turned out horribly – also like cheesecake. No reason to be condescending about it.
I’m not being condescending. I wouldn’t be surprised if the recipe you followed was AI. I thoroughly test my recipes and take all my photos myself. The photos you see are of the actual recipe. This recipe also has a video that shows it being made.
Delicious!! I find that I have to bake it much longer than 70 minutes. Closer to 90 min and I’m using a heavy duty foil pan (8.5″ x 4 9/16″ x 2 3/4″).
This is by far THE BEST cake recipe !! You can’t even tell its made w almond flour and the cream cheese makes it moist ! I will make this again and again and again. I will also try orange and blueberries as well. Thank you for the recipe.
Awesome, delicious cake.
Made it my wife’s birthday cake.
She loved it!
Thanks for sharing!
Is there any way to make this an almond flavored, rather than a lemon flavored pound cake?
My family’s traditional pound cake (handed down through the generations) uses the old fashioned-regular-old flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, shortening, 1 tsp almond extract, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. if I substitute out the white wheat flour for almond and coconut flour, would the rest remain as per the original recipe? Thanks
I would suggest using my recipe but swapping out the lemon extract/zest for almond extract and the lemon juice for a milk sub of your choice (like unsweetened almond milk). It is not as simple as subbing in almond/coconut flour in other recipes. I wouldn’t know if that would work without testing it.
This is just an unbelievably delicious recipe! Even friends who normally wouldn’t touch anything gluten-free and low-carb loved this.
One thing: The internet will tell you that a standard loaf pan is 8.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.5″. The internet is wrong. That’s way too small for this recipe; if you use that size the top of the cake will split in half and topple to either side of the loaf pan. Ask me how I know.
My second try I used one of the loaf pans I used to bake bread when I used to bake bread – a size more generally available than the alleged “standard loaf pan.” It came out beautiful and delicious!
Hello. You say to use a food processor, why not a hand mixer? Thank you
The blades of a food processor break down the almond flour releasing natural oils. I tend to use my food processor when low carb baking. But either will work.
came out good, but will add more lemon next time. It will be interesting to see how it comes out in a bread maker like other Keto recipes I have tried.
sharing recipe with friends. 👍👍
I can’t keep the glaze from breaking.
Hi, which powdered sweetener are you using? You could try leaving out the water and thinning it with heavy cream instead.
This is amazing! Most keto baking has that somewhat crumbly, dry almond flour texture but THIS!!! Wowza! So moist and full of flavour! The only change I made was to add a couple drops of lemon essential oil to the batter. I covered the loaf with a cream cheese icing and when I served it I put a dollop of Lakonta sweetened sour cream on top, with a sprinkle of fresh blueberries. Yum. It stayed moist right until it was all devoured! (maybe all of 7 days! Lol ) I will be making it regularly. Thank you Tayrn for your awesome recipes!