Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Cake
This aromatic Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Cake is comforting, crave-worthy, and will feed your desires for something sweet. This cinnamon roll cake has a homemade ooey-gooey cinnamon filling and a cream cheese glaze. You won’t believe it’s keto, gluten-free, and grain-free!
I love cinnamon. It is absolutely my favorite spice for baking. Big plump cinnamon rolls with icing spilling over the edges have always been a special treat in my house.
I also have a habit of pursuing regular recipes on Pinterest and drooling over them. It is a great way to find things I want to convert to fit a keto diet. I knew I HAD to make a healthier version of this cake because I HAD to eat it. And that is when my low carb keto cinnamon roll cake was born.
This easy cinnamon roll cake has all the things you love about classic cinnamon rolls, the frosting, filling, and cinnamon flavor. However, it’s conveniently made in a baking pan, and there is absolutely no rising the dough, kneading the dough, and rising again. I don’t think there could be anything better than that! And you don’t need all purpose flour, powdered sugar, or cake mix. You don’t even need to make fathead dough. This has the flavor minus the hours of work AND the carbs.
For more great recipes using cinnamon, try my Keto Cinnamon Bread and Cinnamon Vanilla Latte.
Ingredients
- Almond Flour – The base for the batter. It has a mild flavor and works well in ketogenic diet baking.
- Coconut Flour – I normally use this in combination with almond flour. The dryness of it balances the oiliness of the almonds.
- Eggs – Eggs add protein, fat, and help the cake rise.
- Coconut Oil – Use refined coconut oil for a mild flavor.
- Sour Cream – Sour cream keeps the cake moist.
- Low Carb Sweetener – I use a combination of sugar alcohols and stevia in my recipes. There are alternatives in the recipe card notes for other sweeteners such as monk fruit.
- Vanilla Extract – Vanilla enhances the other flavors.
- Baking Powder – Makes the cake rise.
- Salt – A little bit of salt brings out the other flavors in the cake.
- Brown Sugar Sweetener – Such as brown Swerve. Gives the cinnamon swirl a warm flavor.
- Salted Butter – Adds flavor and moisture.
- Cinnamon – Choose a good quality strong flavored cinnamon for the best cake.
- Cream Cheese – For the best part, that classic cream cheese icing.
- Heavy Cream – Thins out the glaze.
How To Make Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Cake
Making a cinnamon roll cake couldn’t be any easier! Once that first fork full hits your mouth, you are going to be in food heaven. Let’s take a look at these super easy-to-follow directions so you can head in the kitchen and whip this up.
Step One: Combine the batter ingredients in a large bowl. Stir well. Do not mix the batter too much. Overmixing causes tiny bubbles to form, and they pop when they bake. This leads to flat and denser cakes. You can use a hand mixer or food processor if you prefer.
Step Two: Spread in a greased baking dish. This is a VERY thick batter but don’t worry, the butter in the cinnamon swirl soaks into the cake, keeping it moist.
Step Three: After that, mix the 1 ½ sticks of melted butter, brown sugar sweetener, almond flour, and cinnamon together in a small bowl.
Step Four: Next, pour the cinnamon mixture over the top of the cake. Take a knife and swirl the batter. You want the filling to get all the way down to the bottom. It is supposed to be bumpy like in this photo.
Step Five: Bake in a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. When the center is set and no longer jiggles, it’s done. Don’t overbake the cake. If you bake it too long, you can expect it to be dried out and not as light and fluffy.
Step Six: Finally, combine the cream cheese, heavy cream, and sweetener together to form the glaze. Spread the cream cheese frosting over warm cake and enjoy!
Top Tip💡
When possible, use room temperature ingredients. It’s much easier to mix the batter and the glaze with room temperature butter, sour cream, and cream cheese.
Variations
- Mug Cake – Want a fast single serve treat? Make this Keto Cinnamon Mug Cake.
- Nuts – I prefer pecans, but walnuts, hazelnuts, or crushed almonds would work too for a low carb diet. Sprinkle the nuts on top of the cake before baking, or fold them into the batter.
- Traditional Cinnamon Rolls – Want low carb cinnamon rolls instead of cake? Try my easy Keto Cinnamon Rolls recipe. It uses a mozzarella cheese cinnamon roll dough that mimics classic rolls.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. I prefer this warm. You can warm up individual pieces in the microwave. It also freezes well. Wrap individual pieces in plastic wrap, thaw overnight, and warm in the microwave for an amazing low-carb breakfast.
You can also prep this a day ahead and bake in the morning (or bake and reheat). This is the perfect for special occasions or as a Christmas morning treat!
Common Questions
Using sour cream is a great way to add healthy fats to this low carb cinnamon roll cake. In addition to adding healthy fats, it also gives the cake a creamy and moist texture. The reason why sour cream is such a hit in cakes is that it can make the cake moist and creamy, but it doesn’t make the cake batter thinner. This is exactly what you need if you are wanting a moist and fluffy cake.
Yep! It’s the same thing with a different name. The biggest difference is that most coffee cakes are made with gluten and real sugar. My recipe for this coffee cake uses a combination of almond flour, coconut flour, and sweetener.
