Low Carb Pineapple Upside Down Cake? Yes! This tender yellow cake has a sweet pineapple topping and only 3 net carbs per piece! It's easy to make a healthy sugar-free pineapple upside-down cake from scratch at home. This easy cake recipe is also keto friendly, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
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Pineapple upside-down cake. Soooo delicious. I have memories of making it with my mom when I was little. Maraschino cherries inside the canned pineapple rings with lots of brown sugar. This is a trickier recipe to make low carb than many others I have done because of the carbs in pineapple. Pineapple is not really a low carb fruit. But by using just a tablespoon or so of fresh pineapple per serving and pineapple extract to boost the flavor you really can have a low carb pineapple cake.
How to Make Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Obviously, you start with pineapple. I used fresh pineapple for this recipe. It has so much more flavor than canned pineapple so you can get away with only using a little bit. If you don't have access to fresh pineapple frozen pineapple is better than canned pineapple. Many grocery stores sell cubed fresh pineapple in little containers in the fruit department. They are generally much more expensive per pound than a whole pineapple but if you don't have a use for the remaining pineapple they are perfect for this recipe. I have no problem going through fresh fruit in my house with five kids to gobble it up.
Topping for Pineapple Upside Down Cake
To start you spread softened butter on the bottom of your baking dish. Top that with the fresh pineapple and sprinkle on sweetener that has been mixed with pineapple extract. The pineapple extract helps maximize the pineapple flavor while keeping the carb count down.
Low Carb Pineapple Upside Down Cake Batter
For the cake batter, I use a combination of almond flour, coconut flour, eggs, yogurt, butter, sweetener, baking powder, and more pineapple extract. I really wanted the pineapple flavor to be the star in this cake. This resulting in one of the most tender cakes I have ever made. The cake just melted in your mouth. It was amazing.
Food Processor Cake
My favorite way to mix cake is in my food processor. I have a big stand mixer but more often than not I just toss all the cake ingredients into the food processor and give them a whirl.
Carbs in Pineapple
In a one-cup serving, there are 19 net carbs in pineapple. If you are eating low carb or keto I don't recommend sitting down with a bowl of fresh pineapple.
Is Pineapple Keto?
Generally, no. Pineapple is not keto. But, can you use a little bit in a recipe? That is up to you but I think so. This cake has 3 net carbs per piece including the pineapple. When you divide one cup of pineapple by 12 pieces of keto pineapple upside down cake each piece has less than a tablespoon. But it is enough to make this taste like a real pineapple upside-down cake.
Tips for a Perfect Keto Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Don't underbake it. It should be deep golden brown as in the photo below. The center should feel firm to the touch and not jiggle.
- Cool for at least 20 minutes before trying to invert it. To invert it run a knife around the edges to loosen it. Invert a plate on top and then flip the cake and plate so the cake is on the plate. If any pineapple pieces get stuck just add them back to where they are missing.
- Use flavorful pineapple. If you use pineapple that is not sweet and ripe your cake will be bland. Make sure the pineapple tastes great before using it in a low carb pineapple upside-down cake. That little bit of pineapple needs to go a long way.
Other delicious recipes to try:
Cinnamon Crumb Cake Recipe w/ Pecans
Upside Down Cake with Cranberries
Classic Yellow Keto Birthday Cake with Chocolate Icing
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📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup fresh pineapple
- ¼ cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 1 teaspoon pineapple extract
Cake Batter:
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup yogurt
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pineapple extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Spread the softened butter in the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish. Put a layer of pineapple on top of the butter. Mix together the ¼ cup sweetener and the pineapple extract in a small bowl. Sprinkle that on top of the pineapple.
- Add the cake ingredient to a food processor. Process until smooth. Drop by spoonfuls on top of the pineapple. Gently spread to cover all the pineapple.
- Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and slightly firm to the touch. Cool for 20 minutes and then invert onto a serving platter. Store leftovers in the fridge.
Notes
Nutrition
Rachel Jean says
can I use just almond flour without the coconut flour and just substitute all almond flour?
Taryn says
Yes, all almond flour should be fine.
Margo says
I accidentally mixed all the ingredients together except the pineapple, as the cake batter! Oh well.
Taryn says
I bet it will still be delicious!
Laurie says
I would like to use ALL Coconut flour as we have a nut allergy in my home.
How much would I use to replace the Almond Flour?
Taryn says
It is tricky to sub in coconut for almond flour. My suggestion would be to use this batter with the pineapple extract added and the pineapple topping: https://joyfilledeats.com/coconut-flour-muffins/
Suzi_p says
Oh this was so delicious! Thankyou!
Suzi_p says
Me again! I came back to add that I'm totally ditching the disgusting food I make (following the keto connect guys). I almost had no hope for delicious food again! Thank you so much. I've done this recipe also with marbled cake batter (part chocolate) and cherries at the bottom. delish! thanks again
Joan Van Santen says
Just an FYI 🙂 I made this today for my 81 year old Mom who is trying (and succeeding ) to live the THM lifestyle 🙂 I only had canned crushed pineapple, so used that and it worked great !!
Cheryl says
This was absolutely a winner! Used Truvia 1:1 and fresh pineapple. Husband gave the thumbs up, too.
jporter says
can you prepare and leave in refrigerator until ready to cook? how long can it stay refrigerated?
Taryn says
I would cook it and then refrigerate it. You can make it a couple days ahead of time.
kris says
if I sub in stevia how much would I use?
Taryn says
I don't recommend using pure stevia powder in baked goods, sorry.
Casey says
I made this with stevia sweetened peaches and it turned out really good! I think the dough was much sweeter before I baked it. Maybe this is true when baking with THM super sweet always? Next time I will add a little more sweetener but overall it was great.
Jennifer says
Any suggestions on baking time if these were made as minis or cupcakes?
Taryn says
I'd start checking them at 15 minutes. Then every 5. I think they'll take about 25.
Brenda Watt says
This is an incredible cake! I'm now wondering how it would be with fresh peaches since that season is just around the corner. Thank you!
Taryn says
Great idea!
Denise says
I tried this for the first time tonight. Mine turned out sort of Millie tasting, granular like but the cake had a very odd flavor. I used monk fruit sweetener and wondered if that is why it tast odd. It was fairly moist but the flavor wasn't good. Im sure i made it by the directions. Do you know if it could be the sweetener? I haven't used this type a lot. Maybe it needed more or less of the monk fruit. Just thought I would ask. I will try it again. Thanks for the recipe
Taryn says
I have not made this with monk fruit. How much did you use?
Did you use fresh pineapple and taste it first? Is it possible the pineapple was bad?
Denise says
Ok.so I tried it again. This time truvia baking blend, that's what I had. What an amazing difference. I think it was the monk fruit that had such a bad taste the first time. Now I did use the truvia using your mesurments. That may have been too much. If going tuviadc do you use less. Thanks for a great recipe.
Taryn says
Does Truvia Baking Blend have regular sugar added? Does the bag have the conversion to sugar listed?
Carrie says
This looks incredible.
Tayler Ross says
I made this cake as our dessert last night, and everyone loved it! Thanks so much for sharing!
Debbie says
Hi, I have Trivia Baking Blend. Would this work and if so do you know how much I would use. I find all this sugar substitutes so very confusing. I subscribe to your site, but haven't made this yet. Thanks in advance
Taryn says
What are the ingredients in that sweetener? Does the bag say 1:1 for sugar?
Patsy says
Can you use canned pineapple if canned with no sugar?
Taryn says
Yes, that should be fine.
Marilyn Hutchins says
I only keep the THM Baking Blend on hand. Can it be substituted for the almond and coconut flours. It is too expensive to keep all that on hand. How much would I use if so.
Taryn says
You can use baking blend. Use a little less.
In my experience, almond and coconut flours are actually cheaper per pound than baking blend. Coconut flour is about $3 a pound on amazon when you buy big bags and almond flour is $4 a pound at costco ($5-6 on amazon). Baking blend is $7 a pound plus shipping when purchased on sale.
Becky says
Is the yogurt, unsweetened, plain greek yogurt in this recipe? Sounds delish and a must try!
Taryn says
Yup! Any plain yogurt will work. I use whole milk plain yogurt sometimes too.
fr j says
thanks, a family favorite... im wondering about baking it the way our family has done it... in a cast iron pan, greased w lard/butter... then when it is still warm, we turn it out/over...
Taryn says
That should work. The worst that would happen is it could break when flipping. But it would still be delicious.