Coffee cake means that it’s meant to be eaten with a cup of hot coffee. If you are a coffee drinker, you will love this keto low carb cinnamon roll cake recipe with a cup of joe! Or you could sip on a cup of warm tea instead. And if you don’t like those, then eat the cake all by itself.
Cinnamon roll cake and coffee cakes can be eaten at any time of day. Breakfast, brunch, snacks, or desserts are the most common. So slice yourself a piece, sit back and enjoy this amazing low carb recipe after a long day.
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Video
Low Carb Cinnamon Roll Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup refined coconut oil melted
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Cinnamon Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar sweetener
- 6 oz butter melted (1.5 sticks)
- 2 tbsp almond flour
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Glaze
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 2 oz heavy cream
- 1 tbsp Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with cooking spray.
- Mix together all the cake ingredients. Spread in the prepared pan. This is a VERY thick batter.
- Mix together the cinnamon swirl ingredients. Pour on top of the cake batter. Run a knife through the batter to swirl together the cinnamon filling and cake batter. It will look bumpy. (Check out the step by step photos in the blog post!)
- Bake at 350 for 35-40 min. The center should be set and not jiggly.
- Mix together the glaze and spread on the warm cake.
Notes
Nutrition
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Originally Published September 21, 2020. Revised and Republished September 1, 2025.
can you substitute some other oil for the coconut oil?
I’m sure you can but I’ve only tested this with coconut oil.
Taryn,
I would like to half the recipe for an 8×8 pan. Do you reduce the baking time?
I would check it 5 minutes early but I think the time will be similar.
Could you sub yogurt for the sour cream in this recipe?
Yes, that is fine.
Please help me understand…I want to make this so much. You say the carb per slice of 18= 3. But the nutritional info has it at 6 carbs. What is the carb count please? If you don’t count sugar alcohols, what ingredients in the nutritional info is that? I just need help w reading nutritional labels really because if it doesn’t specifically say sugar alcohols, I don’t know what they are.
You subtract the 3 grams of fiber from the 6 grams of carbs. That is how you get 3. You do not need to count sugar alcohols and they aren’t listed in the nutrition facts.
What’s. Brown sugar sweetener? Is it essential or can I use another sweetener?
There are a whole bunch of brands that make brown sugar flavored sweeteners: Lakanto, Swerve, Sukrin are a few. I mention in my post that you can use a 1:1 white sugar sweetener (erythritol, Lakanto monk fruit, xylitol, etc) and just mix in 1 tsp of molasses per cup for flavor.
This was really good. However, I have questions about the carb count. Recently I have been tracking my foods on MyFitnessPal to educate myself on my eating habits as they relate to macros. When I made this recipe, I used THM Gentle Sweet and was surprised to see how high the carb count was and how low the dietary fiber count was. So I’m not sure how to get to 3 net carbs per piece as you have indicated the net carbs to be. THM Gentle Sweet is 4g of carbs per tsp which translates in this recipe as 1/2c sweetener = 96g; 1c sweetener = 192 g; 1Tbs sweetener = 12g for a total of 290g of carbs with 16g of carbs per piece. Other ingredients adding to the carb count brought the total carb count per piece to 22g with only 2.5g of dietary fiber. Wondering if your sweetener has a lower carb count than the THM Gentle Sweet, or what am I missing here? Would appreciate your insight as I try to educate myself.
Hi Deb, you can subtract the sugar alcohols. MFP does not do this. I do it manually for my recipes.
Thank you, Taryn, for your quick response and for helping me better understand what is considered in determining the net carb count. Appreciate it.
Just made this receipe and it tastes very good! Nice and moist! Thank you!!
Delicious! Will definitely make again.
Turned out great! The pics were a big help as well. Even my junk food loving teenage son liked it! Thanks for the recipe!
Do you think I could sub the sour cream for pumpkin puree? I know it might change the macros, but was wondering if it was equal for moisture and give a nice flavor.
I think pumpkin would work. Or you could use Greek yogurt.
Do you think this might work with THM baking blend instead of the almond flour and coconut flour? I know the blend has different proportions and some added ingredients, but I have some I’m needing to use up…
Yes, I think so. Please let me know after you try it!
If I’m allergic to almond flour is there another one I can use?
The best sub I’ve found is sunflower seed flour. It can be used 1:1 for almond.
When using swerve in the cake, you say to use 1.5 times the listed amount. That is 2 cups of swerve then, correct.
In the yellow cake use 3/4 cup swerve. The brown sugar sweetener in the cinnamon swirl is a 1:1 sweetener so the amount wouldn’t change. And in the icing 1.5 tablespoons. So, yes, just under 2 cups total. You can half this to fit an 8×8 pan if you prefer.
Can I sub the coconut flour for more almond flour?
I haven’t tested this with all almond but I think it could work.
Do you mix this by hand or with a stand mixer?
I just mixed it by hand. As long as your ingredients are room temperature if mixes very easily.
Which brown sugar sweetener do you like? And if you made your own with your sweetener, do you only need 1/2 cup?
Thanks!
I like the Lakanto Golden Sweetener. And yes, just 1/2 cup if it’s a sweetener that is twice as sweet as sugar. I do recommend a 1:1 sweetener for this part of the recipe.